Concordia Student Union calls for a stop to controversial census changes

MONTREAL, July 22 /CNW Telbec/ - The Concordia Student Union (CSU), representing the 33,000 undergraduate students of Concordia University is calling on the current government of Canada to immediately halt its proposed changes to the long form census form used by Statistic Canada.

The CSU strongly opposes any intention by the Conservative government to tamper with a system that provides indisputable data not only for educational institutions, student unions, interest groups but also, civil societies as well as data for governments to provide services matching the realities on the ground. The CSU President, Prince Ralph Osei said: "any change that is not based on facts but led by ideological beliefs should be rejected by all Canadians and cause every one to cringe for the direction this government wants to lead this country".

Our concerns lie in where and how the current government is going to draw the line. "Is the government going to come out as well to say taxes are also voluntary?" The CSU is calling on the government to immediately stop the proposed changes and for the government to allow Statistics Canada to do its job unimpeded and uninterrupted by the government.

For further information: Prince Ralph Osei, President, [phone] ext 8899, [email protected]