I just got an email from Jason Kenney entitled Conservatives and Liberals Help Defeat Military Deserter Law. For the uninitiated, he is referring to a humanitarian bill introduced by Liberal Gerrard Kennedy and seconded by NDPer Bill Siksay to amend the refugee act to enable conscientious objectors to seek refuge in Canada, aka, C-440.
I’m not sure if he is delusional or dishonest? You decide.
Here is his email . . .
On 05/10/2010 1:56 PM, Kenney.J@parl.gc.ca wrote:
You have all emailed or written me at some point to express your views on the issue of US military deserters and recent legislation to give them a special pathway for permanent residency.
As you may know, with bipartisan support from Michael Ignatieff’s Liberal Party caucus, the government succeeded in defeating the Bill. Here is a YouTube video of a question I answered during Question Period on the subject.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCeUrJHlJps
Yours sincerely,
Jason
And my response
Mr. Minister, are you a congenital liar? “Bipartisan support from Michael Ignatieff’s Liberal Party caucus”? Most members in the Liberal Caucus voted in support of Bill C-440. In fact, in case it didn’t register, you almost lost the vote.
| Party | Yeas | Nays | Absent |
|---|---|---|---|
| CONSERVATIVES | 0 | 140 | 3 |
| BLOC QUÉBÉCOIS | 43 | 0 | 5 |
| NEW DEMOCRATS | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| LIBERALS | 57 | 1 | 18 |
| INDEPENDENT | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| TOTALS | 136 | 143 | 26 |
| % | 44.5% | 46.8% | 8.52% |
| Grand Total | 305 | ||
Source: How’d They Vote?
Polling indicates that 64 per cent of Canadians support allowing American war resisters to seek refuge here.
You are on the wrong side of this issue and so many others. You will pay the price at the next election.
That said, thank you for writing and making it absolutely clear how out of touch with reality you and your party have become.
Sincerely,
Paul Graham
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Paul S. Graham 
He’s gonna freak out at the ‘congenital’ word ya know.
Neither delusional nor dishonest, Kenney is rubbing the Libs’ nose in the fact that because 18 of them declined to vote on what was a Liberal bill, it was defeated by a mere 8 votes.
Libs who went awol on the vote :
Michael Ignatieff, Jean-Claude D’Amours, Ruby Dhalla, Kirsty Duncan, Marc Garneau, Albina Guarnieri, Dominic LeBlanc, Keith Martin, John McCallum, Brian Murphy, Anthony Rota, Judy Sgro, Michelle Simson, Frank Valeriote, Joe Volpe, Bryon Wilfert, and Lise Zarac, with Alan Tonks voting with the Cons against it.
At least 6 of them were in the House for the Criminal Acts Records vote which came five minutes before the war resisters vote.
You might want to point out to Mr Kenny the two motions that passed in parliament to protect the war resisters, which his sham of a government ignored.
According to WMTC.ca, Dominic Leblanc supports war resisters but had to leave the House early to catch a flight to attend a funeral. But I doubt Iggy and most of the other no-shows could boast the same excuse.