Much ado

Conservative backbencher Jim Abbott—an MP for the last 17 years—says the census isn’t much of a controversy now, but nor was it before.

The veteran MP, who’s announced he’s not going to run in the next federal election, said the census controversy is not finding any traction among constituents in his Kootenay-Columbia riding. "We’ve had one telephone call and the person was exasperated with people trying to make a story about nothing and that was our one telephone call." Nor have any of his constituents expressed concerns about the census to him in the past, he says.