Warren — Musings —09.09.2011 05:19 PM
John Ivison: “[McGuinty] scored a priceless photo op with a heart-throb from the sub-continent, at a time when his closest political rival is being portrayed as a xenophobe. This election may come down to such tinsel. There’s no question who has been more sure-footed on the stump during week one.”
Matt Gurney: “What the province’s voters could stand to hear much less of, however, is the “foreign worker” nonsense that the Tories, and Tim Hudak himself, insist on peddling..insisted on offering us the nonsense about “foreign workers,” despite the fact that the Liberals say their plan would only apply to Canadian citizens who already live in Ontario. You know — not foreigners. It’s a risky, pointless route for the Tories to take. One misplaced word can easily turn this unasked for gift from the Liberals into a live grenade without the pin. This is an issue where anyone speaking on behalf of the PCs, from Hudak on down to the lowest staffer for the most expendable sacrificial Tory lamb in a safe Liberal riding, can easily invite a public relations disaster simply by misspeaking. UPDATE: Check that — it might already be in progress. Jane McKenna, the PC candidate in Burlington, Ont., was quoted by local media saying, “When did we become for immigrants?…”
I think it was somebody on this comment board who stated a short while ago something like “in politics, if you’re explaining, you’re losing.” The Ontario PCs have been having to do a lot of explaining this week.
McKenna is the PCPO candidate in my riding – she was weak to begin with, and now she’s just given Karmel Sakran (the Lib candidate) a fantastic leg up.
The candidate denies denigrating new Canadians and then goes on to refer to them in her clarification as ‘foreign workers’. Why does Jane McKenna refer to ‘foreign workers’ in her clarification??
The proposed policy –
“Immigration is another Ontario advantage. The quicker we engage the skills newcomers have when they arrive, the quicker they will succeed. We’ll create a tax credit for business to give our highly skilled newcomers the Canadian work experience they need.”
From the John Ivison article cited above –
“The candidate later issued a statement.
“In an Inside Halton article a quote was attributed to me that does not accurately reflect my views or those of my Party.
“The PC Party of Ontario and I welcome new Canadians to Ontario. We believe however that Dalton McGuinty’s affirmative action program is wrong. We have 550,000 Ontarians who are unemployed and yet the Liberals want to pay $10,000 each to hire foreign workers.”
“I hope this clarifies my position and regret any confusion this may have caused.”
Yes, it clarifies her position: it shows her position is that of a hypocrite.
Well, she goes from being a bigot to trying to fire up xenophobia. There’s a small difference between the two. Not that either should be acceptable.
Trust me Ms. Mckenna, your position on “foreign workers” is very, very clear.
At the end of the day, the public deserves to know that the PCPO is packed full of yahoos who have no business near the levers of power. Hudak’s lack of leadership has failed to attract a team worthy of Ontario. He needs to be challenged on every single one of these situations. He needs to immediately produce a firing / resignation / apology / draw down each time. Otherwise this is all fair game and he damn well deserves the daily shelling he is about to get.
The “foreigner” slur reminds one of the hateful, labelling, epithets hurled at unwanted citizens in Europe in the 30’s and in the southern US when the “n” word was in regular use.