Greetings All. Our new Prime Minister Paul Martin has announced this morning the makeup of his new Cabinet. Those of particular interest to us are the appointments of Lucienne Robillard as Minister for Industry, and Helene Chalifour Scherrer for Canadian Heritage. Lucienne Robillard (Quebec) is shown on our Scoreboard as 'sitting on the fence' because the only response to our questions of support for access has been an acknowledgement of receipt from her staff. She has never personally responded to our questions. Helene Chalifour Scherrer (Quebec) is shown with a blue question mark -- indicating that she has never responded to our questions of support for access. Paul Martin (Quebec) is also shown as 'sitting on the fence'. His only responses to our questions has been referring the questions to then Industry Minister Brian Tobin and an auto-response that did not in any way respond to the questions asked. It is time once again to sharpen our pencils and limber up our fingers on the keyboards to write to these new Ministers in particular, and all Members of Parliament, to remind them that we seek the same unrestricted access to Historic Census records that we have had for 240 years of records up to 1906. We must encourage the new Heritage Minister to continue, and expand, the provision of online access to Historic Census records, and other records of vital interest to genealogists and historians. We must advise the new Industry Minister, and all Members of Parliament, that the conditions and restrictions of Bill S-13 (should it be resurrected) are not what the people of Canada have been seeking. They must be reminded that those conditions and restrictions have not been supported by any reports or studies, and in fact they have been previously rejected by virtually everyone who has expressed an opinion regarding public access to Census records. We must remind now Prime Minister Paul Martin of his statements that the roll of public servants is to administer government policy while the roll of Parliament and government is to direct that policy. He should be reminded that he suggested civil servants should 'butt out' of attempts to direct policy rather than administer it. He should be requested to follow through on his reported position regarding this and direct Chief Statistician Ivan P. Fellegi to obey the existing laws of Canada and transfer Historic Census records to the care and control of the National Archivist in accordance with those laws. We have had a short rest in our efforts to regain public access to Historic Census records. It is time now, with a new Prime Minister and Cabinet, to renew those efforts. Happy Hunting. Gordon A. Watts gordon_watts@telus.net Co-Chair, Canada Census Committee Port Coquitlam, BC http://globalgenealogy.com/Census en français http://globalgenealogy.com/Census/Index_f.htm