As a group representing minority francophones tries to stop the Harper government from scrapping the long-form census in Federal Court today, Liberals are calling for the Conservative government to listen to them and end this needless court battle.
“Minority francophones are protesting Stephen Harper’s ‘I make the rules’ approach to governing,” said Liberal Critic for Official Languages Mauril Bélanger. “They were the first to decry the census decision, and have since been joined by more than 350 groups, including provincial and municipal governments. The Conservatives continue to stonewall in the face of this widespread opposition, showing just how out of touch they have become.”
The Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada will be in the Federal Court today and tomorrow to ask the court to void the government’s long form census decision in order to keep it mandatory.
Earlier this year, the group filed a complaint with the Official Languages Commissioner arguing the Harper government’s cut to the census violates the Official Languages Act and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Francophone groups were also forced to take the government to court over its decision to scrap the Court Challenges Program.
“Canadians should not have to constantly go to court to force this government to respect their rights,” said Liberal Critic for Industry, Science and Technology Marc Garneau. “Time and again, Stephen Harper puts his party’s ideological agenda ahead of what Canadians need, while stomping on their basic rights as citizens.
“It’s time to bring sense back to the census. The Liberal Party is on the side of groups like the Federation of Francophone and Acadian Communities of Canada in their fight against the census decision, and do everything we can to reverse it – starting with our motion in the House of Commons,” he said.
The Liberal motion, to be debated tomorrow, calls on the Conservative government to reinstate the mandatory long-form census and amend the Statistics Act in order to remove the threat of jail time for people who do not fill out the long-form census.
“Canadians rely on the federal government for a multitude of services, and they expect our federal government to make wise decisions based on sound information,” concluded Mr. Garneau.
