I was astounded to read in the July 29 issue of this newspaper the quote by agriculture minister Gerry Ritz that said, “Unlike the long form census, the agriculture census is focused specifically on farming operations… We’ve worked with the industry to make the census less intrusive and less time consuming.”
We received one of these forms in July, and contrary to what Gerry Ritz stated, this form was long, time-consuming and very intrusive. It consisted of 13 pages of more than 100 questions.
These questions included, “what was the value of assets not from this operation, including cash, stocks, bonds, RRSPs, non-farm business assets, off-farm houses, non-farm share of cars and trucks, machinery and equipment solely for personal use of family members, and recreational vehicles?
“What was the amount of debt not from this operation owed by this family?”
These are personal questions not related to farming, contrary to what Gerry Ritz was quoted as saying. We found them to be very intrusive and an invasion of privacy.
Phyllis Shwetz,
Waskatenau, Alta.
