Quote of the day: public policy based on illusion

From "If ignorance is no excuse, how do leaders manage to get elected?" by Christopher Hume, the Urban Design writer for the Toronto Star:

Canada isn’t the States, but we’re edging closer to the mindset that allows Americans to believe that what matters isn’t the fact their views are unsupportable, but that they hold them. Sadly, public policy based on illusion stands little chance of success.

And:

In Canada, we prefer ignorance to be secular and more practically minded. We hear the same anti-intellectual, anti-science, anti-reason rhetoric here, but without the exhortations to prayer.