Thin Gruel
What an astounding revelation. There's a little bit of a news witch-hunt going on at the present time; local Ottawa newspapers and members of the Parliamentarian opposition all hounding the Minister of Immigration, Jason Kenney, about weighting members of the Immigration and Refugee Board to more closely represent the ideological values of the ruling Conservatives.
When asked about the issue, Jason Kenney denied any such thing, and said that as far as he could recall there might be no more than two members of the Board who have direct ties to the Conservative party. Which set the opposition all abuzz and got their office elves busy investigating the records available to arrive at a more 'reliable' figure.
And they found, to their great satisfaction, that out of almost 150 Immigration and Refugee Board members, not two appointees recommended by the Minister, but a whole lot more. How does 16 sound? A damning infestation of Conservative-ideologied members of the board, fully justifying the allegations of corrupting partisanship.
These sixteen members of the board who had to undergo a rigorous qualifying protocol to weed out the inadequate and identify those who would be of practical usefulness to the IRB, were then used to justify the claims of the opposition that the current government was undermining the independence of the IRB in its rulings on immigration matters and refugee claims.
Minister Kenney reminded his detractors that those recommended for appointment had to undergo a "rigorous pre-screening process" for such appointments which the current government itself had installed in 2007, with the creation of a seven-member Selection Advisory Board.
As for the hullabaloo over 16 members of a 150-member body having had some affiliation with the governing Conservatives, one can only assume this thin gruel for complaint is representative of the fact that the opposition has little of value to bring to the table and in fact, little to complain of.
When asked about the issue, Jason Kenney denied any such thing, and said that as far as he could recall there might be no more than two members of the Board who have direct ties to the Conservative party. Which set the opposition all abuzz and got their office elves busy investigating the records available to arrive at a more 'reliable' figure.
And they found, to their great satisfaction, that out of almost 150 Immigration and Refugee Board members, not two appointees recommended by the Minister, but a whole lot more. How does 16 sound? A damning infestation of Conservative-ideologied members of the board, fully justifying the allegations of corrupting partisanship.
These sixteen members of the board who had to undergo a rigorous qualifying protocol to weed out the inadequate and identify those who would be of practical usefulness to the IRB, were then used to justify the claims of the opposition that the current government was undermining the independence of the IRB in its rulings on immigration matters and refugee claims.
Minister Kenney reminded his detractors that those recommended for appointment had to undergo a "rigorous pre-screening process" for such appointments which the current government itself had installed in 2007, with the creation of a seven-member Selection Advisory Board.
As for the hullabaloo over 16 members of a 150-member body having had some affiliation with the governing Conservatives, one can only assume this thin gruel for complaint is representative of the fact that the opposition has little of value to bring to the table and in fact, little to complain of.
Labels: Government of Canada, Immigration, Inconvenient Politics
posted by Pieface | 7:57 PM
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