Greetings All As expected, this morning's news announced that Prime Minister Jean Chretien has taken steps to dissolve the current Government and called a Federal Election for 27 November 2000. This means that all pending Bills, including those dealing with public access to Post 1901 Census Records, i.e. C-312, C-484, and S-15 no longer exist. Essentially, from the point of view of those that have been working diligently to obtain this access, when the new Government is formed it will be a new ball game. It is hoped that this will not mean that we must start entirely from scratch again, but there will be new players that need to be convinced. We need not wait until after the election to start that process. It is not my intention to tell anyone who they should vote for - that is between the individual and their conscience. I would however, advise all who are concerned to become involved, even if only in a small way. Candidates for election, or re-election will be holding meetings in their ridings, and there may be all-candidate meetings as well. Check the MP's Scoreboard at http://www.globalgenealogy.com/census to see how the incumbents have responded to, or failed to respond to, questions seeking their position on access to Historic Census. Attend the candidate's meetings and publicly ask them their position on allowing public access to Historic Census Records, i.e. 92 years after collection as per regulations attached to the Privacy Act. If unable to attend the meetings visit their office to ask them privately. I think it unlikely that anyone will vote for or against any candidate because of the answer given on this one question, but it may play a part in your decision. Feel free to post your candidate's response to this question on the Canada Census Campaign mail list at Canada-Census-Campaign-L@rootsweb.com . We look forward to seeing them. Happy Hunting. Gordon A. WATTS gordon_watts@telus.net Canada Census Committee Port Coquitlam, BC Keep up to date on Post 1901 Census information at http://www.globalgenealogy.com/census and http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Farm/7843/poll.html Download and circulate Post 1901 Census Petitions now from http://www.globalgenealogy.com/census/petition.htm This message has been posted to the Alberta-L, Canada-Census-Campaign-L, Can-British-Columbia-L, Census-Chat-L, Colchester, Lunen-Links-L, Nova-Scotia-L, Ontario-L, PictouRoots, Roots-L, Watts-L, and Wiltshire-EMI-L mail lists. Permission to forward without notification is granted.