W OF THE NORTH:

Turning small-C immigrants into big-C Conservatives (David Akin, September 15, 2008, National Post)

Ever since Stephen Harper assumed the leadership of the Conservative Party, it's been his mission to weaken what has traditionally been the power base for the Liberals in Canada's biggest cities, namely, immigrant communities. Early on, Harper tapped Jason Kenney to be in charge of outreach to Canada's new Canadians. Today, asked about reaching out to that vote, Harper gave a nod to Kenney, who has a line favoured by the PM: "The challenge we face here is the challenge of converting small-c conservatives into big-c Conservatives." But though Kenney and other Conservatives do indeed see some affinity between their views and the views of many new Canadians when it comes to issues like same-sex marriage, faith, crime and other social and justice issues, Liberals and political scientists I've spoken to say the sweet spot in those communities are policies that appeal to entrepreneurs, to risk-takers.

Thankfully, the grassroots of the GOP nominated the one candidate who can do the same, against the judgment of our Beltway betters.

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 15, 2008 3:06 PM