The logical extension of this is to ensure that no Canadian who is represented by any of the elite organizations be allowed to appear as an “ordinary” Canadian. So, who should we exclude from the list of potential Canadians to ensure that they are not extraordinary by virtue of their being represented by one of the elite protest groups?

It’s a long list. No Anglicans, Catholics, United Church members, or Jews need apply because their national representatives have protested the change. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce is against the policy, so no business people need apply.  The Canadian Labour Congress is against the change, so strike out any unionized workers.  Twenty-two cities have registered their opposition – representing virtually all the major population centres – so their residents are off the list. University students need not apply.  The list goes on…and on…and on. 

1. Alberta Health Services, CEO Dr. Stephen Duckett
2. Alberta Professional Planners Institute
3. Access Alliance Multicultural Health and Community Services
4. Alliance canadienne des personnes retraitées
5. Ancestry.ca
6. Anglican Church of Canada / Église anglicane du Canada
7. Anne Johnston Health Station
8. Association des statisticiennes et statisticiens du Québec
9. Association du Barreau canadien / The Bar Associate of Canada
10. Association of Canadian Economist / Association canadienne des économistes
11. Association des Soeurs du Canada
12. Association canadienne francaise pour avancement de science (ACFAS)
13. Association féminine d’éducation et d’action sociale (AFEAS)
14. Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas)
15. Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA)
16. Association of Canadian Map Libraries and Archives (ACMLA) / Association des cartothèques et des archives cartographiques du Canada
17. Association of Educational Researchers of Ontario
18. Association of Municipalities of Ontario / Association des municipalités de l’Ontario
19. Association ontarienne des chercheurs et chercheuses en éducation au ministre Clement (AERO)
20. Association of Ontario Health Centres
21. Association of Public Health Epidemiologists in Ontario (APHEO) / Association ontarienne d’épidémiologie et desanté publique
22. Atlantic Provinces Economics Council / Conseil économique de province de l’atlantique
23. BC Library Association
24. BC Chamber of Commerce
25. BC Government Employee Union (BCGEU)
26. Black Creek Community Health Centre
27. BC Non Profit Housing Association
28. BC Government and Service Employees’ Union
29. Bloc Québécois
30. Burlington Chamber of Commerce
31. Burnaby Family Life
32. C.D. Howe Institute
33. Caledon Institute of Social Policy / Institut Caledon des Politiques Sociales
34. Calgary Herald (Editorial)
35. Calgary and Red Deer City Planners
36. Canada Census Committee
37. Canadian Association of Professional Employees
38. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) / Centre canadien pour des politiques alternatives
39. Canada West Foundation
40. Canada Without Poverty Advocacy Network
41. Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA) / Alliance canadienne des étudiants (CASA)
42. Canadian Anthropology Society / Société canadienne d’anthropologie (CASCA)
43. Canadian Association for Business Economics (CABE) / Association canadienne des économistes d’affaire
44. Canadian Association of Geographers / Association canadienne des géographes
45. Canadian Association of Journalists / Association canadienne de journalisme
46. Canadian Association of Midwifes (CAM)
47. Canadian Association of Public Data Users (CAPDU) / Association canadienne des usagers de données publiques
48. Canadian Association of Research Libraries (CARL) / Association canadienne des librairies de recherche
49. Canadian Association of Retired People (CARP)
50. Canadian Association of Social Workers (CASW)
51. Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) / Association canadienne des professeurs d’université
52. Canadian Chamber of Commerce
53. Canadian Conference of the Arts
54. Canadian Council on Social Development / Conseil canadien du développement social
55. Canadian Catholic Council of Bishops
56. Canadian Economics Association
57. Canadian Evaluation Society / Association canadienne d’évaluation
58. Canadian Federation of Demographers / Association canadienne des démographes
59. Canadian Federation of Humanities and Social Sciences / Fédération canadienne des sciences humaines et sociales
60. Canadian Federation of Independent Business / Fédération canadienne des entreprises indépendante
61. Canadian Federation of Students
62. Canadian Restaurant and Food Services Association
63. Canadian Historical Association / Société historique du Canada
64. Canadian Housing and Renewal Association
65. Canadian Institute of Actuaries / l’Association canadienne des actuaires
66. Canadian Institute of Transportation Engineers
67. Canadian Institute of Planners / Fédération canadienne des urbanistes
68. Canadian Index of Wellbeing
69. Canadian Jewish Congress / Congrès Juif Canadien
70. Canadian Labour Congress / Congrès canadien des travailleurs
71. Canadian Library Association
72. Canadian Marketing Association / Association canadienne de marketing
73. Canadian Medical Association Journal
74. Canadian Medical Association
75. Canadian Mental Health Association
76. Canadian Network of Metropolis Centers / Réseau canadien des centres Metropolis
77. Canadian Nurses Association / Société des infirmières du Canada
78. Canadian Population Society / Association canadienne de population
79. Canadian Public Health Association / Association canadienne de santé publique
80. Canadian Research Data Network Centre / Réseau des centres de données de recherche
81. Canadian Society for Epidemiology and Biostatistics (CSEB) / Société canadienne d’épidémiologie et de statistiques
82. Canadian Sociology Association / Association canadienne de Sociologie
83. Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) / Syndicat Canadien de Fonction Publique (SCFP)
84. Canadian Urban Institute / Association canadienne de développement urbain
85. Canadian Women’s Foundation
86. Capital Regional District (in B.C.)
87. Mel Cappe, former Clerk of the Privy Council
88. Carleton University Graduate Student Association (GSA)
89. Carleton University Undergraduate Student Association (CUSA)
90. Carleton University Academic Staff Association (CUASA)
91. Central Toronto Community Health Centres
92. Centre francophone de Toronto
93. Centre for Study of Living Standards / Centre de recherche pour niveau de vie
94. Centre interuniversitaire québécois des statistiques sociales / CIQSS-QICSS / Quebec Inter-University Centre for Social Statistics
95. Chinese Canadian National Council
96. Children’s Aid Society of Toronto
97. Cities Centre – University of Toronto Research Institute
98. Cityspaces Consulting Ltd.
99. Citizens Engaging Democracy, Newmarket-Aurora
100. City of Burnaby
101. City of Brampton
102. City of Calgary
103. City of Charlottetown
104. City of Edmonton
105. City of Fredericton
106. City of Greater Sudbury
107. City of Kelowna
108. City of Kitimat
109. City of Langley
110. City of Laval
111. City of Mississauga
112. City of North Vancouver
113. City of Merritt
114. City of Montreal
115. City of Ottawa
116. City of Red Deer
117. City of Surrey
118. City of Toronto
119. City of Vancouver
120. City of Vernon
121. City of Victoria
122. Collectif de bibliothécaires du Québec (Jo-Ann Belair, Annie Bérubé, Stéfano Biondo, Joë Bouchard,Chantal Beauregard, Pierre Carrier, Pierre Chicoine, Nancy Drolet, Alain Gendron, Catherine Jalbert, Guy Julien, Christian Lacroix, Dominique Lapierre, Marie-Denise Lavoie, Louise Leblanc, Sonia Léger, Véronique Paré, Normand Pelletier, Marcel Plourde, Gaston Quirion, Rose-Marie Racine-April et Chantal St-Louis)
123. Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada / Fédération Canadienne des Coopératives de Logement
124. Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies
125. Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
126. Commissariat aux langues officielles
127. Community Development Halton (Ontario)
128. Community Development Council Durham
129. Community Foundations of Canada
130. Community Social Planning Council of Greater Victoria
131. Confédération des associations étudiantes de l’Université Laval (CADEUL)
132. Conseil consultatif sur la condition de femme du Nouveau-Brunswick
133. Concordia Student Union
134. Conference Board of Canada
135. Conference des Lecteurs et Principaux des University de Quebec / Conference of Rectors and Principals of Quebec Universities (Association of Universities in Quebec)
136. Conférence régionale des élus (CRÉ) de Laval
137. Conseil permanent de la jeunesse (CPJ)
138. Conseil des agences servant les immigrants
139. Conseil Québécois des Coopératives et des Municipalités
140. Conservative MP James Rajotte
141. Daily Bread Food Bank (Toronto)
142. Davenport Perth Community Health Centre
143. Département de démographie of Université de Montréal
144. District of Nipissing Social Service Admin Board
145. Doctors Nova Scotia
146. Don Drummond; former chief economist of TD bank, former ADM of Finance
147. Economic Development Association of British Columbia (EDABC)
148. Edmonton Journal, Editorial
149. Evangelical Fellowship of Canada / Alliance Évangélique du Canada
150. Environics Analytics
151. Fair Share Peel
152. Family Service Association of Toronto
153. Research, Evaluation and Planning
     Family Service Toronto
154. Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of BC
155. Fédération canadienne de démographie
156. Fédération des associations étudiantes du Campus de l’Université de Montréal (FAÉCUM)
157. Fédération des chambres de commerce du Quebec
158. Féderation des Communautés Francophones et Acadiennes du Canada (FCFA)
159. Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec
160. Federation of Canadian Municipalities / Fédération canadienne des municipalités
161. Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec (FEUQ)
162. Fédération Québécoise des Professeurs et Professeures d’Universités
163. Dr. Robin Fitzgerald, Research Fellow, Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance, Griffith University, Canadian Scholar Downunder
164. Four Villages Community Health Centre
165. Ivan Fellegi, Former Chief Statistician, Statistics Canada
166. Tom Flanagan, University of Calgary
167. French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario / commissaire aux services en français de l’Ontario
168. Glendon School of International and Public Policy
169. Globe and Mail Editorials
170. Stephen Gordon, economist Université Laval
171. Government of Nunavut
172. Frank Graves, EKOS Research (polling)
173. Greater Halifax Partnership
174. Greater Victoria Community Indicators Network
175. Green Party of Canada / Parti vert du Canada
176. Grey County
177. Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Editorial
178. Halton, Region of
179. Hamilton’s Settlement and Integration Services Organization
180. Hamilton Roundtable for Poverty Reduction
181. Hamilton Community Foundation
182. Headwaters Communities in Action (HCIA)
183. The Hill Times editorial
184. Alex Himelfarb, former Clerk of Privy Council
185. Imagine Canada
186. Information and Communications Technology Council
187. Institut de statistiques Quebec / Statistical Institute of Quebec
188. Institute for Research on Public Policy
189. Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami / Association nationale Inuit (du Canada)
190. JJ McCullough
191. Kevin Milligan, economist at University of British Columbia
192. Liberal Party of Canada / Parti Libéral du Canada
193. Lumina Research Valuation and Advisory Services
194. Maclean’s Magazine (Articles)
195. Marketing Research and Intelligence Association (MRIA) / Association de la Recherche et de Intelligence Marketing (ARIM)
196. Roger Martin, Rotman School of Management
197. Martin Prosperity Institute
198. Kelly McParland (editor of Full Comment, the National Post)
199. Medical Health Officers Council of Saskatchewan
200. Metcalf Foundation
201. Metropolis British Columbia
202. Metro Vancouver (AKA GVRD)
203. Metro Vancouver Housing Committee
204. Mike Moffatt
205. Nanos Research (polling)
206. National Council of Women of Canada (NCWC)
207. National Post Editorial
208. National Specialty Society for Community Medicine
209. National Statistics Council (French Statement) / Association statistique du Canada
210. Nature International Editorial
211. New Democratic Party of Canada / Nouveau Parti Démocratique du Canada
212. New Heights Community Health Centres
213. North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit
214. North Western Ontario Municipal Association
215. Oak Park Neighbourhood Centre
216. Official Language Commissioner
217. Ontario Chamber of Commerce
218. Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants
219. Ontario Council of University Libraries
220. Ontario deputy finance minister Peter Wallace
221. Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC)
222. Ontario Non-Profit Housing Association (OPNHA)
223. Ontario-Municipal Social Services Association (OMSSA)
224. Ontario Professional Planners Institute
225. Ontario Public School Boards Association
226. Opportunities Waterloo Region
227. Orillia Packet and Times (Editorial)
228. Dr. Sylvia Ostry, Former Chief Statistician
229. Ottawa Citizen Editorial
230. PARC (Toronto)
231. Peel, Regional Municipality
232. Peel Children’s Aid / Aide à l’enfance région de Peel
233. Peel Poverty Action Group (PPAG)
234. Peterborough’s medical officer of health
235. Pickard &Law Firm
236. Pillar Nonprofit Network
237. Planning Council of Cambridge and North Dumfries (Cambridge,Ont.)
238. Blake Poland, Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
239. Poverty Free Halton
240. Valerie Preston, director of CERIS research centre on immigration and settlement issues York University
241. Prentice Institute at University of Lethbridge
242. Province of Manitoba
243. Province of New Brunswick
244. Province of Ontario
245. Province of Ontario – Office of Francophone Affairs
246. Province of Prince Edward Island
247. Province of Quebec
248. Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC)
249. Quebec Community Groups Network
250. Queer Ontario
251. John Rafferty, MP
252. Research Centre on Digital Inclusion / Centre de recherche et d’expérimentation sur l’inclusion numérique (CREIN)
253. Regent Park Community Health Centre
254. Regional Planning Commissioners of Ontario
255. Registered Nurses Association of Ontario
256. Richard Florida, University of Toronto
257. Residential and Civil Construction Alliance of Ontario (RCCAO) / Alliance de la construction résidentielle et civile de l’Ontario
258. Royal Society of Canada
259. Rural Ontario Institute (ROI)
260. St. Joseph’s Health Centre
261. St. Stephen’s House
262. Saskatchewan Students’ Union (USSU)
263. Munir A. Sheikh, Former Chief Statistician of Canada
264. Martin Simard,  laboratoire LERGA, Département des sciences humaines et CRDT, Université du Québec à Chicoutimi
265. Simcoe County
266. Social Planning Council of Kitchener-Waterloo
267. Social Planning Council of Sudbury
268. Social Planning Network of Ontario
269. Social Planning Toronto
270. Social Planning Council of Winnipeg
271. Social Policy in Ontario
272. Société franco-manitobaine
273. Société de l’Acadie du Nouveau-Brunswick
274. South Riverdale Community Health Centre
275. SPARC BC (Social Planning and Research Council of BC)
276. StarPhoenix [Saskatoon ] Editorial
277. Statistical Society of Canada
278. Statistics Canada Advisory Committee
279. Statistics Canada Advisory Committee on Demographic Statistics and Studies / Comité consultatif sur les études et les statistiques démographiques de Statistique Canada
280. Sudbury Star, Editorial
281. Surrey Board of Trade (BC)
282. Syndicat des employés internationaux unis (SEIU)
283. Table régionale des organismes communautaires autonomes en logement de Laval (TROCALL)
284. Tasha Kheirridin
285. Toronto Association for Business Economics
286. Toronto Board of Trade
287. Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiative (TIEDI)
288. Toronto Public Health / Directeur de santé publique de Toronto
289. Toronto Star Editorial
290. Toronto Social Research and Data Consortium (30 health, community and multi-service social agencies)
291. Toronto Women’s Housing Co-op
292. Town of Caledon
293. Town of Halton Hills
294. Town of Milton
295. Town of Smith Falls
296. Transportation Association of Canada / Conseil du transport urbain du Canada
297. Ukrainian Canadian Congress / Congrès Canadien Ukrainien
298. United Church of Canada
299. United Steelworkers
300. United Way of Calgary
301. United Way of Canada
302. United Way of Kitchener-Waterloo and Area
303. United Way of Greater Simcoe County
304. United Way Toronto
305. Université de Toronto
306. Urban Futures
307. Vancouver Board of Trade
308. Volunteer Toronto
309. Waterloo, Region of
310. Wellesley Institute
311. West Hill Community Services
312. West Toronto Support Services
313. WoodGreen Community Services
314. Women’s Hands Community Health Centre
315. York Community Services

I hear they are looking for a shepherd somewhere in the interior of B.C. to appear before the Committee to represent all ordinary Canadians.  Is this really the kind of government we deserve? I don’t think so.

List provided by: http://datalibre.ca/census-watch/

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.

Not that Harper doesn’t believe in these things – he does.  But he can’t accomplish significant cutting of services for women, the GLBT community, and other “left” issues until he has a majority.  And to win a majority, he has to keep the Christian Right happy without losing conservative-leaners.  So, alienating women who wouldn’t vote Conservative anyway, and the GLBT community who feels likewise, loses him nothing, but keeps the Right close.

Some of us continue to believe that the role of government is to meet the needs of the public writ large.  The Harpies believe that the role of the government is to operate according to a particular Christian set of beliefs.  There’s nothing wrong with holding a particular set of religious beliefs.  But when you try to foist them on the public at large you move from governing in a public state to governing in a religious state. 

Canadians in general object when foreign countries are run according to the dictates of a fundamental religious theology, and use that theology to disenfranchise women and minorities.  What makes Harpie think it will turn out any different here?

This is not the government we deserve.

We already know what the Harper government does to funded groups it that don’t follow the Conservative philosoply – they de-fund them.  Women’s groups have suffered, the Court Challenge program, serving mainly minorities and the poor was de-funded, even Volunteer Canada was cut.  God forbid we would want to exercise free speech in Canada.

Is this the government we deserve?

Of course, to the paranoid PM and his group of PMO sycophants any negative coverage by the mother network must be evidence of a liberal bias.  What they fail to understand, is the country as a whole has a liberal bias.  It’s the Conservatives who are out of step. 

The Conservative Party received 38% of the votes cast in the 2008 election.  The political philosophies of the four other parties are all left of the Conservative Party. Harper chooses to operate like a majority Prime Minister, preferring to pretend that his party represents the interests of all Canadians.  The truth of the matter is that the Conservatives are the fringe party in Canada.  The other parties, representing 62% of the voting population, are one form or another of centre-to-left.  The CBC and the Canadians they poll aren’t biased – it’s the Conservatives who are biased – to the right.

The legislation to eliminate the provision for most prisoners means that extra time will be spent in prison following sentencing.  This drives up the cost for new prison facilities for the additional prisoners, as well as the daily cost of keeping them there.

The Feds say they haven’t calculated the cost, but it’s not likely to cost more than $90 million at most.  The Budget Officer puts it at up to ten times as much.  Luckily for the federal government, most of that time is spent in provincial facilities, not federal ones, so the cost will be borne by the provinces – not the federal budget.  How handy. 

This isn’t the government we deserve.

On a brighter note, House of Commons Speaker Peter Millikin has ruled that Parliament has every right to demand all the un-redacted documents pertaining to prisoners in Afghanistan.  Score one for the power of Parliament over that of the Prime Minister.  We’ll see whether Harper decides to accede to the ruling or challenge it in court.  Any guesses? Chalk one up for the government we deserve – at least for now.

That’s not the government we deserve.

At its most basic, civil society can be measured by voter turnout.  While a majority of eligible voters still turn out for federal elections (58.8% in 2008), by the time we work our way down to the municipal level, turnout is often below 30% (28.7% in Waterloo in 2006).  The turnout in Ontario’s 2007 election was 52.6% – a record low. 

It’s not like government doesn’t matter – it controls much of how we live and relate to each other.  So, what’s going on?

Over the next few months, this series will attempt to highlight some of the more significant issues facing governments and the public – both good and bad.  If we think about what’s happening, maybe we can eventually do something about it.

Our society works better when people are engaged.  When we sleep through public life we miss out on the opportunity to make important choices.  We complain about government, but don’t vote.  We criticize government decisions, but don’t take the opportunity to have input. 

So, let’s start with a good issue.  Ontario has launched a process to develop a partnership with the nonprofit sector. The Province and the Ontario Trillium Foundation will be conducting province-wide discussions.  Get out. Have your input.  Become engaged.

This might be of limited concern but for the fact that the Region wants to spend a few hundred million dollars building a rapid transit line between Waterloo and Cambridge.  The theory is that the line will attract higher density along the urban core – creating more business and higher density residential living in that area .  Those residents would use the public transit.  This fits into the Province’s requirements for higher density urban cores to control urban sprawl.  It might work if there was a culture of transit use by a broad spectrum of residents in the Region, but right now, that’s just not so. 

Commute times for Waterloo Region’s workers is already short.  The median commuting distance for the Region’s workers in 2006 was under 6 kilometres.  Round trip! 

For rapid transit to be viable, we need lots more people who work far from where they live, but still live fairly close to the urban core of the three cities.  How likely is that?