Parliament Hill: Immigration

Jason Kenney Dept: This year, of course, the prime minister didn't need to trump up a reason to prorogue. Despite the fact that the Conservatives love to drop the word "coalition" into every press release, the opposition pact that almost brought down the new government in the fall of 2008 now poses no immediate threat to Stephen Harper. He's not struggling to rescue his government from a confidence vote. And unlike last year, he has no need to keep the eyes of Canadians away from Parliament Hill long enough to make sure they forget about an inconvenient issue. Why, we've all but forgotten about those detainee documents that had the government tying itself in such bizarre rhetorical knots a year ago. The Conservatives have learned that voters have short attention spans. Indeed, the polls suggest that no federal party has gained or lost much in the last year. As far as politics go, 2010 was a wash, according to Vancouver Sun. The other big issue of the year was refugee reform, which is a more subtle question than either gun control or the census. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney proved yet again that he is one of the most effective and charismatic members of the Conservative cabinet. He managed to get the Balanced Refugee Reform Act passed in a minority government. His plan for combating human smuggling and trafficking is seriously flawed, but at least he has a vision and isn't afraid to defend it and it's been a nice change to have a Christmas without a constitutional crisis. The new Governor-General hasn't had to have any long, mysterious talks with the prime minister, as his predecessor did two years ago, or take any perfunctory prorogation phone calls, as she did last year. It wasn't quite a wash for policy, although it came close. Unlike our southern neighbour, we had no great ideological battle over health care, although we probably should have. The most polarizing debate was probably over gun control, and although no politician wanted to admit it, no resolution of that debate would have made the tiniest difference to the lives of most Canadians. There was also the fight over the government's spiking of the long-form census, which actually could have significant effects. And it came to symbolize this government's dismissive attitude about public information and science. As reported in the news.
@t confidence vote, immigration minister