But seriously, who do the Conservatives think they are?

As long as we’re talking about democracy and accountability, I’d like you to check out an article by Dan Gardner about the proposed census changes that I read in the Ottawa Citizen yesterday. Thanks to local author Tim Falconer for the link.

Pay particular attention to the end of the piece, which I might as well quote below:

“The same day [that Tony Clement responded to critics of the changes], in The Globe and Mail, Bill Robson, president of the C.D. Howe Institute, gently agreed that changing the census is a mistake but he worried that ‘the reaction from many opponents risks cementing the government’s resolve.’ Bill’s a gentleman who would never approve of potty mouth but that sounds an awful lot like Nancy Ruth warning women’s groups to ‘shut the f— up‘ because they’re dealing with a pack of vindictive knuckleheads.

“Which is fine with me. Let the government’s resolve to do the unspeakably stupid be cemented, I say. Sure it will waste money, hurt public policy, hamper business, and make us increasingly ignorant even as information becomes increasingly valuable. But I’ll have lots more chances to write about statistical methodology.”

I’m glad that Gardner took the time to give this all too prevalent attitude some heat. If you’re like me, you’re getting pretty tired of being told that we shouldn’t give the Conservatives a hard time about what they’re doing to this country, because if we do, they’ll just do something worse out of spite. As far as I’m concerned, if we don’t speak up, then things are going to get worse anyway.

After all, I think the stuff they’re trying to get away with as a matter of course – often hoping that we won’t even notice that they’re trying to get away with it – is bad enough as it is. We shouldn’t be compelled to accept it just because the government might punish us for criticizing it, because here’s the thing: the government doesn’t get to act that way.

At the risk of sounding childish, when an elected government says “Screw you,” the people who elected that government to serve them are supposed to say “No, you know what? Screw you.”

Not only is it our right, but it’s also our duty. And it’s a duty we ought to be exercising at every viable opportunity between now and the election that’s finally going to get these guys off the Hill.

Posted in Democracy