Opposition takes census fight to Parliament

A bill will be tabled on Oct. 1 that would make it illegal to get rid of the long form census.

On Wednesday the opposition successfully saved the long gun registry from a Conservative bill to scrap it. With that first major victory in the fall session of Parliament under their belts, they’re now turning to the summer’s other hot button political issue and will attempt to save the long form census. The Tories replaced the mandatory census with a voluntary one in June, saying the mandatory form was intrusive. The move was hugely unpopular among the civil service, nonprofit groups, religious groups, and municipalities. A bill submitted by the Liberals to House of Commons yesterday would make the mandatory long form census part of the Statistics Act.