Conservative’s ethnic-outreach specialist promoted as the new Minister for Citizenship and Immigration

The Honorable Jason Kenney has been appointed new Minister for Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism by the Prime Minister Stephen Harper after a sweeping cabinet shuffle on Thursday.

Former Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity Jason Kenney’s duties since January of 2007, when he took on the Secretary of State position, have been to connect new Canadians, and the various communities they populate, with the government of Canada and unofficially advocate as a Conservative ambassador to these groups on behalf of the party.

As a junior minister for multiculturalism for nearly two years, Mr. Kenney was well-known for his endless strings of dinners and gatherings with minority communities across Canada, making ceremonial declarations, a few formal apologies for Ottawa's past misdeeds and also wooing Conservative votes among groups that traditionally favored the Liberals.

Boosting ethnic-outreach specialist Jason Kenney to Immigration is a huge step up. He has been promoted as immigration minister at a time when new legislation gives his job unprecedented powers to decide what kind of worker gets into Canada first. Now the government is hoping that, as the new immigration minister, the young MP for Calgary Southeast will be able to use his strong ethnic ties to roll out the controversial immigration reforms rammed through by his predecessor, Diane Finley. Those reforms were contained in a budget bill passed during the final days of the last Parliament to further restrict immigrant selections.

Mr. Kenney, however, is pledging to align immigration policy to the economy's labor needs, rather than for political gain.

Mr. Kenney's appointment to the cabinet post also came with hopes by advocacy groups and the ethnic communities. They hope he will address their concerns over what they see as a dramatic shift in immigration policies that increasingly view newcomers as an economic unit, wanted for nothing more than their job skills.

Jason Kenney was first elected to the House of Commons in 1997 and re-elected in 2000, 2004, 2006, and most recently in 2008 with 76 per cent of the vote. In January 2007, Mr. Kenney was appointed Secretary of State (Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity). He previously served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister.

Mr. Kenney was Chair of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights and the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development, and a member of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics.

Prior to seeking election, Mr. Kenney served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

Mr. Kenney was born in Ontario and raised in Saskatchewan, where he graduated from Notre Dame College. He did undergraduate studies in philosophy at the St. Ignatius Institute of the University of San Francisco.

Former Secretary of State for Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity Jason Kenney would retain his duties in Multiculturalism and Canadian Identity but bring these under the umbrella of Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC).

Although, the broad cabinet overhaul enlarged Prime Minister’s second-term cabinet by ten per cent but it is expected that it will give the Conservatives' hard-edge image a younger feel with dramatically improved gender balance and decent ministers from almost every region of the country. The cabinet is now super-sized at 38 members, up four from its last version.