Beyond The Commons

 Beyond The Commons

Aaron Wherry covers all the goings-on in and around Parliament Hill. Follow Aaron on Twitter: @aaronwherry

Categories: Beyond The Commons, Capital Read

Tony Clement needs you (III)

by Aaron Wherry on Friday, July 16, 2010 12:55pm - 0 Comments

Still no responses to my call for economists, statisticians, city planners and the like to step forward with a defence of the Industry Minister’s census changes. So let’s open it up a bit: is anyone from a conservative-minded organization or advocacy group willing to step forward and defend this decision as sound and just?* I welcome any and all submissions (aaron.wherry@macleans.rogers.com).

In the meantime, add former clerk of the Privy Council Alex Himelfarb, pollster Frank Graves, the chief economist of the Greater Halifax Partnership, the French Language Services Commissioner of Ontario, the executive director of the Société franco-manitobaine, the editorial board of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald and provincial officials in Quebec, BC and PEI to the listen of complainants.

*This post originally, and innocently, named a few potential examples of organizations that might comment. One—the Institute for Liberal Studies, which is actually directed by a guy I knew in high school—has noted that its educational and charitable status actually precludes it from commenting. Apologies for any confusion that could have resulted from my mentioning them here. I’ve also deleted all names so as not to otherwise make it seem like any sort of specific challenge. As you were.

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  • http://intensedebate.com/people/ZestyMordant ZestyMordant

    Wait – conservatives have special interest groups too?!?!

    My whole world has been turned upside down.

  • Edward

    More for the list:
    New Brunswick Association of Social Workers: http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/opinion/articl…
    New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women: http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/opinion/art…

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/Stewart_Smith Stewart_Smith

    I believe we should discount the PEI protest, It is after all fairly well known the island is a fetid hive of Liberal toadies and hacks using their ill-gotten seashells to assist the Taliban, promote gay pride parades and bust mass murderers out of federal prisons.

  • bergkamp

    "is anyone from a conservative-minded organization or advocacy group willing to step forward and defend this decision as sound and just?"

    Is there a reason why you want orgs to respond and not individual people, Wherry?

    I have found this debate very interesting because it is all orgs, probably dependent on census info, who have come out against changes. However, I don't believe Cons would have made this change to census if there was not significant support from regular Canadians not tied to one interest group or another.

    I think this issue is all about silent majority who think long form census is intrusive and not at all necessary seeing as how much info government and big business already have about us. People want less intrusion into their private lives, not more.

    • Charles H.

      He's already asked for individual people: "[I]t would perhaps be helpful to Tony Clement’s cause if a professional statistician, economist, social scientist or city planner would step forward to express support for the government’s decision. [...] If you toil in any of those aforementioned fields—or have any other kind of professional interest in the census—and are supportive of the government’s position, please drop me a note at [...]"

      He's asking for organizations and advocacy groups only because none of the above have contacted him.

      • bergkamp

        " … if a professional statistician, economist, social scientist or city planner … "

        Wherry is looking for people who work for orgs that are dependent on census.

        If Wherry, or anyone else in msm, are actually interested in why Cons probably made this decision go to Tim's, or even Starbucks, and ask regular people outside of Ottawa if it is necessary for government to know how many bathrooms they have or what arrangements they made with spouse/partner about cleaning home.

        The zeitgeist is less intrusion and all this caterwauling from intelligentsia is probably making Harper et al dig in their heels even more.

        • Amateur Hour

          Not all statisticians or economists or mathematicians work with census data.
          You're being disingenuous here.

          Wherry has put out a call for a professional to come to the defense of Mr. Clement. This is, of course, unlikely. Anyone who works with stats and samples and controls with any degree of sophistication, regardless of their political leanings, would know that what Clement proposes is hogwash in terms of data veracity.

          I'm sure plenty will defend him on ideological grounds, but they won't when it comes how stats/math/numbers work.

    • bennji

      The silent majority of Canadians are also not in favour of paying income taxes – do we do away with those too?

  • Stephen

    Speaking to the issue at the news conference on the new fighter jets, Clement mentioned the concerns of people who perhaps weren't all that familiar with the mainstream media, or who didn't have a certain level of "savvy."

    These people, he said, had contacted MPs' offices, concerned about "intrusive" questions, and might have a "conscientious" objection to filling out the forms.

    Who was he talking about?

    • Jan

      I think I know what he's talking about. I'll have to find it – from memory – someone who is being prosecuted for failing to file- a Christian pacificist is claiming that because whoever is doing the data processing – a U.S. firm that is part of the military complex, his conscience is being violated. I'll try to find the link.

  • Dee

    When Warren Kinsella comes out against the long-form census, you know for sure that Tony Clement's, and the Conservatives', moronic attempt to influence Stats Can's census methodology is a really bad idea.

    • Jan

      I'm hoping Warren is doing some sort of reverse psychology gambut. Otherwise…

      • Amateur Hour

        Warren lost it quite some time ago.

    • Anon 001

      Warren figures that this would be the best way to get TV time and get back at Iggy for effectively firing him when Donolo came in. Besides, he is not against the value of the long-form; he was just too lazy to fill it out.

  • Chris B

    Also, since when did the government of BC become "intelligentsia".

    Also, since when are intelligentsia bad? If I were in charge of the country, I would want more not less intelligent people

    • Anon 001

      Intelligent people are stupid. They don't like Harper.

  • http://intensedebate.com/people/bergkamp bergkamp

    " …. has noted that its educational and charitable status actually precludes it from commenting."

    wtf? Charities are not allowed to comment on government's actions?

    • Jan

      They're advocacy is limited. Trade off for their tax status.

    • Matlock

      "wtf? Charities are not allowed to comment on government's actions?"

      Certainly not if they receive government funding and wish to continue receiving that funding.

  • Stephanie

    The Fraser Institute supports the government's decision: http://www.nationalpost.com/Fraser+Institute+dism…

  • Dee

    So, the Fraser Institute has no problem doing their policy studies with inaccurate, biased data-sets instead of unbiased, statistically sound data-sets? Why am I not surprised?

  • Charles H.

    An interesting line from that:

    "Statistics Canada is no longer allowed to grant interviews but is responding to all media inquiries by email only, and the agency declined to comment on Mr. Veldhuis’s statements."

    You'd think that if this was truly what they wanted (as Clement has suggested), then the government would be letting them say so.

  • Kevin

    The Harper gov't long ago told public servants to shut up. Communications are vetted from Harper's office.

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