Jim Flaherty explains how the fact he managed to get 22 prominent business leaders and policy thinkers to attend a retreat at the Wakefield Mill Inn demonstrates that Canadians will happily comply with a voluntary census.
“Canadians are good citizens. I just did a conference this week. I invited some really smart Canadians to come and give the government advice through Finance, and everybody I asked showed up. Nobody got paid. I didn’t have to threaten anybody with going to jail. We don’t need to see that in this country. I expect that the long form’s being sent out to a substantial number of people across the country [who] are being asked to complete it voluntarily, and knowing Canadians as I think we know them, we’ll get lots of those forms completed and sent back without having to threaten people with jail or fines,” he said.
