Canada has a census every ten years and the government wants to make sure every resident is counted. But what do they do if you don’t fill out the form that is mailed to every Canadian household?

They come looking for you. Relentlessly. And, it seems, with threats.

This notice has been on one of my neighbors’ doors for a month now. My guess is they aren’t home, probably out of the country.

There is I suppose the possibility that the occupants are deceased, but I think in that case the building superintendent would have taken down the notice that someone from Statistics Canada taped to their door.

When you are counting 40 million people, more or less, it is a given that some will be missed. There are those opposed to the government’s desire to collect data. Sometimes they don’t understand the forms. Others may be out of the country.

I think the census information is probably of more benefit to historians than those planning government services for the near future. Too often politicians ignore the data – which means schools and hospitals don’t get built because nobody wants the higher taxes needed to pay for them. The census may indicate what should be provided, but implementation is a different matter.

So collect the data. But it leaves a sour taste when I see someone from government threatening citizens. As in this case, though the handwritten nature of the message suggests the threat is not official policy..

There is no need for someone to have handwritten at the top of this notice that there is a $500 fine for those who don’t cooperate with the census takers. Absent known reasons why the forms have not been completed, threatening a fine seems to me to be overkill. Fines are for people who defy the law, not for those who happen to be outside the country when you knock on their door. there is no law that requires me to be at home when the census taker drops by.

No wonder people don’t like the government.