Scare Tactics: CAGW and Census Camp

Usual Suspect of Enlightenment

The pattern from the usual suspects is interesting. We are witnessing another issue being blown out of proportion.

Let's examine the similarity of the tactics deployed the proponents of CAGW, anti- F-35 Military procurement, decriminalizing of Census long form in Canada.

• Demonize your opponent with outrageous claims that don't stand up to third party scrutiny?
• Suggest your camp is only possible of critical thinking or enlightenment?
• Don't exchange ideas or evidence, suggest your opponent is ideological or is compromised by funds from special interests.

The Science is settled

Being skeptical and asking questions, testing, reviewing how we do things including direct billions in taxes for government services has created an interesting debate?

Globe & Mail Readership: Census Debate is settled

The most recent flap being driven by the media is a decision by the Federal Government to end the mandatory requirement of the Census long form. In fact the Federal Government is not ending the activity of taking a Census or collecting information. Did the Federal Government make changes as a substantial increase of non-compliance by Canadians? Is the messaging from the Federal Government not effective in explaining the reasons behind the elimination of the mandatory requirement?

2006 Cabinet, Prime Minister, Governor General

Or did the usual suspects follow same pattern of CAGW proponents? Is the science settled? The Census in Canada is a wonderful thing that requires no changes and this right wing ideological Federal Government is engaged in a purely ideological exercise to destroy civilization. Is this the narrative from the Liberal media with citation of their experts.

Liberal Fantasy land:  Central Planners voters are happy to fill out long form, keep penalties?

During the last census the long-form portion was sent to approximately 2.5 million households. More than 160,000 Canadian refused to fill it out, a five-fold increase over 1981. More than 60 of those who refused were referred by the government for prosecution.

Are the large groups or stakeholders unbiased or neutral if they have a financial, academic interest are in support of funding, retaining the existing policy?

Decriminalizing the Census: Western Democracies Dictators?

Now this centuries-old tradition is slowly coming to an end. If statisticians in Britain get their way, for instance, the census planned for next year could be the country’s last. Instead, they are considering gathering information from the vast, centralized databases held by government, such as tax records, benefit databases, electoral lists and school rolls, as well as periodic polling of a sample of the population. It is a global trend, pioneered, inevitably, in Scandinavia. Denmark has been keeping track of its citizens without a traditional census for decades; Sweden, Norway, Finland and Slovenia, among others, have similar systems. Germany will adopt the approach for its next count, also due in 2011 -The Economist

Liberal World View: Ideological Right Wing Census destroyer

These stakeholders are not interested in the program review or elimination of waste? Does every country conduct a Census, if not why? Are these advanced economies or are they backward ideological dictatorship led nations? Did some in the left follow the same pattern of demonizing the conservatives without examining the evidence and facts?

Are some statisticians, central planners ignoring the evidence of alternatives or making the debate toxic?

Update II:

....Further, the number is always out of date because the census is only taken once every five years and it takes two years for the census to be analyzed. Since the Canadian population is rapidly changing, this gap will continue to widen. - A Critical Analysis of the Annual Report on Employment Equity in the Federal Public Service 2008-09 

So proponents for having taxpayers, statistics to devise policy, keeping the Census long form mandatory may have no difficulty on relying data seven years old.