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Tories losing their census

Posted: 07/26/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

OTTAWA -- Industry Minister Tony Clement apparently missed the memo that these are supposed to be the lazy, hazy days of summer.

His mug has graced the front pages of most major newspapers for most of July, ever since the government made public its plans to pull the plug on the mandatory long-form census.

On the weekend, even Tom Flanagan, one-time chief of staff to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, questioned the move, not only the logic of it, but that it was sprung on Canadians with little explanation and no consultation.

"You don't deal with the public that way in a democracy," Flanagan told Postmedia News.

That lack of consultation is perhaps why the government also appears ill-prepared to defend its decision.

An email from Harper's director of communications, Dimitri Soudas, was so humorous it was one of the most blogged-about topics of the week and had the NDP spin machine calling it an "instant Internet classic."

Trying to argue that the existing long-form data is already unreliable, Soudas said that in 2001, 21,000 people listed their religion as "Jedi knight."

He went on to say the government made the long-form version voluntary to stop invasions by the government into the private lives of Canadians.

"Canadians don't want the government at their doorstep at 10 o'clock at night while they may be doing something in their bedroom, like reading, because government wants to know how many bedrooms they have," he wrote.

I'm pretty sure that's not quite the activity Pierre Trudeau had in mind when he was telling the government to get its prying eyes out of the nation's bedrooms.

Of fruits and veggies

NOTE to anyone with aspirations to be prime minister: Know your vegetables.

More specifically, give some thought to which of the healthy snacks you'd like to be.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper faced the metaphorical question nearly two years ago while visiting Winnipeg's Peak of the Market during the 2008 election.

He said he probably couldn't win no matter how he answered the question, but he eventually came up with an answer.

"I would choose... to be a fruit. Just what I am -- sweet and colourful."

Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff was put on the vegetable spot Friday during a visit to the Jean Talon farmers' market in Montreal.

Ignatieff seemed prepared for the question, posed by one of the hosts of Radio-Canada morning show Des Kiwis et des Hommes.

"Asparagus," he said in French, without hesitation. "I love asparagus."

He said he loves the taste and the way the stalks crack and eating them with mayonnaise.

He went on in great detail about how he makes the mayo, complete with a physical demonstration of whisking together the ingredients, including a bit of Dijon mustard and lemon juice.

He said that is the perfect thing to eat during asparagus season.

Called out on asbestos

ASBESTOS has been called Canada's deadly secret and medical experts from practically every corner of the country have called for an end to its mining and export.

Last week, Canada's asbestos industry was hit with a damning documentary aired by the British Broadcasting Corp., which has a global audience of more than 240 million people.

Dangers in the Dust, a multi-part documentary produced in conjunction with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, is a damning rebuke of the global asbestos trade that it says could be responsible for millions of deaths worldwide.

The report notes the institute received $35 million from the Canadian and Quebec governments in the last 25 years.

The series also points out the hypocrisy in Canada's asbestos industry, in that we export it, but use very little at home. Winnipeg Centre MP Pat Martin has for years accused the Canadian government of putting workers in developing nations at risk to protect a dying industry at home that employs just over 200 people.

mia.rabson@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 26, 2010 A6

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