Wednesday 14 December 2011

Don't Confuse me with the Facts I'm Trying to Run a Country

What does the Conservative Party of Canada have against facts?  What is so wrong with empirical data? Are questions I would love to ask our Prime Minister.

It started last year by downgrading our national census, the government's most reliable way to know the make up of Canada's demographics and major planning tool.  Nope lets scrap that for a survey that is less reliable because it is optional and will only be answered by people who like to take surveys.  All of the experts on data gathering spoke out publicly saying that this was ludicrous but the Conservatives said too bad we're the government and we can do what we want.

Then there was the crime bill.  It is harder to find an expert that agrees with this bill than disagrees.  Every major organization that deals with crime from law enforcement on down told this government that this bill was on the wrong track... but the Conservatives said we're in power too bad.

Most recently, the government has started laying off scientists at the National Research Council of Canada and Fisheries and Oceans Canada.  I can only guess that this is because science disagrees with the Conservative position on climate change and the environment.  Mr. Harper has already pulled us out of the Kyoto Accord.  The government has publicly stated that science that has commercial implications is more important to them and are the projects that will get funded.  Science that protects our environment does not align well with the development of the tar sands.






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2 comments:

  1. Exactly! Great post. There was a great long-form essay in The Mark last year about this question that you might be interested in: http://www.themarknews.com/articles/1907-when-smart-parties-make-stupid-decisions

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  2. Guys, really, when you have an ideology to follow you don't care what the facts are!

    This worked very well for the deregulation of the financial industry and was most noticeable when derivatives where specifically excluded from oversight and regulation -- because free markets always know what is best for us.

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