VIDEO: 147 Conservatives vs. long-form census, ragtime musical edition
It’s a case of the Conservatives versus, well… just about everyone. And we decided to put their vote to a musical fact check. Who wants to bring back the long-form census? “Think-tanks of every political persuasion, business leaders, charities, public administrators and basically anyone with a PhD,” according to a Globe and Mail editorial. (Here’s a list of hundreds […]
It’s a case of the Conservatives versus, well… just about everyone.
And we decided to put their vote to a musical fact check.
Who wants to bring back the long-form census? “Think-tanks of every political persuasion, business leaders, charities, public administrators and basically anyone with a PhD,” according to a Globe and Mail editorial. (Here’s a list of hundreds of organizations in favour of its revival).
And here’s a musical ode to the party that scrapped the census — and just voted against bringing back all that useful data:
For more on why so many Canadian groups are united in their call to bring the census back:
“Thanks to a deliberately sabotaged census, we know less about Canada in 2011 than we did about Canada in 2006. Who thinks that’s a good idea?”“Conducting a halfwitted census turned out to be more expensive. The 2011 voluntary household survey increased errors, reduced accuracy, chopped the response rate by 30 per cent – and cost an extra $22-million. Congratulations: The Harper government figured out how to spend more for less.”
Toronto Star:
“New waves of opposition keep breaking as people realize it is no longer possible to track how the country is changing, monitor the spread of poverty, check which diseases are on the rise or determine whether the middle class is shrinking. Municipalities can no longer gauge their infrastructure needs. Non-profit groups can no longer direct resources to the areas of greatest need. Analysts and policy-makers can no longer spot worrisome trends. Most importantly, voters can no longer hold their elected representatives to account for gaps, oversights or hidden failures.”
Michael Gordon, President of the Canadian Institute of Planners
“We’ve heard from our members that the change to the new National Household Survey is impacting their ability to effectively plan and monitor the changing needs of their communities.”
Brad Woodside, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and mayor of Fredericton:
“This is negatively affecting public and private sector decision-makers who rely on solid data to make policy decisions. In particular, decisions on matters regarding housing, transportation and social policy have been impacted due to the lack of reliable data.”
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