Tories Blink On Census: Change Short Form, Drop Jail Penalty
Posted August 11, 2010 5:05 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
The Harper government has blinked in the face of a challenge to its controversial census changes.
Industry Minister Tony Clement announced today that the government will add three linguistic questions to the mandatory short-form census.
It is also dropping the threat of jail for people who do not complete any mandatory government survey.
The moves come after a court challenge by a francophone group which argues the changes violate their Charter rights and the Official Languages Act.
Earlier today, opposition parties called on the Tories to reinstate the mandatory long-form census and drop jail penalties.
The government has been under fire since it announced in July that it’s making the long-form survey voluntary – a move Statistics Canada says won’t produce reliable data.
