Unlikely hero for unlikely civil war

[CHIMO]

OTTAWA – An unlikely national cause – the census – now has an unlikely hero in what may be erupting into open battle between politics and bureaucracy in the nation’s capital.

With his abrupt resignation on principle this week, Munir Sheikh, Canada’s chief statistician, is emerging as a symbol of public service defiance amid what seems to be an escalating political challenge to civil servants this summer by Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government.

Even as the dust from the census controversy continues to swirl, for instance, Treasury Board President Stockwell Day announced in a statement on Thursday that he was rethinking affirmative action policies in the public service.

“While we support diversity in the public service, we want to ensure that no Canadian is barred from opportunities in the public service based on race or ethnicity,” Day said in a statement.
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/census/article/839189--unlikely-hero-for-unlikely-civil-war?bn=1
So. Who's next? Now that we have an example. CSIS?

[BolivarianHero]

1. The far-right is overplaying its hand.

The minute you realise that parties to the left of the Liberals have the support of a plurality of Canadians, you realise how feeble and worthless Harper's mandate really. I can't stand the way the executive is using its powers to block the will of Parliament. We saw it first with Khadr and now with the census.

Statistics Canada (soon to be rebranded as Canada's New Data Collection Agency knowing the Harpocon modus operandi) is a world-class organisation, and I think both the caliber of the research and the caliber of the people there is second to none. The Sun was so desperate that they had to find a right-wing nut like Ezra Levant to write a column in defense of the government's extremism.

Much more importantly than the census (though losing the long-form data is a public policy nightmare waiting to happen, which is why anyone in this country with two working brain cells is pretty pissed off), however, is that the Harper government's continued abuse of executive powers to override the will of Parliament (the primary reason we still have an ex-child soldier rotting away in Gitmo) is an affront to all Canadians and must not be tolerated.

I don't really feel like filling out the census anymore (as a political science major and as someone who generally finds these things fascinating, I had been looking forward to it); I don't want my information going to an organisation that has been infested by the meddling of hard-right demagogues and I have no confidence in such an organisation. Maybe Harper wants us to feel this way so as to pave the path toward more privatisation.

[daleo]

2. Have you read The Wrecking Crew?

The basic thesis is that the hard right is causing havoc specifically so that people come to distrust government in general, even if they aren't conservatives. A 'pox on all your houses" conclusion serves the conservative agenda just fine.

[BolivarianHero]

3. Never read it...

I am familiar with the concept though. It's the central mission of the Canadian and American right and of Britons who falsely claim the mantle of social democracy.

[daleo]

4. It's a good book, if you come across it

It lays out the historical development of this strategy.

[BolivarianHero]

5. Wow...

I loved What's the Matter with Kansas.

[daleo]

6. Yeah, same guy

I haven't had a chance to read the Kansas book yet. I've got to get that one some day.