Yes, I’m making Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism Jason Kenney (Conservative MP, Calgary Southeast) a whole election issue to himself.
Lucky him.
He has represented the riding of Calgary Southeast in the Canadian House of Commons since 1997. Initially elected as a candidate of the Reform Party of Canada, Kenney was re-elected as a Canadian Alliance candidate in 2000, and has since been re-elected twice as the candidate of the Conservative Party of Canada.
Jason Kenney has been dubbed by Canadian activists as the new “Minister of Censorship and Deportation.”
On his campaign website, he claims his priorities are:
— Stronger Canada. Stronger Economy.
— Standing Up For Human Rights and Religious Freedom
— Strengthening Canadian Citizenship
— Reducing Tax Burden for All Canadians
Let’s see how he has accomplished these goals. Here’s a list of some of the reasons why Jason Kenney should be an election issue.
— When Jason Kenney was a student at the Catholic University of San Francisco, he compared a pro-choice group on campus to the KKK, pedophiles, fascists and the Church of Satan — and campaigned to have it banned, threatening to take his fight all the way to the Vatican.
— Jason Kenney appointed an openly anti-gay member to the Immigration Review Board that has the power to decide if refugee claimants get refugee status, even those refugee claimants are fleeing political, social and religion persecution because they are gay.
— Jason Kenney spear-headed the removal of references to lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans rights from the Canadian Citizenship Guide.
— Jason Kenney has stifled anti-war voices such as British MP George Galloway and the Canadian Arab Federation.
British MP George Galloway, who was denied entry into Canada by the Canadian Border Service Agency (CBSA) on March 20, 2009, right before his Canadian speaking tour, because he was considered a threat to national security.
Citizenship and Immigration Minister Kenney could have overturned the decision but chose not to do so. The Federal government cited the Canadian Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA), Section 34(1), which reads among other points of order, that refusal can be based on whether, “e) engaging in acts of violence that would or might endanger the lives or safety of persons in Canada; or (f) being a member of an organization that there are reasonable grounds to believe engages, has engaged or will engage in acts referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c).”
British MP George Galloway has launched a lawsuit against Jason Kenney for $1.5million.
— Jason Kenney has also refused to allow peace activists and progressives in Canada: Reza Alijani (an award winning Iranian journalist with Reporters Without Borders) and; Shadi Sadr (a women’s activist in Iran) were denied entry into Canada in early May, 2009; and Ann Wright (retired U.S. Army colonel and peace activist) and Medea Benjamin (co-founder of Code Pink), who were denied entry into Canada on October 22, 2007.
— Jason Kenney has refused to allow war resisters safe haven in Canada despite the will of 63% of Canadians and the united voice of all three Opposition parties in Parliament.
— Jason Kenney complained on March, 2009, of “wide-scale and almost systematic abuse” of Canada’s refugee system after a United Nations report showed a 30% increase in the number of people seeking refugee or asylum status in Canada.
— Jason Kenney in 2011 has increases in the number of deportations, while the number of people accepted as refugees and sponsored family members have drastically dropped.
— Jason Kenney, on Saturday, June 26, 2011, announced changes to immigration policy that further restrict immigrants from obtaining residency in Canada through permanent and meaningful employment.
— Jason Kenney supports Quebec Bill C-94 that discriminates against women who wear the niqab.
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