It used to be that Canadians believed in sacrificing a bit themselves to provide for the needs of others. That’s the principle behind universal health care, after all. We all contribute to the costs even if some people make more use of the healthcare system than we do. We send money to poorer provinces (grudgingly – but we do it) so that access to important services is determined less by where in the country you live. We support a progressive taxation system so that those with greater means pay more to support the running of the country. This has been the role and philosophy of Canadian governments since Confederation.
But now we have a national government that doesn’t believe in government. We have a Prime Minister who declares that there is no such thing as a good tax. That means that government is essentially a necessary evil – not an instrument for the greater good.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, famously said that “Taxes are the price we pay for civilization”. And that was in a country that believes in weak national governments. In a modern society, one of the responsibilities of government is ensuring that we have reliable information on which to base the decisions that governments and the private sector make. Sometimes, this means forcing people to provide information that is very personal, so we take great pains to ensure that information on individuals is always protected.
Government makes us do many things that many people believe are personal. If you want your child enrolled in school, the child must be vaccinated, whether you believe in vaccines or not. Children who ride bikes have to wear helmets whether their parents want them to or not. Canada Revenue wants to know your income whether you want to tell them or not. Even if we don’t agree with what government decides we should do, the vast majority of us still do it.
So, now in Canada, some people – apparently those who vote for parties that don’t believe in government – have expressed their strong belief that government is invading their privacy and demanding personal information in the long-form census. Not a lot of people – but some people. And now the government that doesn’t believe in government intends to eliminate the socio-demographic data that helps government, business, charities, universities, and others make decisions that benefit Canadians nationally, provincially, municipally, and in your neighbourhood – probably even you.
If you value good information for decision-making by government, business, charities, and more, tell that to your M.P. no matter which party. This one is worth fighting for.
