Home Page

This time, “Count Me In” could easily become “Count Me Out”

Uncategorized Comments (0)

Canadian Census Information at Peril

By Dick Proctor, MP Palliser

What does it say about the independence and sovereignty of our country when an American corporation specializing in warfare wins the contract to undertake the next Canadian census in 2006?
 
If you think this is Ripley’s believe it or not, think again. Lockheed Martin, best known for producing military aircraft, munitions, electronic warfare, satellites and anti-tank weapons was awarded a multi-million dollar contract by Industry Canada to prepare a 2004 test run of the next Canadian census.
 
According to its website, more than 80 per cent of Lockheed-Martin sales are to the U.S. Defence Department and the U.S. Office for Homeland Security. Their corporate slogan is:  “We never forget who we’re working for”.

That’s why my colleague Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg Transcona) asked the Industry Minister last fall which section of the Pentagon would store the Canadian census information.
 
Our census is conducted every five years. It tracks everything from income to religion to education levels. The data collected provides a roadmap of our nation’s population and economic growth, shedding nuggets of valuable information o­n social, economic and cultural trends.

Federal, municipal and provincial governments find census data invaluable in making informed projections about economic growth and developing social programs.
 
Ottawa justifies its decision to contract out the census work to Lockheed Martin by stating that Statistics Canada – which has always performed the census work — lacks the “in-house expertise” to support the new automated census processes.
 
Ottawa tries to allay our worst fears by stating that: “no confidential data will leave Canada and all census data will always remain under the control of Statistics Canada employees”.
 
But, hold o­n a moment. Did Saskatchewan’s privacy commissioner not warn recently that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had the ability via the Patriot Act to access personal information about Saskatchewan residents?
 
The Patriot Act, rushed through Congress after the 9-11 terrorist attacks, allows the FBI to order organizations to turn over information. A “gag” provision then prohibits the organization from informing others that their data has been turned over to the spooks.
 
Legal experts caution that Canadian subsidiaries of U.S. companies – including Lockheed Martin — would be forced to comply with the Patriot Act.
 
In British Columbia, the provincial Liberals are busy privatizing its Medical Services Plan as well as the PharmaCare plan. Two American-based companies are shortlisted to win these contracts.
 
The B.C. Health Minister had stated earlier that the American government could not pass a law to access data owned by the province that never leaves the province. But, with the sweeping powers of the Patriot Act, such assurance is in doubt.
 
“This has the potential for being the biggest privacy issue we have ever dealt with,” said the director of policy and compliance for the B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner’s office.
 
For more than 100 years, Canadians have dutifully provided critical information to representatives of Statistics Canada.
 
The slogan at census time is “Count Me In”. By awarding the contract to an American company, the government’s well-founded fear is that, even if it’s against the law, so many Canadians will refuse to participate that the exercise will be invalid.
 
This time, “Count Me In” could easily become “Count Me Out”.

From the March 2005 Moose Jaw Times Herald

@ April 25, 2004