The common man (day 328)

I'd say I write to the government about 4 times a year.  Since Harper has been in power it's been more frequent.  This last bit about the census long form is so enraging I'm having trouble formulating a rational letter...I seem to quickly descend into sarcasm.  It's not hard to go there.  Harper says he's appealing to the "common man" who he claims doesn't want to fill out a long census form (which is not actually that long).   Who exactly is this common man?  I'm guessing he votes conservative.  Didn't we get enough of Joe the Plumber during the US election? 

I worked for Statistics Canada during my undergrad.  It was one of the most memorable jobs I've had.  The people there are so enthusiastic about what they do.  They LOVE data.  Just love it.  They crunch numbers all day and produce reports and are just really interested in what is hidden in there.  I learned something about the importance of proper data collection during my stint at Stats Can.  I also learned that our privacy is protected and that even if you report growing acres of marijuana there is no way that they can report you.  Nor would they want to.  They would rather know because that's their job.  They are there to inform policy and decisions.  I would love to get the long form because I know I'd be making some statisticians very happy.

I view filling out the long form as a very very small sacrifice of time to something helpful and necessary.  It's like jury duty only much less onerous.  Making it voluntary won't work because people are lazy and forgetful.  We need to get the proper distribution of data across the country to maintain accuracy.  There are people that know how to do that and we employ them.  Our head statistician just resigned.  Surely that's an important data point for Mr. Harper.  I'll help him:  It means "butt out and let us do our job.  The common man may never know it but it will help him too."

A song for this post.