Opinion: Just do the bloody census

Your weekly opinion column by owner/founder of Border Pulse – Dan Gray

It’s census season – and of all the things that shouldn’t be political, this is it.

Do you like what your city does for you? Bud Miller Park, pothole repair, infrastructure upgrades, police, fire, ambulance services – maybe a new hospital or a seniors care facility?

You can’t cough in any direction without hearing daily complaints about something the city or province is responsible for. Roads, wait times, services, funding. Everyone has a list.

Here’s what most people don’t know, or choose to ignore: the money that pays for all of it is tied directly to population. Every body counted. Every household on record.

So I don’t care what kind of statement you think you’re making by ripping up the census or ignoring it – you’re not sticking it to anyone in Ottawa. You’re sticking it to your neighbour. To the senior down the street waiting for a care home bed. To the kid whose school is underfunded because the numbers don’t reflect who’s actually here.

That’s not protest. That’s just selfishness dressed up as politics.

There are plenty of things people do that only blow back on themselves. Not long ago, a video went viral involving a Driven Energy truck just outside of Lloydminster – someone thought it was a good idea to moon passing traffic. Embarrassing? Yes. But the fallout was theirs to own. Their problem. Their reputation. Not yours.

Refusing to fill out the census is not like that.

Tearing up your census because you are angry at Ottawa is literally biting the hand that feeds you. Rhetoric aside, Ottawa, Regina and Edmonton send millions of dollars to this community every year – and the formula is built on population data.

Fewer people counted means fewer dollars allocated. It means the hospital expansion gets pushed back. It means the highway funding calculation comes up short. It means the argument for expanded transit, better care, more services – all of it gets weaker, because on paper, Lloydminster looks smaller than it is.

This is not about which party you support. It doesn’t matter. The census doesn’t ask who you voted for. It asks how many people live here, what languages they speak, what their households look like. Bureaucratic? Maybe. Consequential? Absolutely.

If you want to fight Ottawa, run for office. Write your MP. Show up to a town hall and say your piece. Those are real levers.

Leaving your census form in the recycling bin isn’t resistance. It’s just a gift to every politician who ever wanted an excuse to send less money to smaller communities.

Consider the Jubilee Home.

Lloydminster’s seniors care facility on the Saskatchewan side has been a pressure point for years. Families watch their parents and grandparents get shipped out of town – to Lloydminster, to North Battleford, wherever a bed opens up – because there aren’t enough spaces here. Every time someone makes the case for expanding capacity, the argument runs through the same filter: how many people are we serving?

If the numbers say this community is smaller than it is, that case gets harder to make. Not impossible. Harder. And in government funding decisions, harder usually means later. Later usually means never.

Maybe you think one form doesn’t matter. Maybe you figure someone else will fill theirs out and it’ll balance.

It won’t. Undercounting is cumulative. Every missing household makes the gap a little wider and the ask a little harder to justify.

Fill out the bloody form.

Read more: Opinion – When laws become a weapon