Large Fierce Mammal

Earlier this week, CBC News posted a piece with the title Tory leadership candidate Kellie Leitch wants immigrants to be asked: ‘Are men and women equal?’, and the subtext “‘Outraged’ rival candidate Deepak Obhrai says values test targets Muslims”.

For the sake of non-Canadians, as well as actual Canadians labouring under the kind of illumination equivalent to living ten feet up a Moose’s ass, the long standing Conservative Government of Stephen Harper was soundly trounced in the 2015 election in favour of Justin Trudeau’s Liberals. In the normal way of things that normally follow such bloodbaths, the Conservative Part promptly went into fragmentation and is now looking for a new party leader to restore the rattled faithful to their birthright. Kellie Leitch is one aspirant to the position. Deepak Obhrai is another.

To quote the aforementioned CBC article:

In a sponsored email sent to subscribers of the conservative website TheRebel.media, Kellie Leitch promises that if she becomes Conservative leader, and then prime minister, she would require each immigrant to Canada to be screened for Canadian values.

The email includes three examples of questions she wants asked of immigrants:

• Are men and woman equal, and entitled to equal protection under the law?
• Is it ever OK to coerce or use violence against an individual or a group who disagrees with your views?
• Do you recognize that to have a good life in Canada you will need to work hard to provide for yourself and your family, and that you can’t expect to have things you want given to you?

And further:

Not only would her plan require each immigrant to be screened for anti-Canadian values, but everyone seeking to start a new life in Canada would have to undergo a face-to-face interview with an immigration official before being granted entry.

“I believe that every single potential immigrant, without exception, should have a face-to-face interview with a trained immigration officer and asked questions to ascertain whether or not their values are consistent with our way of life,” Leitch says in the email.

The stage thus set, the article concludes:

Leadership candidate Deepak Obhrai issued a statement critical of Leitch’s plans on the same day Leitch sent out her email through TheRebel.media. Obhrai said Leitch’s “Canadian values” test questions risk painting the Conservatives as an “anti-immigrant party.”

“Ms. Leitch’s proposal to screen every immigrant and visitor is nothing but Donald Trump’s executive order, disguised as Canadian values, and crafted to keep Muslims out of Canada,” he said in the statement.

“This is a dangerous environment to create in Canada, and I am outraged by this,” he added.

So, on the one hand we have Ms. Leitch who, notwithstanding her political career, clearly refuses to acknowledge the basic human motivation to lie if it gets the job done; and on the other, Mr. Obhrai, who in the zeal of his self-described outrage, bases his criticism of his opponent’s proposed questions on an argument that Muslims answering them truthfully would naturally fail the examination.

How fucking splendid.