Immigrant Populations: Guarantee Loans

Foreign Trained Professionals Dept: While Mr. Harper was in Markham to announce he’d guarantee loans for foreign-trained professionals to upgrade their skills, his point man on ethnic outreach, Jason Kenney, was making the same announcement in Vancouver for the benefit of local cameras, according to Globe And Mail. The trend at the ballot box suggests it’s the Conservative approach that’s working. The Canadian Election Study found that a once-huge Liberal lead among immigrants narrowed to six percentage points in 2008. If it narrows further, there are a dozen close ridings with significant immigrant populations poised to hand Mr. Harper his majority and mr. Harper’s decision to focus so narrowly on ethnic media outlets is further evidence the Conservatives believe the immigrant vote is crucial to their dream of majority government. The Harper-Kenney appeal to ethnic communities, unprecedented in their party’s history, highlights a fascinating clash with Michael Ignatieff’s Liberals. Since becoming leader, Mr. Ignatieff has avoided traditional ethnic politics, saying repeatedly that “a Canadian is a Canadian.” He has also criticized the Conservatives for identifying certain target ridings as “very ethnic” in a leaked strategy document. As reported in the news.
@t canadian election study, globe and mail