Lockheed Martin Census

[Reverend Blair]

You guys might remember the Lockheed Martin census thing. The first test is going to be run soon. You can find ways to oppose it at Vive le Canada

Do your part...tell Paul Martin and Lockheed Martin that foreign killers will not have access to your personal information.

 

[Andem]

May as well post the details and link so people know

Excerpt:

Lockheed-Martin, the world's #1 weapons giant, is working on the next Canadian Census. Your tax dollars, and maybe personal info, will go to a non-Canadian corporation that makes landmines, nuclear bombs, and Star Wars missile-defense parts -- weapons Canadians have rejected, with good reason, for decades. And because Lock-Mart is American, George W. Bush might be able to secretly seize Canada's Census data using the U S Patriot Act.

Keep our census Canadian and keep our personal information safe. BOYCOTT this preliminary test. It's legal and easy:
Just write Vive le Canada" across your questionaire in red ink and send it back blank. Say no to war profits and privatization at the same time!

(Find more at http://census.vivelecanada.ca/

 

[vista]

Even now our Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness (PSEP) (our version of the US Homeland Security Department) collaborates actively with the US Department of Homeland Security.

http://www.psepc-sppcc.gc.ca/index_e.asp

Immigration and tax data are being shared. Canada also participated in May 2003 in the Homeland Security Department's operation TOPOFF- 2, described as "the largest and most comprehensive terrorism response and homeland security exercise ever conducted in the United States."

http://www.psepc-sppcc.gc.ca/national_security/topoff2_faq_e.asp

What's next? Will we get to vote in the US elections?

Gotta' love those computer voting machines with Republican friendly computer chips and no paper trail!

 

[Milton]

Hey there is nothing wrong with the computer chips. The flaw is in the software and the refusal of Diebold to provide a paper trail so that verification is possible. You are right in implying that Diebold( the company that makes the software and the black box voting machines) is avowedly Republican and that the owner of the company has said that he will see to it that King George is re-elected.

And you can bet your ass that I am going to use the Census form to wipe my ass with and that is the only information that they are getting out of me if Lockheed Martin (or any other company) is hired to take the census. I will respond the same way if Lockheed Martin (or any other company) is hired to write the software to process the census forms.

 

[Vincent_2002]

Personal information is personal. No body in their right mind would agree for our government information to be given to anybody except other government organizations. Even with that i don't like!

NO WAY to this outrageous idea!

 

[Reverend Blair]

I got this in my e-mail today.

House of Commons
Lockheed Martin and the Canadian Census
Friday May 7, 2004
Hon. Bill Blaikie (Winnipeg—Transcona, NDP): Mr. Speaker, for months the NDP has been objecting to the fact that Statistics Canada contracted out the next census to Lockheed Martin. Questions in the House resulted in the usual non-answers, but I am pleased to say that as a result of our pursuing this issue and the pressure exerted by all those Canadians who contacted Statistics Canada, we learned earlier this week that Lockheed Martin will no longer be doing the next census. As a result of further pressure later in the week, the remaining role of Lockheed Martin in the mini census was also identified and then dealt with, which is to say eliminated.

Hats off to the Vive le Canada website and to all those who persuaded Statistics Canada that the integrity of the census was at stake. It is one thing to buy software from a company. It is another thing to have it do what Canadians want done in-house by their own Statistics Canada.

The NDP is pleased to have played a role in changing this policy by working with its extra-parliamentary friends on this issue. Unfortunately, as usual, the Liberals never got it and did nothing to help.

It's looking good. Stay tuned towww.vivelecanada.ca for new developments.

 

[vista]

Reverend,

So far so good.

Please keep us updated!

 

[Andem]

Good news!

Very pleased to see something come out of this. Keep your eye out though, the Martin clan are sneaky ones.

 

[Reverend Blair]

There is some concern that Lackheed Martin is still involved in the testing. Stats Can has not issued a press release, on this. Mel Hurtig and Susan Thompson are trying to verify the information Bill Blaikie was given.

 

[MapleLeafMerc]

Good news!

Very pleased to see something come out of this. Keep your eye out though, the Martin clan are sneaky ones.

Our Paul Martin sure is. 8)

I get as steamed as you all when my OWN government comes nosing around for information. After age and sex of the residents of my house, the rest of my demographics are none of their G-D business.

 

[Anonymous]

StatsCan kills census deal over privacy concerns
Firm has close ties to U.S. defence interests

Joe Paraskevas
The Ottawa Citizen

Sunday, May 09, 2004

The federal government, bowing to public and political pressure, has broken a contract with the Canadian arm of U.S. aerospace giant Lockheed Martin for work on the next national census.

The New Democratic Party and other organizations had lobbied the government for months to drop its plans to have the Kanata-based company provide services for the 2006 national survey and a mini-census, out of concerns private information of Canadians could be used by an organization with close ties to United States defence interests.

The director of the 2006 census, which is produced by Statistics Canada, confirmed Friday those concerns drove the government to pull out of its agreement with Lockheed Martin.

"There were a number of concerns expressed, perception issues around confidentiality and privacy," said Anil Arora. "We wouldn't want to subject even the slightest perception that the census was in any way subject to any of those concerns, so to do away with that we decided that it would be Statistics Canada employees that would actually handle and process the census questionnaires in 2006."

A spokesman for Lockheed Martin could not be reached for comment.

The next census will involve about 13.6 million households and will be the first to be offered online. About 20 per cent of respondents are expected to file electronically, Mr. Arora said.

Public concerns were unwarranted, he added, because census work would be conducted under security in Statistics Canada facilities with no external connections through which information could leak.

But the NDP exulted in the government's reversal.

"Hats off ... to all those who persuaded Statistics Canada that the integrity of the census was at stake," said NDP parliamentary leader Bill Blaikie in the House of Commons.

The government would sustain a penalty "in the tens of thousands of dollars," for breaking the second phase of its three-phase contract with Lockheed Martin, Mr. Arora said.

The phase involved the conducting of a mini-census of 300,000 homes and used as a preparatory step before the 2006 main census. The government would not be penalized for breaking the third phase of the contract, which actually involved the main census.

The first phase of the contract -- in which baselines for the census were established -- has already been completed.

Lockheed Martin had been selected in 2001 among other bidders, marking the first time census software had been purchased from the private sector.

Electronic data processing could cut up to three months off compilation of census figures, Mr. Arora said, meaning the 2006 results could be ready by January 2007