THEN THERE'S JASON KENNEY...

(The following article is from the April 1-15, 2009, issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $25/year, or $12 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $25 US per year; other overseas readers - $25 US or $35 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

People's Voice Editorial

Anyone needing more proof of the anti-democratic nature of the Harper Tories should consider the record of Jason Kenney, Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and (ironically) Multiculturalism. Speaking to the University of Toronto Conservative Party and Hillel campus clubs recently, Kenney announced plans to cut funding for groups which oppose the Tory position on international issues. Of course, his words were couched in language about "removing state support from groups that advocate hatred or express support for terrorism," but if Mr. Kenney meant such phrases literally, he would not be a welcome guest of supporters of the apartheid Israeli state.

     No, Mr. Kenney was referring to the Islamic Congress and the Canadian Arab Federation, which he described in a racist fashion as "groups with no real constituency," just fax machines and e‑mail accounts.

     The Harper government's total, unswerving support for apartheid Israel appears to be the key factor in Minister Kenney's latest jaw-dropper, the appalling decision to bar British MP George Galloway from Canada.

     But this is just the latest from the far-right Calgary MP. Last summer, he had the nerve to call U.S. war resisters "bogus refugee claimants," while his government moved to deport to a U.S. jail one such resister, Kim Rivera, a mother of three children. Jason Kenney has a long history of bigoted statements, from his homophobic attacks on NDP MPs Svend Robinson and Libby Davies, to his recent suggestion that many new immigrants aren't trying hard enough to learn English or French, and should accordingly be denied citizenship.

     Across Canada, outraged voices are demanding that this out-of-control fascist-minded cabinet minister must be fired. We support this demand - it can't happen a moment too soon.