Jason Kenney - Do the Right Thing

"I rather like Jason Kenney, but refusing to recognize Canadian citizenship prior to 1947 reveals an unforgivable flaw."

"Mr. Kenney says that the moves, which will save the government about $20-million annually, were necessary because refugees were receiving better health benefits than ordinary Canadians were getting. But doctors point out that people seeking asylum in Canada are often very poor and, under the old system, were getting the same benefits that hundreds of thousands of impoverished Canadians receive through social assistance."

There is a rapidly closing window on the degree to which people are going to accept the moves being made by Stephen Harper's government.  On the one hand, there is the continual decreasing of services and supports - the Census, the Long-Gun registry, funding through CIDA, now this.  It's gotten to a point where they're even trying to revise the definition of Canadian.  On the other hand, there's the mounting series of scandals ranging from F35 cost-overruns to Dean del Mastro's campaign funding. 

To ensure they keep having their cake and eating it too, Harper's government, of which Jason Kenney is a prominent spokesperson, is doing two things - decreasing transparency and increasingly pushing the fear button.  An indignant population is a complacent population; it's the 20th Century version of bread and circuses.  But Canadians aren't indignant - they're getting angry.

We're not in the 20th Century any more, but it increasingly looks like we're doomed to repeat it.  While the Tories seek to shrink Canada and disconnect from global engagement on anything that isn't directly tied to trade, the first plumes of smoke are rising in Europe, which right now is a social and economic box of kindling.

Canada's boots-on-the-ground military has shrunk.  The respect being paid (figuratively and literally) to our veterans is being diminished, lessening the appeal of military service to potential recruits.  An increasingly frustrated and bitter Canadian populace is turning inwards, worrying less about the trouble we were warned were at our shores to the troubles we're now being told are at our doorsteps.  People that have viewed Canada as a safe haven are being told they're not welcome - another story that we've heard before.

Team Harper's unforgivable flaw, the theme Jason Kenney has not questioned is that they have dedicated themselves so blindly to their political ideology that they are ignoring major changes in the global environment.  The path they are taking us on won't end well - not for their Party, not for our international reputation, not for Canadians.

I have zero interesting in saying "I told you so."  I would rather congratulate Kenney on doing the right thing now, before it's too late.