Chris Selley: CBC's Vote Compass will only get you lost in the wilderness, again
CBC's Vote Compass is back for the federal election, promising to 'help you explore how your views compare with those of the parties,' and it's just as silly as in its many previous iterations. More than 1.2 million people have taken the survey, the website claims, and I'm sorry to say none will have emerged any better informed than when they started — which some might argue goes against the public broadcaster's basic news mandate. It's not so much torqued toward one party or another as it is incoherent.
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My favourite question this time around asks Canadians whether they believe 'the federal budget deficit should be reduced, even if it leads to fewer public services.' Strongly agree? Strongly disagree? Somewhere in between?
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If you're thinking you've never heard a mainstream politician support fewer public services, you are correct. The designers of this survey have simply inferred that cuts to the federal budget would lead to fewer public services. This is evidenced by the documentation provided to justify where the Vote Compass, a CBC co-production with Toronto's Vox Pop Labs, places each party on the agree-or-disagree spectrum.
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'A new Conservative government will bring common sense back to the budget. We'll end waste, cap spending, and review all government spending to demand real results for every tax dollar,' the Conservative platform promises. 'We will shrink the Liberal deficits and eliminate waste by enacting a one-for-one spending law. Any new spending must be offset by reduced or new revenues.'
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You will notice that there's nothing in there about social services. Nevertheless, to Vote Compass, that counts as a 'strongly agree' to the question of cutting budgets even if it impacts social services.
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Perhaps even more absurdly, the Liberals get a 'somewhat agree' to the same question based on the following passage from their party platform: 'A Mark Carney-led government will balance the operating budget in three years, ensuring responsible financial management while making wise, long-term investments to build for Canada's prosperity and future. … We will also adopt a fiscal rule to ensure that government dept-to-GDP declines over the budget horizon.'
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When pollsters ask questions like these, we call them 'push polls' — questions designed to elicit a certain result, often by compromising relatively simple questions with poison pills like 'even if it leads to fewer public services.' The public broadcaster should be trying to clarify that, not add to it.
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