Oh My! Steve Now Alienates Businesses With His Decision To Cut the Census–Who Exactly Benefits From Steve’s Relentlessness?

Yes, the latest group to get pissed with ol’ sweater vest Steve is, apparently, the business community.  Businesses, too, rely on the data compiled by StatsCan from the Mandatory long census forms to effectively conduct business. And no, they say, a voluntary form just won’t cut it.

For Ms. Pickard’s clients, and for hundreds of thousands of entrepreneurs across Canada, the census is both a direct and indirect source of reliable information, and helps to form a road map for where they want to go. Now, the small and medium-sized businesses who lack the marketing muscle to conduct their own private surveys stand to be among those most affected by the plan to drop the mandatory long-form census.

Alternatives to the census are more costly, more time-consuming and will result in poorer information, says Ms. Pickard, whose firm, Pickard & Laws, is based in Mississauga, Ont. “The picture of life in Canada will be fragmented,” she said. With a voluntary survey, her company “won’t be able to provide the same level of service and quality of information as we’ve been able to do over many years.”

The list of those who want to keep the mandatory long form census is indeed a long one; far longer than those who don’t. Speaking of which, the latter is the usual suspects, you know, Fraser  Institute, Ezzy IrreLevant, Lorne Gunter.  Click the above link for the complete lists.  Of course, they’re not all “special interest” groups as Steve may like to put it.

Well, Steve, Tony…the evangelicals, Jewish groups,  seniors (who do show up to vote for you), economists, who are supposted to be your friends and now businesses want you to keep the census. What will it take for you to relent?

In the Globe & Mail article I linked to earlier, a commenter asks a very interesting question we should all be asking ourselves.  Here’s commenter Trillian Rand @11:52:31AM this morning:

This article would have more impact if our Conservative government was interested in gathering votes from businesspeople and business owners, but it should now be obvious that it is not. Its core lays elsewhere, certainly not in the boardrooms that vote to give funds to Conservative coffers.

Perhaps the single most important and unasked question in making the long form census voluntary is: why? It is obviously not popular and a government as strategically savvy as Mr Harper’s should have seen this before announcing the change. It bothers not only ‘leftie loons’, but many who undoubtedly contribute to the Conservative war chest.

So why? What group has such leverage that it can make Mr Harper do something so outrageous that it endangers a source of income? And, let us not forget, makes one of his ministers look the fool. Who benefits?

The very fact that many on the right, who normally vote and/or even contribute to the Harpercon war chest, are just as displeased with Steve’s decision and stubbornness to not change his mind regarding the banning of the mandatory long form census, is evident that this is about much more than Stephen Taylor’s prophecies of removing the social safety net, as for the most part, much of the right would like to see, at the very least, some of the welfare state trimmed, anyway.  Otherwise, why wouldn’t Steve simply relent and maintain the mandatory long census to appease his own base and attempt to find other hideous ways of stripping the welfare state? Being the master tactician that he is, I’m sure that is mere child’s play for the Master, hisself. And another good question that poster asks; why is it so worth it for Tony Clement to continue to look like an absolute buffoon drives his clown car backwards at every turn?

By the by, the long list of those who want to keep the mandatory long form census  includes Harpercon MP from the riding of Edmonton-Leduc, James Rajotte.  Oh dear, he may have hell to pay for not following Master Steve’s party lines, so anyone who dares to speak against master Steve gets  my attention and respect. I only hope he hasn’t wavered for having the wrath of “gawd” in his face as of late.  I haven’t found any recent news of him one way or the other.  Remember how Fern Hill and JJ were musing about whether or not it is possible for the left and the right  to find common ground and work together on certain issues?  Well, keeping the mandatory long form census issue would definitely qualify. In fact, I would say that it is more important than ever at this point to find a way to work with the right to make Steve relent.  We must also get to the bottom of the truth, because, one thing is certain,  Steve & Tony working this hard and sacrificing their constituents, basically just to scrap the mandatory long census; bet that there are definitely more sinister forces at work here.