It may well be that those news outlets are merely reflecting our short attention spans back to us. We lose interest in a story, no matter how significant, in a short time, and thus the number of hits on the associated news website articles drop off, and the media organization moves on.
Even a momentous event like the nuclear partial meltdown and murderous tsunami in Japan, just a scant couple of months ago, has now disappeared from the headlines of pretty much all news outlets. The people don't have new homes, the reactors aren't much better off. One would think the same people who were concerned about a nuclear disaster would want to hear about the steps that have gradually contained the damage. But it's not really the case.
Several months ago, in the summer of 2010, we heard about how our government was acting to eliminate what is perhaps the most important source of data on Canada and Canadians - the mandatory long-form census. By doing so, they are creating a discontinuity in the continuous, track-able data history on which diverse decisions are based, such as where to put schools, how to allot medical services, where businesses should locate new or expanding operations.
This story too has dropped out of the headlines. But we should continue to remember and keep the pressure on to make it right. It won't likely happen soon, but with any luck this period will only be a gap in the data in support of rational decision making, not a precipice off which our awareness of our own country fell.
You don't need me to make the case for why eliminating this data is a stupid idea. You can also draw on your own conclusions for why a government, often accused of being authoritarian and ideology-based, would come to such a conclusion. Or just Google a bit, you'll see all the arguments on the record.
On filling out my 2011 mandatory short-form census online today, I took advantage of the comments box at the end of the brief interaction to register my dissatisfaction:
On the off-chance you haven't filled in your own census yet, I'd encourage you to make your thoughts known through this channel as well. It will of course, have no impact, other than to tell statsCan employees that we support building our country's future based on intelligent, evidence-based reasoning, and not obfuscating the facts to support an arbitrary government agenda.
But maybe there is some potential for a trickle-up of this important concept.
About to do your census? Did you get to the last step, Step 'F', and can't think of what to write? Copy and paste, or copy and edit my not-so-eloquent words to your own liking:
I am disappointed with the federal government's position on the long-form census. The decision to do away with that census suggests a lack of understanding that data is necessary for the efficient and intelligent running of our country. I fear that the long form census has been eliminated as a mandatory questionnaire in order to advance an ideological agenda that may take an opposite path to what an evidence-based, reasonable, common-sense approach would dictate.
