09.09.2011 02:16 PM

“When did we become for immigrants?”

If this one doesn’t want to make you throw up, nothing will.

Tea Party Tim Hudak’s campaign of intolerance swung through Burlington today, with his hand-picked candidate smearing new Canadians with the sort of language that will blow your mind.

Jane McKenna, a failed municipal candidate whose previous priority was getting more booze outlets in her area, told the Burlington Post that she opposed helping new Canadian citizens get the certification they need to work in their chosen profession. If that’s not enough, McKenna then went on to say:

“When did we become for immigrants?”

That’s a quote.

Here’s a newsflash for McKenna, and her “leader,” who have piloted Ontario campaign 2011 straight into the gutter on only day three of the contest: Canada and Ontario have always been “for” immigrants.  We are, in fact, a nation of immigrants.

As former PC leader John Tory has said, Hudak has been “stirring up envy and negativity” in the election campaign.  And, like John said, Hudak himself favoured a more generous plan to assist newcomers just a year ago.  (Meanwhile, the Ontario Liberal plan, Tory noted on his drive-home radio show, was “one of the best investments” we could make.  He’s right.)

Hudak and McKenna’s attacks on hard-working, tax-paying citizens demeans them, and their party.

I’d say they should be ashamed of themselves, but I think they lost their capacity for shame long ago.

17 Comments

  1. dave says:

    Holy crap.

  2. Michael S says:

    I’m not sure if I can take 27 more days of this. At some point the stupid must stop.

  3. sharonapple88 says:

    Congratulations, they have an official lock on the racist vote. Holy crap, these people can’t win the election.

  4. Pat says:

    “We are, in fact, a PROVINCE of immigrants.”

  5. David_M says:

    Oh for cryin’ out loud. Who’s the wingnut running the Hudak campaign?
    I would think they could at least take a page out of the Harper play book and clamp down on the extremes.
    The PC’s seem out of control.

  6. Tyrone says:

    I was so astonished by the stupidity that I thought it couldn’t be a direct quote. It is.

    http://www.insidehalton.com/community/burlington/article/1079255

  7. AmandaM says:

    Who knew the campaign would be about immigration, and the worthy issue of ensuring employment for ALL Ontarians, in their fields of choice. I love that it’s the central issue so far, but I never would’ve guessed it. Much like ’07 (which was, on a personal note, a great big pile of fun at Central, even being there at 5am!)

    Back to the actual post – What a bunch of doorknobs. McKenna should go on ancestry.ca or something and find out about her own immigrant past.

    • Ted says:

      I don’t LOVE it because they are working hard at spinning this as affirmative action and the media, so far, have bought into the surperficial reading of the policy and not the reality of the policy, and they have chosen that to focus on rather than Hudak’s calling Canadian citizens “foreigners” and McKenna’s comments.

      In short, it’s bumped the Liberal campaign launch focus on the stuff that matters: jobs, economy, healthcare. And they are winning the media war on this point, so far.

      So I don’t LOVE it.

      However, I do love McGuinty’s response to this which is to frame it as a window into values: working together vs dividing Ontarians, for jobs vs shiny things. He’s made some tasty lemonade out of those lemons. Fits the grander themes already coming out in this election (eg. clean energy – jobs and the future together vs job losses and cuts). He’s quite a remarkable, and remarkably understated, politician.

      • JenS says:

        I’m not really loving it, either. Yet. I assume there’s a plan that will make this one a winner for the Liberals. It has been badly reported, and I would sincerely hope that’s about to change.

  8. Jenny says:

    What is going on here? Do they know that we “foreign workers” have a right to vote? And why are the PC “foreign worker” and “immigrant” candidates still standing by their man? Some of these people should defect now, while they can still do it with dignity.

  9. Devil's Advocate says:

    and then there is this from the other side

    http://www.torontosun.com/2011/09/08/mcguinty-contradicts-party-member

    just saying

  10. Cam Prymak says:

    I am speechless.

    Looks like PC/Conservative supporters that grace this site are too.

  11. Iris Mclean says:

    It breaks my heart, but in my riding, Leeds Grenville, the more anti-immigrant and racist the PCs appear, the more votes they will get.

  12. Gary says:

    Bingo has been called, don’t move your markers.

  13. Woody says:

    I’m loving it. Tory and the faith-based schools issue. Hudak and anti-immigrant, anti-green energy. Can’t wait for the debate when he can try ever so hard but fail with his amateurish rhetoric. You bet on the wrong horse cons.

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