it's not about the stationery

Immigration Minister Jason Kenney believes he has made everything right by accepting the resignation of a staffer who, inadvertently or not, send an appeal for donations to the Conservative Party on Government of Canada letterhead. Kenney, like so many of his colleagues and the prime minister, tries to change the issue by talking about a few dollars worth of paper and speculating that Canadians don't want ministers resigning over a minor error by a staffer. We will never know if it was an error or intentional, with Nixonian plausible-deniability.

Of course that is not the issue. The issue was the content of the letter, an attempt to frighten immigrant and minority Canadians into giving money to the Conservative Party. Using his official government stationery, the minister responsible for the policies and programs recent immigrants and minorities deem critical to their quality of life in Canada, sent a message implying they have much to lose if the Conservative Party doesn't have a fat bank account going into a possible election. He was insinuating only conservatives are on the side of immigrants and minorities who would ignore the appeal for funds at their peril. Send $200,000 now, or face the consequences, was the message.

That is the shameful, coercive act for which Kenney should resign. Of course with the amoral Harper and Baird on his side, we will get only bluster and obfuscation.