The results of your online poll "How will you be voting in the May 2 federal election" are a good example of why voluntary surveys are useless. In your survey, the results were 37 per cent Conservative 42 per cent NDP, but the actual result of the election was a huge majority for the Conservatives in both Prince George ridings. I would guess that this is because most people who view your site regularly are in the urban Prince George area, and urban areas tend to vote NDP more than rural areas.
This points out a basic law of statistics: In order to get statistics that truly represent a population, you need to do random sampling of that population. If you allow people to respond voluntarily, then you may get skewed results if certain types of people tend not to respond. That's why making the long form census voluntary is essentially making it useless. Ironically, the Conservatives weren't able to produce any statistics to back up their assertion that many Canadians were upset about filling in the long-form census; I think it was just a political ploy made up from thin air.
If the Conservatives are this ignorant and contemptuous of basic math, then I'm afraid that they will not be able to provide competent leadership for the advanced scientific and technical skills that Canada needs to develop in order to remain competitive in the world economy.
Mike Kohut
Prince George
