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Few things enrage the critics of the government of Stephen Harper more than its supposed tendency to make policy in the teeth of contrary evidence provided by experts. Not only is this treated as shameful in itself, but the sin is apparently compounded by the idea that the government might ignore “evidence” in order to cater to its “base.”

Far be it from me to deny that government policy occasionally flies in the face of expert opinion. An appalling recent example saw the government force the railways to discriminate against all their other clients by forcing the rail companies to carry specific amounts of grain or pay a fine. This was despite a lack of evidence that the railways were doing anything wrong. But you could add to the list, say, some of their criminal justice policy, the elimination of the long form census and the GST cuts.

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But the outrage that is attached in opposition circles to this alleged misbehaviour is out of all proportion to the crime. Politicians will never stop being politicians. Moreover the outrage implies that the Tories are uniquely guilty of this offence and that a change of government would somehow usher in an era of enlightened policymaking sagely guided by disinterested scientific experts.