On foreseeable abuses

It's undoubtedly for the best that Jason Kenney is facing heavy scrutiny for misusing both Parliamentary and ministerial resources in trying to strongarm immigrant communities into supporting the Cons. But it's worth keeping in mind that the Cons' manipulations are nothing new or surprising.

In fact, it was under Diane Finley that the Cons first set up a system which allows the minister to set priority lists by fiat. And I noted at that time that such centralized and politicized power would be easily abused:

Remember that as part of the Cons' ethnic targeting strategy, they've already written off "one-fifth of all ethnic groups" as unlikely to vote for the Cons under any circumstances. By assigning to the minister the ability to set up "categories" by fiat, the Cons would be able to conveniently exclude applications from those communities who wouldn't figure to help their electoral cause.

And the potential for abuse only gets worse when considering how the other 80% of ethnic communities would be treated. Particularly if the Cons do plan on paying more attention to economic immigrants than other types, there figures to be a limited number of spots available in other categories - making a position at the top of any category list essential for any community which wants to be able to bring new members across the border in the future. Which would enable the Cons to force different communities to compete as to who does the most to help out their partisan cause, and give top priority to whoever answers the call.

And matters have only gotten worse since Kenney was installed in the position, as he's quite transparently fought to create barriers to citizenship in groups which aren't likely to support the Cons, while sending the message that support for his party is a prerequisite to funding for community groups.

All of which is to say that any effort to dig into the conflict between Kenney's responsibilities as Immigration Minister and his hyperpartisan actions looks highly likely to bear fruit - particularly if the groups who have been set up to compete for the Cons' affections are willing to speak out about what he's been up to. And hopefully the sheer volume of possible stories will help Kenney's abuses to register more with the general public than stories focused on one-time issues.

Update: Impolitical has more.