Just as a followup, the federal Privacy Commissioner has just ruled that she has no jurisdiction to deal with political parties' collection and use of private information:

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The federal Privacy Commissioner has quietly dropped her investigation into complaints that Prime Minister Stephen Harper mailed unsolicited Rosh Hashanah greetings, saying she has no jurisdiction over the matter because political parties fall outside Canada's two privacy laws.

But Jennifer Stoddart says she's launching a broader examination of the way parties handle personal data and plans to make recommendations for reforms to the Privacy Act.

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Toronto lawyer Ben Arkin, 30, belongs to no synagogue, no Jewish community group. He does not hold a gym membership in his Annex neighbourhood's popular Miles Nadal Jewish Community Centre.

He has no subscriptions to Jewish publications. He's not on the customer list of any Jewish retailer. His only connection with a Jewish charity is an $18 donation he gave three years ago for a friend's deceased grandmother's in memoriam fund.

On the 2006 short census form he filled out, he wasn't asked his ethnic heritage or religion. He doesn't belong to a political party. He can't recall ever having contacted an elected politician. He lives in a constituency where both the provincial and federal incumbents are New Democrats.

Yet Mr. Arkin is gripped by a mystery: This week, a Rosh Hashanah card came to him in the mail, signed by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, his wife Laureen and their children Benjamin and Rachel.

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http://tinyurl.com/5cjm6y

[ 10 September 2008: Message edited by: josh ]

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Originally posted by josh:
Yet Mr. Arkin is gripped by a mystery: This week, a Rosh Hashanah card came to him in the mail, signed by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper, his wife Laureen and their children Benjamin and Rachel.

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What big mystery? Rosh Hashanah is coming, and the Harpers are happy. Especially "Benjamin" and "Rachel"...

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Ryan Sparrow, a spokesman for the Conservatives, said the party compiles its list of Jews from ordinary people in the community who suggest that Mr. or Ms. X "might like a card from the Prime Minister." He denied the party uses any prepared lists. He said he was unable to provide a number for how many cards were sent out. The envelopes do not carry a parliamentary frank - or publicly paid-for postage mark.

This suggests the Conservatives are using what is known as the FRAN approach - an acronym for Friends, Relatives, Acquaintances and Neighbours. What it means is that the Conservatives assemble groups of supporters who know lots of people in their constituencies and helpful bits of biographical data that they pass on to the party.

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This will be on the next SAT:

FARBER : HARPER
as
LIEBERMAN : McCAIN

[ 11 September 2008: Message edited by: Max Bialystock ]

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Originally posted by ohara:
I know a few who got such cards when Bob Rae was Premier. He was an NDP Premier, no?

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No.

But even if he was, were the few you know who got cards people who were actively involved in Jewish community groups that interact with the government? That's a bit different from anonymous people getting cards out of the blue because of ethno-religious profiling by the governing party.

Anyway ohara, I would think you'd be a bit more sensitive about the optics of this. My parents grew up in a fascist, anti-semitic country and their attitude as a result was that being Jewish was a private matter that you should keep concealed from the neighbours. I know a lot of Jews who survived the Holocaust had similar attitudes. Getting a card from the government out of the blue that essentially says "we found out you're Jewish and have added your name to a list of known Jews" is bound to make some people very uncomfortable and the fact that the Harperites are completely insensitive to that is appalling. Certainly you can see that?

[ 12 September 2008: Message edited by: aka Mycroft ]

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ohara: Bob Rae ... was an NDP Premier, no?

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aka Mycroft: No.

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Originally posted by aka Mycroft:
Getting a card from the government out of the blue that essentially says "we found out you're Jewish and have added your name to a list of known Jews" is bound to make some people very uncomfortable and the fact that the Harperites are completely insensitive to that is appalling. Certainly you can see that?

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No he can't. ohara takes his cues from the CJC. Farber will never ever say a critical word about Harper. Does Farber totally believe this stuff, or are wealthy Tories now calling the shots at the CJC?