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Liberal MP Joyce Murray had an interesting take on the census debate:
A Liberal MP from Vancouver has said the Conservative government’s move to scrap the mandatory long-form census and make it voluntary is “definitely part of a pattern that is very bad for democracy and bad for Canada”.
“This is also part of the pattern of trying to control the independent agencies and offices of Parliament that are the oversight to government and are a very important part of our democracy,” Joyce Murray, the MP for Vancouver Quadra, told the Straight by phone today (July 22). “Having those neutral agencies and voices to be able to speak to Canadians is a very important [part of] governance. And that is what separates a government from a tyranny.”
Independent agencies are what fundamentally separate a good government from a tyrannical government, really? It isn’t civil liberties, free speech, or property rights. The most important feature of good government is independent agencies? Are you kidding me?
Oh don’t get me wrong, there is certainly merit to having certain functions of government out of reach of a politician’s control. Offices of Parliament are also most important when they are able to operate independently of any influence of a political party. Yet to say that these are features that distinguish Canada from a North Korea is an exaggeration that does nothing but make Ms. Murray look absurd.
Ms. Murray looks even more ridiculous when you consider that Stats Canada is not an independent agency of Parliament or any other government body. It is part of the portfolio of Minister Tony Clement and the Minister has responsibility for the actions and policy of Stats Canada. Mr. Clement made a policy decision that was completely within his rights to make. To argue that the census reform is undue interference with Stats Canada would be like arguing that ordering a deployment is undue interference with the military.
The very basis of Westminster democracy is Ministerial responsibility, but apparently for Joyce Murray this is tyranny.
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4 comments:
Ms. Murray is just an example of how completely out of touch Progressives are with fundamental rights.
This is just another in a very long line of "scandals" that the Liberals will wail, moan and get their collective panties in a bunch about. As long as they are in front of the camera maybe no one will notice Mr Ignatieff's limp tour bus non-event, playing to crowds of dozens.
Ask any ordinary voter, tax paying long suffering Canadian how he or she feels about the long form. This really is a good example of how disconnected the Liberals are from ordinary Canadians. Whats creeping me out is how little Justin the self proclaimed "lottery winner" is getting into all Mr Ignatieff's pictures.
Iggy is just visiting, putting in time! "Heir-apparent" Justin is being groomed and primed for the future "Trudeau-mania(c)" leader.
Joyce Murray has lost the narrative, I daresay.
Liberal democracy is predicated on the notion of voluntary association. Only the most basic requiements of beloning to a society in question are compulsory, and if one does not like it, one has the option of leaving and seeking membership in another society where the terms are deemed more agreeable to them.
The long-form census goes beyond that. It makes the provision of information beyond what government needs compulsory.
Whether this is done through an allegedly-independent agency (by the way, there is no such thing as an independent government agency. The QUANGO is perhaps the most ingenious ideoligical invention of the far left) or by the government directly is immaterial.
The government moving to coerce compliance with its every whim -- and it seems like many questions on the long-form census were placed there upon someone's whim -- is tyranny.
Someone kindly inform Joyce Murray.
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