An educational opportunity

The Globe and Mail suggests that the opposition parties respond to the Cons' plan to call "ordinary citizens" (who are willing to read their talking points) to the next Industry Committee meeting on the census by matching the Cons in kind to show how census data which the Cons would axe plays a positive role in the everyday lives of Canadians. But I'll go a step further based on the most unfortunate addition to the list of people currently taking the Cons' side.

Before I answer a lot of personal questions, under penalty of prison if I don't (ed. note - which of course won't be the case in any event), just tell me, question by question, why you want this information.

Of course, the questions axed by the Cons already underwent constant review for relevance and utility. Which means that it shouldn't be too difficult to pair an expert explanation for including the question in the long form with a familiar practical application for each.

So rather than stopping at finding "ordinary Canadians" willing to talk about the census generally (which makes the issue seem more abstract than it should be), why not use the committee hearings as an opportunity to look specifically at the questions on the long form and educate Canadians about why it matters to have accurate information?