The mandatory long-form census dispute attempting to wake up politically sleepy Canadians during the summertime confirms, once again, that most of the time packaging is more important than substance.
After a few initial stories about the details of the dispute, all stories take a life on their own and, eventually, all end up in the same place: the assessment of the character of Stephen Harper and his government.
Let’s face it. Not many Canadians believe for a moment that the dispute over the Afghanistan documents is about wanting to fight torture in the world. And not many people were sorry to see Parliament’s reopening delayed by one month.
If Liberal MP Bob Rae and other members of the opposition really wanted to start a campaign against torture in the world, I suspect that Afghanistan would not be the first place to start.
The same goes for the prorogation of Parliament last January.
I’m sure not many Canadians really cared if Parliamentarians were not in the House for a few more weeks. But it ended up being a debate about Harper’s “secret agenda” in Afghanistan and his “undemocratic behaviour” to shut down Parliament.
Basically, it’s about character not substance.
The same goes for the Guergis- Jaffer case. The opposition parties criticized Harper for not firing the then-minister of the Status of Women for the kerfuffle at the airport and accused him of being insensitive to the people of Prince Edward Island. Now the opposition parties want Harper to apologize to Helena Guergis because the RCMP doesn’t have elements to prosecute her over the controversial dealings of her husband and the potential conflict of interest with her office.
Again, the issue is not Guergis but Harper, and the debate is not over substance but character.
Even noble initiatives of the Harper government like helping women in poor countries, put forward during the G20 summit, were skewered and minimized to the obsolete debate over abortion. Critics framed Harper as a cold individual who is against women because he might be against abortion.
And now there’s the dispute over Statistics Canada’s mandatory long-form census. I understand we need the census to better prepare our policies and to respond to our needs. At the same time, I believe that the long form is cumbersome.
That form had to be changed because it’s intrusive and is a clear violation of the privacy of citizens.
Unfortunately, again, the government has been trapped and exposed to criticism because of its tendency to go to the extreme by disregarding form and fixating on substance. Some in Harper’s office believe that if something is right there is no need to justify their actions and explain it to the people.
The census form had to be changed but the changes are too radical and have been imposed from the top without proper “packaging,” without clear explanation and without an intelligent presentation to the media and to the public.
Lately, we have seen a more open Prime Minister in dealing with the media. It’s not the ideal relationship, but at least the tension that had characterized the relationship a few years ago has been subdued. Harper needs more and the packaging of his ideas and policies needs to be handled with more care. People in the PMO must understand that even valuable jewellery has no appeal if packaged like cheap watches that can be bought in corner stores.
Some in the Prime Minister’s Office might say that Canadians don’t particularly care about the short or long form of Statistics Canada census. And they are right. But, again, like with the Afghanistan, prorogation or Guergis debate, the issue is not about the substance but the form. And that’s the major problem the Harper government has been facing for the last four years.
Harper’s government has demonstrated that he’s able to handle the opposition in Parliament, the bad economic crisis, recessions, and important world leaders, but still he has a problem handling his own success.
