The fact that there is widespread dislike of the intrusiveness of the Census long form among Canadians, played absolutely no role in the Government's decision I'm sure.
Aardie, there isn't widespread dislike in Canada although an Ipsos Reid poll done mid July might show a split. Looking at the numbers more closely give a better understanding;
Fault lines appear between different age groups, with 56 per cent of those aged 18 to 34 say it's a good decision to make the long form voluntary, compared to 48 per cent of those 35 to 54 and 44 per cent of the 55-plus crowd.
Six in 10 (59 per cent) university graduates think the census change is a bad move, compared to 53 per cent of those with some post-secondary education, 47 per cent with a high-school education and 44 per cent without a high-school diploma.
Overall, one in five (19 per cent) Canadians say they won't fill out the long form if it's voluntary, but some groups are more likely to say that than others.
Those whose families earn less than $30,000 are most likely to say they wouldn't complete a voluntary long form (27 per cent), compared to 20 per cent of middle-income earners and 15 per cent of those whose family income is more than $60,000 a year.
Younger Canadians (25 per cent) are more likely to say they'd ignore a voluntary census than middle-aged (20 per cent) or older people (13 per cent). And men (22 per cent) are significantly more likely than women (16 per cent) to say they would not fill out the form.
The online poll, conducted July 16-19 with a sample of 1,036 adults, has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
http://www.canada.com/consensus+census+debate+Poll/3302580/story.html
