Census 2006: Half a billion and counting

I have to admit, I don't understand what the purpose of a census is. Sure, they want to find out how many people there are in the country but I already pay all kinds of taxes, have a social insurance number, etc. Don't they know I exist?

Why exactly do they need to spend at least $567 million to count everyone? I did not submit census form on the assigned deadline (tisk, tisk), so a census worker came to my door. I gave him the information at that time. Just a week later, another census worker came to my door. How many times have they knocked on my door when nobody was home?

Lisa has a great rant over at DMB.

And I'm still curious how much they spent to advertise the census on sugar packets. Weighty matters, indeed.