Revolutionary Moderation

To virtually no one's surprise

It turns out the Tories are a bunch of lying liars who lie.  I still can't figure out why they've bothered.  Do they really have such an ideological hate on for the long-form census that this is the hill they're willing to die on?

You know, during the 2006 election, I kept hearing how the Sponsorship scandal was evidence that the Liberals had become too arrogant, and how some bench time would remind them they need to answer to Canadians.  It seems like less than five years in government, and the Conservative government is well overdue that same lesson.

I understood their battle on the long gun registry.  Never mind that it's many degrees cheaper to administrate than it was to set up, or that law enforcement agencies were lining up to beg the law-and-order party to keep the registry as a tool in the police arsenal.  Never mind all that, because the Conservatives had made a commitment to their base, and in particular to the farmier portions of their base.  It's tough to entirely fault them for attempting to follow through, even if they got involved in some pretty ugly tactics in the process.

But the long form census?  Who did they promise this scrapping to?  Who cared about this issue, until the Conservatives decided it was a good idea?

Well, as we discovered today, no one cared, outside of a few nutty constituents who warmed up their pencil crayons and sent the government a good scribbling.  I don't doubt a couple of those came pre-packaged with tinfoil and hat assembly instructions, to help out.

So I ask again, without irony or preconceived answer.  What am I missing on the benefit side of the calculation, that the Tories continue to feel is worth this ever-steepening political cost?