Bush Sr. lost his shot at a second term as President of the United States in large part because Bill Clinton’s campaign manager James Carville (the Ragin’ Cajun) uttered those immortal (in political circles) words at the right time to the right reporter. The rest was basically history. Now the line gets hauled out every time a marginal political issue somehow captures mainstream media or “inside the Beltway” types. So much so that it has essentially become a cliche. As loathe as I am to trot out tired old political cliches, lately I have been dying to climb to the highest point in the Gatineau hills overlooking the Parliament buildings and shout it until I am hoarse.

Why? The Census.

For Pete’s sake, is this what it has really come to? Optional versus mandatory long form census for a portion of the Canadian public and the reliability of results under said proposal? This is some sort of grand scheme to undermine our democracy? Will political careers, party leaders or governments, rise or fall over this issue? Are Canadians seized by the issue each night as they sit around the kitchen table? At least to the same extent so many social media commentators seem to be? Headlines shout “Conservatives face Census furor.” Really? I have been doing my damndest trying to locate that furor here in our humble little Hogtown, to no avail. Every single person I have asked about this issue (granted, these are people who don’t work in media, public affairs, communications or government) have in the following order: a) asked me what the hell I am talking about; b) asked me to explain it; and c) asked me, again, what the hell I am talking about.

The biggest issue facing Canadians is still the economy. I am sorry. General Motors is gone from Windsor after almost a century running an assembly line. Gone. Ask those auto workers and their families about the “Census furor.” Ask business leaders who are trying to plan into 2011 amid a shaky European Union economy, poor U.S. job numbers, plummeting U.S. orders for durable goods and threats of a double dip recession. Ask public sector workers being asked to take a wage freeze. Ask dozens of major hospitals facing big budget deficits.

Some folks engaged in the “Census furor” have trotted out a Canadian political catchphrase: “There’s no place for the state in the bedrooms of the nation.” But I prefer another Pierre Trudeau saying when it comes to this whole uproar: “Fuddle duddle.”