Last spring I wrote a column called "Is this what a police state looks like" in response to the dangerous police actions surrounding the G20 Summit in Toronto. I argued -- as many have -- that police states don't pop up full blown over night. They develop slowly in direct proportion to people's willingness to accept new definitions of normal.

A month has passed since G8/G20 and the Conservative government is mired in yet another scandal. While substantive questions emerged during the G8/G20 meetings regarding the suspension of protesters (and bystanders) rights, now we find the Conservatives retrenching themselves as Canadian crusaders for civil rights. Defending the public from the proclaimed perils of intrusive government in the form of the mandatory long form census, the Conservatives are appealing to populist sentiments.