Musings —07.07.2012 09:31 AM
—Jason Kenney: Elie Wiesel is wrong, as usual
I wasn’t on Sun News, this week, because I was in Jamaica, where it is less hot than Toronto. While here, I heard from a friend at Sun News, who told me that Jason Kenney was on in my usual Wednesday slot.
When asked about my views on Kenney’s anti-refugee Bill C-31 – which I had characterized, on Krista Erickson’s show the week before, as racist and unconstitutional, and thoroughly evil, too – Kenney said: “Warren Kinsella is wrong, as usual.”
It is a fact that I am often wrong, about many things. On C-31, however, I’m not. It is a perfect illustration of Burke’s maxim, that bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. It is despicable and a disgrace, and it is the sort of measure that we’d expect from Arizona, not Canada.
But that’s just what I think. Who cares what I think?
Kenney would have to know who Wiesel was. I suspect he doesn’t, and doesn’t care. I don’t know how anyone could be familiar with Wiesel, the Holocaust, or in fact any of the other modern disasters and still treat all refugees as criminals until proven otherwise.
It is a sad truth that this government treats ALL citizens (except themselves & their supporters) as criminals until proven otherwise. And demonizes everyone in the process.
What politician in the First World would actually dare to call its citizens “child pornographers” for the crime of democratically speaking out against a government bill?
This government is a modern disaster, in every sense of the word.
Jason Kenney could care less about whatever Mr. Wiesel or anyone else who publically disagrees with the latest Conservative wedge message says. It’s not about governance for Canadians but about micro-targetted messages and dog whistle politics which appeals to their base and more importantly gets them donating again.
This is very much a pattern. If you notice, every time the Conservative’s internal numbers take a hit and their fund raising stalls, they trot Kenney out to talk about tightening up immigration or a scary ship full of Tamils etc. The details don’t actually matter as long as there are scary “foreigners” involved. It’s like clock work. The Conservatives always pivot to an immigration issue whenever they preceive themselves to be in trouble.
Jason Kenney is a dolt
It’s no surprise that Kenney’s spokesflunky brought up the Roma. This plays on ancient Eastern European fears and bigotry against the Roma which travelled very well from the Old World to Canada. Where is this wedge useful? Look no further than riding of Etobicoke Center and Mississauga East-Cooksville. Nice GTA ridings with a large 1st and 2nd generation Eastern European population.
It’s an easy game to pit neighbour against neighbour, to play on old fears and superstitions but it doesn’t make it right.
Sadly, the IFH cuts are serving as a smokescreen for Kenney’s real accomplishment: getting himself the right to deny refugee claims from Hungary and the rest of the EU, so the neo-Nazis can have a free hand with the Jews and Gypsies. Funny he doesn’t have a petition touting that success…