CARP

Expiry Date

/ ginny200 / Leave a comment

Shelly Glover’s ‘expiry date’ quip riles seniors – The Globe and Mail.

This woman is an MP who is a parliamentary secretary to the Finance Minister. Apparently she thinks ageism is an okay prejudice. She “quips” that Anita Neville, who is 68 years old and a Winnipeg MP is “beyond her expiry date.” Her age, Glover says, oh no I wasn’t talking about her age, just how long she has occupied her seat. She doesn’t seem to realize that to us who are I suppose also over our expiry date, denigrating Ms Neville’s years of experience and comparing her to…what? a carton of old milk, is worse than simply saying she is old.

It wasn’t reported whether Glover said anything about how well or poorly Ms. Neville has served her constituents, whether she has been an active or noninvolved member of the House, or even if she had a sterling or shabby attendance record. No, the only thing that mattered was her longevity.

CARP has taken great exception to this statement, rightly seeing it as expressing how Ms Glover views the elderly. I  am concerned that this woman has the ear of the finance minister, and may have ambition to move into Flaherty’s job if he moves to another portfolio( not that a woman in that job is too likely if Harper wins).

Just another straw to add to the stack on the camel. i wonder when it will be enough.

Long-form census

/ ginny200 / Leave a comment

datalibre.ca · Uses of Census Long-form data – Question Justification.

http://kempton.wordpress.com/2010/07/20/voluntary-census-long-form-questionnaire-wasting-35-years-worth-of-canadians-census-effort/

Harper’s census push months in the making – The Globe and Mail.

The controversy re the long form census continues. The link from datalibra details the various uses for the information in the long form. Kempton, in his blog laments the waste of all the previous censuses. The next point in the graph will be missing, he says.

The Globe and Mail reporter Michael Valpy interviews Harper’s thesis advisor, and he suggests the decision is ideologically driven by a “libertarian philosophy.”

Jane Tabor in the Ottawa Citizen says if you want libertarians, look to the seniors and they are angry over the decision and have no trouble with the privacy issue. The link to her column follows: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ottawa-notebook/retirees-wary-of-tory-census-move/article1651910/

A CARP conducted poll show the Tories slipping an amazing 10 points among their members, who are among the usually stalwart Tory voters.

I recall that my mother, who lived to almost 85, had trouble with the census in any form, not because of the questions, or the government having the information, but because it was a neighbour acting as census taker. She objected to someone in the community knowing her business. That doesn’t seem to be an issue for CARP members.

In medicine, samples have to be representative of the population being studied. If too many drop out, the study is invalid. I think we need the mandatory count so we can be sure of our information, and decisions based on it. Facts, not philosophy.