How Census-Gate Will Change Canada

The long-form census tells Canadians about themselves. Harper is more interested in telling Canadians who they should be.

When Stephen Harper’s Conservatives decided, out of the blue, that Canada’s long-form census needed to be changed, the first question most people asked was why. Not why do they think something is wrong with it, but why did they decide to make an issue out of something few Canadians even knew existed.

The answer is that Stephen Harper doesn’t like Canada.

He has an ideal in his mind as to what this country should resemble, one that we are far from today. It is his intention to redesign Canada. But in order to do so he needs to convince Canadians that his vision is the correct one. And in order to do that he needs to blur the existing reality of the country.

Stephen Harper does not want to represent Canadians. Rather, he wants Canadians to conform to his ideal.

His wish is for Canada to become more like the Unites States with its melting pot mentality. When you live in the U.S. you are American first, everything else second. But Canada, as sociologist John Porter noted, is a cultural mosaic. We are a country that can hold our diverse cultural heritage, languages, and religions and a patriotic love for our country in equal esteem. One need not be sacrificed to protect the other.

Stephen Harper wants us to forget this fact as he moves us toward a more homogeneous identity. This would be one that sees Canadians as mere numbers instead of diverse individuals.

The long-form census is one of the best tools available to politicians to inform them about the people they represent. Any politician who would forsake this vital information is clearly not interested in representing who we are. They would rather dictate who we should be.

Stephen Harper has found that, despite his best efforts, he cannot convince us of his vision of Canada. He has therefore decided to blind us to the reality of what Canada is and who Canadians are.