Jason Kenney - Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism

On January 4, 2007, he was sworn in as the Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity, and as a Privy Councillor. Kenney has held the post of Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism since October 30, 2008. In this capacity, Kenney has been the Harper government's representative to ethnic communities in Canada. Kenney makes frequent appearances at South Asian ethnic events such as DesiFest in Toronto and also concerts such as Gurdas Mann's concert in Vancouver in 2009. The Toronto Star has stated that Kenney more frequently travels to events held by nine ethnic groups in particular: Koreans, Chinese, Jews, South Asians, Persians, Poles, Jamaicans, Filipinos, and Vietnamese.

According to the The Globe and Mail, the Chinese-Canadian community nicknamed Kenney the "Smiling Buddha" in reference to his efforts to garner ethnic votes on the basis of what some perceive as commonly held conservative values. Kenney justified his efforts to gain ethnic support by stating:

You observe how these new Canadians live their lives. They are the personification of Margaret Thatcher's aspirational class. They're all about a massive work ethic.

In April 2009, Kenney officially launched Asian Heritage Month to "better understand the rich diversity the Asian Canadian community brings to Canada." Kenney noted that:

There were 32 Liberal MPs from the GTA, and of the hundreds of ethnocultural events I attended in the past five years going from Scarborough to Mississauga, typically there were no Liberals there ... They treated the ethnic communities like passive vote banks owed to them through the supposed myth of Pierre Trudeau. They mailed it in.

In August 2006, Kenney compared Hezbollah with the Nazi Party of 1930s Germany. He also rebuked Prime Minister of Lebanon Fuad Saniora for having criticized Canada's support for Israel in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Saniora had argued that most nations of the world, apart from Canada, regarded Israel's military actions in Lebanon as disproportionate and illegal. Kenney's response was, "Canada took a responsible position and I would hope that the Lebanese prime minister would express gratitude" for supporting attempts to help the Lebanese government regain control over those parts of its territory controlled by Hezbollah.

In early 2008, Kenney openly supported Progressive Conservative candidate Jonathan Denis, who later became the MLA for Calgary-Egmont, defeating Liberal Cathie Williams and the independent candidate, Craig Chandler, by a large margin. In early 2008 Kenney posted an announcement on his web site announcing that the Government of Canada recognizes the flag of the Republic of Vietnam as the symbol of the Vietnamese-Canadian community. He said "Our government recognises the flag as an important symbol of the Vietnamese-Canadian community's independence, strength, and belief in national unity,and attempts to disparage it are a deeply troubling attack on one of Canada's ethnic communities and on the principles of multiculturalism." In May 2008 he made a speech at one of their rallies lending strong support to their program.