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The Canadian Census? 'Count Me In'?

As readers here know, I have been posting about the CountMeOut campaign to give minimum co-operation to the Canadian Census.

Murray Dobbin has written a different viewpoint about this. He is saying that this is the wrong way to go about what we are trying to accomplish. In effect he says that our government has been hijacked and we should be fighting to take it back but we can't do that by demonizing it. Dobbin further states that the CountMeOut strategy "is the wrong strategy targeting the wrong agency", and would hurt one of our most important government agencies. He says that's why when it comes to the Census you "should count yourself in".

What do you think about this contentious issue about which the debates are ongoing, with many opposed to Dobbin's article and some people opposed to the census altogether, as well as a rebuttal by Susan Thompson, founder/president of Vive le Canada?

There's a tug-of-war going on amongst progressive activists on the question of whether to boycott - or give minimum co-operation to - the Census, due to be completed by May 16. Lockheed Martin Canada (along with IBM) won a contract to provide software and hardware for the Census. Its status as one of the world's largest arms manufacturers in combination with the U.S. Patriot Act is at the core of the call for non-co-operation.

The principal organizer and promoter of the boycott of the Census comes in the form of the website CountMeOut whose motto is "Empowering every Canadian to oppose NAFTA and deep integration through minimum co-operation" with the Census.

The problem with this notion of empowerment and the call for minimal co-operation is it's just the wrong strategy, targeting the wrong agency. A successful boycott would have no impact whatever on Lockheed Martin but would hurt one of the most important government agencies we have working for us.

Read the rest of Murray Dobbin's article here.

posted by Annamarie at 11:29 PM