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For Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government, it's one of the rare times cabinet has unabashedly tipped its hat to the libertarians that form part of its base of support. Harper himself hails from the libertarian side of the Conservative party tent.
"All that the census is, and I say this as someone who once worked for (Statistics) Canada, is an intrusion into the privacy of the individual," writer Hugh Macintyre posted last week on the Freedom is my Nationality and Western Standard blogs.
"So I applaud the government for at least taking this small step towards ensuring greater privacy."
The decision has garnered aggressive opposition from a wide cross-section of groups that use the data in decision making — from municipalities, to academics and business organizations.
Some of those angry with the move will hold a major press conference on Tuesday, to underline that the voluntary long survey will not produce reliable results.
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http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=n3915379I only have one quibble and that is that harper hails from the libertarian side, he hails from the homophobic, racist, anti-choice, neocon side of the 'tent' and the 'tent' is a two-person pup tent.