Conservatives: Politics of division and hate - NOT in my Canada

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IT’S TIME TO STAND UP TO CONSERVATIVES WHO STIR UP ANGER AND HATE

Ignoring Steven Blaney and Kellie Leitch, Tory leadership candidates who are stoking fear about immigration and lost ‘Canadian values,’ won’t make them go away

BOB HEPBURNSTAR TOUCH

First it was Kellie Leitch with her plan for screening of potential immigrants for “anti-Canadian values.”

Now comes Steven Blaney with his proposals to test all citizenship applicants to preserve “Canadian identity” and to ban federal employees from wearing niqab face coverings at work.

“It is critical that we make sure that new Canadians fully endorse the Canadian principles that are the foundations of our society,” Blaney, a Quebec MP, said this week as he formally entered the federal Conservative leadership race.

Leitch and Blaney are among a dozen or so possible candidates seeking the leadership, but their outspoken comments on immigration and Canadian “values,” “principles” and “identity” have gained them far more news coverage than any of their competitors.

Cynical politics on their part or do they reflect a growing trend in Canada?

Read more: http://startouch.thestar.com/screens/4fcddffe-d9c8-47f4-9a22-56aabf88494b%7C_0.html