The CBC Gets Dragged Into the Census Debate
The Liberals have released a fake census questionnaire intended to mock the Conservative government.
The fake census, called the “Voluntary Conservative Census Form,” intends to paint Conservatives as narrow-minded louts for scrapping the mandatory census.
It asks such questions as “Are there any rooms in your house where you keep books? If so, why?”
It also includes a question specifically about the CBC: “How many CBC shows do you watch? Do you feel bad about this? How much money do you think the government should waste on the CBC?”
The Globe has more on this here.
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Are you sure it wasn’t the Conservative Party of Canada posing as Liberals who did this? I mean, it’s very, very, very, very easy to believe the Liberals would privately and publicly says these sorts of things, but surely they haven’t got that much of a death wish, do they? Maybe they do.
Either way, it sure smells like sulphur – er – Liberal Party shenanigans. Gotta keep the masses’ minds off Iggy’s disastrous bus tour and other recent flops.
By the way, did anyone watch the live proceedings of the Standing Committee on Industry Science and Technology on CPAC? It’s on their website.
Tony Clement was appearing before the Committee to answer questions. No matter what you may think about the census thing or the CPC, no one could deny that the (dis)Honorable Members from the Lib and Dipper side of the aisle were extremely rude and disruptive in their questions, to the point of being like children – on camera, yet.
Clement was cool, calm and unfazed by his opponent’s silly behaviour. He came out of it smelling like roses, not sulphur. Not so, for the Dippers and Libs, though.
Keep going folks. You’re digging your own grave.
Taber is a hopeless shill and her reporting on a Liberal blog is just another example of how pathetic she is. As I pointed out on that blog, the joke questions are no more stupid than the actual questions the census is asking. Why don’t we see hear more about the actual questions instead of this sad straw man.
She doesn’t mention Warren Kinsella who has been very public in his condemnation and refusal to fill out that form. None of the governments business says the prominent Liberal. For once, I can agree with him.
The Liberals are right. The CBC *is* a partisan voicebox for the Liberal Party.
And it’s definitely a waste.
Again Louise, respectfully, you seem to be missing the point.
Instead of concerning yourself with optics and impressions, why not recognize and deal with the real issue at hand: ideology taking precedence over facts, figures and empirical evidence?
I remind you that the ideologue’s worst nightmare is an intelligent and enlightened citizenry.
It perplexes me as to why you insist on defending a government that hates government.
What facts, figures, and empirical evidence?
“It perplexes me as to why you insist on defending a government that hates government.”
Because government is the problem, and is seldom the solution. People who love having the government involve itself in our lives tend to vote for left-wing parties and love socialism and the CBC. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I responded to another thread with the following piece which more correctly belongs in this thread. Excerpt:
Conservatives no longer do facts or statistics (see statistics imbroglio) because when you have strong beliefs, you don’t need facts. To demonstrate this claim, I refer you to the datalibre.ca web site where there are lists comparing organizations and individuals supporting the long form census and those opposing it. Currently, the list is 212 supporting the long form and 6 who would like to end it.
Let’s examine the 6 who would like to end it:
1. National Citizens Coalition census
2. The Fraser Institute
3. Lorne Gunther and Ezra Levant, National Post
4. Canadian Taxpayers Federation
5. Toronto Sun editorial
6. Terence Corcoran, Columnist National Post
http://datalibre.ca/census-watch/
None of these are organizations or individuals who would use data from the long form for major planning initiatives. There’s no representatives of industry, government, or even evangelical religious organizations there. So what do the above all have in common? They all have a desire to end what they see as the “welfare state” in Canada. And killing the census data or making it unreliable would further that end. If you can’t prove with numbers that poverty exists, there’s no reason for any anti-poverty programs. Stephen Taylor, a conservative blogger, seems to have agreed with this motive in a post on the National Post web site:
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/07/26/stephen-taylor-the-beginning-of-the-end-of-the-canadian-welfare-state/#more-7740
Off topic:
Another example of Hirsi Ali completely trumping a CBC hack. This time it’s Jian Ghomeshi and he goes better than Avi Lewis but the result is the same. This is a brilliant and well spoken woman who definately should get more air time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jisYWdj_HU&feature=player_embedded
fogcutter: “ideology taking precedence over facts, figures and empirical evidence?”
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That’s what I think, too. (Of the CBC, that is)
fogcutter: “I remind you that the ideologue’s worst nightmare is an intelligent and enlightened citizenry.”
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Exactly. Thanks for the endorsement. At least with CPAC, you get live coverage of real events. You can see what politicians and others actually said and in what context. CBC’s worst nightmare.
“Indeed in this country, there are two groups of people. In fact, some would call these groups the haves and the have-nots. This is an not inaccurate way of describing it, but those that would might have the two switched. Canadians form two groups: those that receive from the government and those that pay to the government. Those who form — or are constituent to — organizations dependent on government policy (and spending) are firmly against the changes to the census. Those on the other side are largely ambivalent because they are the large, unorganized and unsubsidized net taxpaying masses.”
So, there you have it: socialist CBC-loving parasites — who detract from the system — value the census, while most Canadians, who I’d like to think actually *gasp* PAY into the system, don’t give a hoot.
I filled out the census a couple years ago. The questions made no sense, so I just made up answers for most of it. I ticked a lot of “other” boxes, and claimed my religion was Queen Escobar frmo the Alpha-Centauri sector. And hasn’t stats Canada and the census been attacked because it’s inaccurate?
Warren Kinsella, famed Liberal spinmeister, came out and clearly said that the long form was intrusive and refused to fill it out.
Is he wrong too?
Louise,
The CBC drives you nuts because it is obligated to attempt to objectively show the full spectrum of positions on an issue. (Of course, they can’t be right-on every time.) Anything that does not resonate with your ideology is therefore deemed biased and unacceptable.
Your position is questionable, at best, due to the simple fact that the Sun chain, for instance, actively represents the right-wing and demonizes any point of view that differs with the conservative agenda. Where is their attempt at fairness? They don’t have to even try — that’s the point.
So, you do not disagree with bias per se, just as long as yours is the one that dominates. I prefer to hear and research both sides and then decide for myself. You should try it.
Does the Conservative party allow that?
21,000 Canadians claimed their religion was Jedi.
They are now lobbying to keep the census to keep their “status”.
The CBC hasn’t mentioned this in this debate.
http://jedicensus.com/
Can it be so valuable if 21,000 and one (Dilbert) make an open joke of the process?
Fogcutter: “it is obligated to attempt to objectively show the full spectrum of positions on an issue”
Hah! HAH! HAH!
Yet another reason to defund the thing, then. They have failed, miserably, to even “attempt”.
Fogcutter is quite correct. CBC has numerous panel discussions to discuss the day’s issues, featuring pundits from both left and right including members of all federal parties being given their say. Louise, you are truly going through life with your blinkers on if you continuously refuse to acknowledge this. Apparently, all the rightwingers want to hear is their own opinions fed back to them ad nauseum. Okay, Louise, you can follow up with your predictable neo-con rhetoric including maniacal internet laughter….
Oh, and dear Fogcutter: Why are you lefties so selective in your interpretations of what I and other righties say?
“Your position is questionable, at best, due to the simple fact that the Sun chain, for instance, actively represents the right-wing and demonizes any point of view that differs with the conservative agenda. Where is their attempt at fairness? They don’t have to even try — that’s the point.”
So, just to make it very, very clear for you:
I AM NOT FORCED TO PAY FOR SUN NEWS.
Got it?
Nah. I didn’t think so.
Pete in ‘Sauga’: “Fogcutter is quite correct. CBC has numerous panel discussions to discuss the day’s issues, featuring pundits from both left and right including members of all federal parties being given their say. Louise, you are truly going through life with your blinkers on if you continuously refuse to acknowledge this.”
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Pete, you are truly going through life with your blinkers on if you continuously refuse to acknowledge that my issue is twofold:
a) It’s who they hire and who gets to make the decisions about programming and what subjects to focus on in their interviewing panels. In other words, it’s the machinery “inside” the monster, not who they choose to pluck off the streets to put under their microscope.
b) And even if that weren’t the case, it’s the fact that it is publicly funded. But even with your blinkers on and your earplugs in, you’ve heard that one before, haven’t ya? Just a little tone deaf.
CBC is NOT fair and balanced. 80% of the topics are spun with left-wing slant and feature left-wing guests.
Eighty percent, huh?
Care to back that up with anything that isn’t from a “friendly” think-tank?
CBC is not fair and balanced. Nothing is. What the heck is fair and balanced anyway? Scientific? When there’s a story about evolution do you really think it’s necessary to even speak of creationism? I mean, that would be just STUPID.
‘Right wing’ people are parasites. ‘Left wing’ people are symbiotic.
Species that tolerate parasitic elements for too long go extinct.
Species that ignore dangers go extinct.
I hope ‘Right wing’ people decide to help rather than harm everyone else, but if Stephen Harper is any indication we shouldn’t hold our breath.
Perhaps we should do something about it?
I wager you’re a “CBC” ‘Filmmakka’!
CBC is the epitome of “parasitic elements” ; an entity on artificial life support. A laughing stock, cherished only by a small percentage of Canadians and a narrow political landscape.
The CBC is complacent in running away from the issue of islamisation, unsustinable public employees’ pensions, the unsustainable ponzi scheme of nationalized healthcare, the erosion of personal responsibility, blaming guns for crime as in blaming forks for obesity, etc. But to address these problems would be to attack the CBC’s only audience, while stakeholders change the channel.
Filkmakka: “Species that ignore dangers go extinct.”
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That’s very funny. And just a few short keystrokes after your creationism versus evolution argument, too.
Since when has a species been able to save itself from extinction by paying attention to dangers? It’s the inability to adapt to changes in their environment that drives extinction. Unless, you think species can will themselves into a new life form in order to avoid the danger they may see around them. But that would be closer to a creationist mindset, so maybe you should take your brilliant analysis back to the drawing board and come up with something better.
CBC cannot adapt. It doesn’t want to adapt. The forces in the environment are too overwhelming. The future is TV-less. New media is taking care of that. Even if CBC continues to be propped up by the tax-payer, that won’t give it an audience, especially since new media is the playground of the up and coming generation.
Those who object to the elimination of the long-form census are those who need that information for social engineering purposes. Oh dear. What will they do without it?
Of course the liberals who make this blog have to link the very leftwing “Globe” to back up their arguments. Big surprise.
You’re calling The Globe and Mail – owned by Bell, the same guys that own CTV – “leftwing”?
Seriously?
Those guys, if they behave in a “leftwing” manner at all, are going to do so only so far as it maintains their profitability or desirability of ownership to their shareholders. No further than that. And if there is pressure from the shareholders to behave thusly, that may be a story worth the telling in its own right. We’ve been treated to a variety of stories from various sources across the continent in recent years about the push for accountability to those same shareholders in any number of companies, and the same again for shareholder perception of their responsibilities to their companies’ employees, customers and neighbours.
Rob, it would be interesting to see if you’re right about the Globe and Mail and how it fits into that shareholder issues context.
What say you?