OTTAWA - Opposition parties say the now-former head of Statistics Canada is just the latest victim of a stubborn and vicious Tory government.
Munir Sheikh quit Wednesday because the government made the long-form census voluntary instead of mandatory. Sheikh said in a statement there was no way a voluntary long-form could adequately replace a mandatory census ¬ contrary to the claims of Industry Minister Tony Clement.
“Whenever anyone dares to speak truth to power in this neanderthal regime, the messenger is shot,” said Liberal House leader Ralph Goodale.
Goodale pointed to other bureaucrats who opposition MPs say lost their jobs because they stood up to the Tories, including former Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission head Linda Keen, who shut down a nuclear reactor over safety concerns and was fired for losing the government's confidence, and Paul Kennedy, former head of the RCMP's public complaints commission, who was vocal about changing the way the force works.
NDP MP Charlie Angus said the change was completely unnecessary. He called the government defensive and vicious.
The industry committee will meet next Tuesday in all-day hearings to look at the move to a voluntary long-form census.
Statistics Canada, Clement and the Prime Minister's Office didn't respond by deadline to requests for comment.
laura.payton@sunmedia.ca
