Reformers to Spend 25 Million of OUR Money on a Problem THEY Created!

Stephen Harper once wrote in an op-ed piece that he was for Alberta first, and the rest of Canada a distant second.

Rich coming from a man born and raised in Toronto.

But if he had made Alberta his home and felt a sense of pride in the province, I can understand that. But the rest of Canada "a distant second"?

Nice to know that our current prime minister holds us in such esteem.

So should we be surprised to learn that he going to spend 25 million dollars of our money to convince us that his latest horrendous decision is good for us?

An aide to Mr. Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.) confirmed what a source told The Hill Times—that $25-million of the $30-million Mr. Clement referred to as advertising money to promote the long questionnaire is actually for additional follow-up once the short census, which by law is mandatory to complete and return to government, is mailed to all Canadian households. The government is aware, without saying so publicly, that its decision to replace the 40-year-old mandatory version of the long census will likely result in confusion among Canadians over which of the forms they must fill out by law, the source said.

And they are preaching austerity?

Understandably, this is lowering morale at StatsCan.

The fallout from the Conservative government's decision to axe the mandatory long form census, which led Canada's chief statistician to resign in protest, is affecting morale in a "major way" within Statistics Canada, say sources close to the department. On July 21 the head of Statistics Canada, Munir Sheikh, resigned his post, and when he appeared before the House of Commons Industry Committee on July 27 he said it was the perception in the media, possibly caused by comments made by Industry Minister Tony Clement (Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.), that he was in support of the Harper government's decision to scrap the mandatory long form census that caused him to quit.

"The fact that in the media and in the public that there was this perception that Statistics Canada was supporting a decision that no statistician would, it really casts doubt on the integrity of that agency, and I as head of that agency cannot survive in that job," he told the committee on Tuesday.

Herr Harper must be thrilled. He hates civil servants almost as much as he hates women, facts, Liberals, Red Tories, the media, children, the poor, Canadians, scientists ...

And speaking of scientists: