Posted on 04/25/2007 1:02:32 PM PDT by GMMAC
Please Note:
"GTA" as referred to in the article below is "Greater Toronto Area" and Jason Kenney,
beyond being just any Conservative MP, has served in a host of highly responsible/influential
positions over his 10+ years in Ottawa including as Parliamentary Secretary (e.g. 'right hand
man') to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
MP says Liberal free ride is over
By Ajit Jain
Toronto Sun
Wed, April 25, 2007
Jason Kenney has some news for the Liberals: The free ride is over when it comes to the ethnic vote. The Tory MP (from South East Calgary) wants to get rid of the notion that the Conservative party is dominated by white Anglo-Saxons.
"It's stereotyping the Conservative traditions. The Conservative tradition in this country is the tradition of diversity. And both symbolically and substantively, we are the party of cultural diversity. I am not going to allow the Liberal Party to lie about that fact," Kenney said in an interview.
"The Liberal Party has taken the support of ethno-cultural communities, including South Asians, for granted. I must tell them it is over. They won't have this free ride any more."
He's spending as much time as he can in the GTA, where the Liberals rule the roost.
"You will see in the next election ... we will have the most diverse slate of candidates from the most cultural communities, including South Asians."
The amiable Kenney, 39, says the response of South Asians "has been quite positive as our government has tried to be very responsive to their concerns, concerns of immigrant communities in general and Indo-Canadians in particular."
He concedes the Tories have their work cut out for them in Toronto.
"We know in Toronto during the last 25 years Liberals have a stronghold but rest assured we intend to reverse that." he says.
"One of the reasons I am making these efforts is because of the large population of first generation immigrants in the GTA," Kenney says.
"We want to make sure our message is getting out there," he says.
"Proportionally we have a higher number of MPs from visible minorities: First Muslim elected to Parliament, Rahim Jaffer, first Hindu ever elected, Deepak Obhrai, and first Indo-Canadian woman MP, Nina Grewal."
Kenney is optimistic the Tories will have wide support in the South Asian communities.
"Canadians of South Asian origin are not monolithic," he concedes.
"They are politically diverse, as other communities and I think that's a sign of maturity.
"It is a good thing that no one party should dominate the support of one particular community. I believe it is a natural development when people become more familiar with the political choices, that they choose the party that represents most of their values," he says.
"People should not vote on the basis of their ethnicity or the country of origin, they should vote on the basis of their personal values."
Good luck with the Canadian Tories trying to make inroads in Toronto, talk about an uphill climb. But the Tories do seem to be gaining support outside Ontario and Quebec.
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