The cover of the current edition of the Western Standard magazine shows a picture of several sinister looking Liberals including Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin and is accompanied by a caption reading "The Liberano$". a couple of Conservative MPs were later photographed along side the magazine’s cover, smiling with obvious approval.
When the picture of the MPs surfaced, it didn’t take Citizenship and Immigration Minister Joe Volpe long to come out screaming. The Italian born Minister said, "The Klan looks like it’s still very much alive. I think that these are a couple of fine, upstanding members of the new Conservative Klan."
While Volpe admitted that he should have kept his emotions under control, he refused to apologize for equating, not the two MPs, but the entire Conservative Party as being similar to the Klu Klux Klan. There is no doubt that it was imprudent to say the least for the two Conservative members to pose next to the Western Standard cover. Their actions provide an illustration of why, at a time when serious allegations of Liberal sleaze and corruption are surfacing on a daily basis, the winning of the next election by the Conservatives is not a slam dunk. But Conservative Party leader Stephen Harper was quite correct is saying that the cover of the magazine was a spoof on the TV hit series, The Sopranos, and not a comparison between Liberals to Italian mobsters.
Volpe’s comments are reminiscent of utterances made by one of his predecessors in the immigration portfolio, Elinor Caplan. While campaigning during the 2000 election campaign in her heavily Jewish riding in Thornhill Ontario, Caplan compared those who supported the then Canadian alliance Party to "Holocaust deniers, bigots and racists". To Paul Martin’s credit, he did stop dithering long enough to remove the super sized Caplan from his cabinet, who then retired from politics. at the rate that he’s going, dumping Caplan could be one of his finest hours. Just as Caplan trivialized the Holocaust in a way that would make Ernst Zundel proud (in fact there were a few chuckles on Zundel’s official website about Caplan’s comments), Volpe has trivialized the Klan. Contrary to the impression that some people have, the KKK is not unknown in Canada. By saying what he said, Volpe has shown that he has no real concern for the Klu Klux Klan and other groups that disseminate hatred. If he did, he wouldn’t have compared them to Conservative Members of Parliament
at least Caplan and Volpe have one thing in common that is missing in many members of the Liberal Party — honesty. Both immigration ministers eagerly showed to what depths they will sink in order to impress certain ethnic groups and ensure their own survival.
Contrary to what they say, the Liberal Party is not tolerant. They are only tolerant of those who agree with them. Everyone else, if not a Holocaust denier or a Klan member, is un-Canadian. Volpe just didn’t equate the two offending Conservative members with the KKK; he smeared the entire Conservative caucus. It doesn’t seem to bother Volpe that he included in his smear, those non white members of the Conservative Party such as Rahim Jaffer and Nina Grewal who would be prime targets for Klan members that Volpe so easily compared them too. The fact that it was so easy for Volpe to make the comparison between the Klan and Conservative MPs shows how really out of touch he is with real racism. It’s scary to think that he actually believes that the Western Standard cover was denigrating Italians. There was a time when someone who smeared people like Volpe did would have to resign. But honesty and integrity mattered in those days; it doesn’t any more.
Volpe, as Caplan did before him, is just trying to enhance the fortunes of the Liberal Party by pitting Canadians against Canadians and by fanning the flames of racism where it doesn’t exist.
Paul Martin’s only comment on the matter was to complain about the lack of decorum in the House when Volpe’s statements were brought up during Question Period. The "decorum" was no different that it has always been; Pauly would know that if he showed up a little more often.
Joe Volpe needs to grow up and be a man instead of crying about a comparison that was made between the Liberals and a fictitious television series. This assumes of course that he was actually upset by the Liberano$ picture and not just trying to score cheap political points. With Liberals, it’s hard to tell.
Joe Volpe’s comments, as were Elinor Caplan’s before him, were disgusting. It appears that denigrating groups is a job requirement for the post of Minister of Citizenship and Immigration. We shouldn’t be surprised.