On The Tory Human Smuggling Bill

There has been some surprise expressed at the tweaks announced today to Jason Kenney's human smuggling legislation.  Are the Harper Tories getting all soft and persuadable? 

The government line is that the amendments are:

...a response by the government to the concerns raised by several individuals, including the opposition parties.

However, there is at least one person who would not be surprised at today's changes.  His name is Balan Ratnarajah, and he is head of a rather mysterious organization known as the  Peel Tamil Community Centre.  In early 2011 he wrote a letter in support of an earlier version of this legislation (at the time called C-49), and when asked, replied:

...he has been assured that the troubling elements on refugees will never see the light of day.

“Eventually I think that’s not going to be there. That’s what we were told,” he said.

Balan expanded a bit more on this in an interview with Tamil radio:

“This supportive letter created a controversial atmosphere in the community that we are working closely with the government of Canada. We are not working closely with them and we are only focusing on those 8,000 people who fled and temporarily reside in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.”

“Due to our efforts the Minister had taken necessary measures and addressed in the Parliament saying that Canada will take-up this matter and work along with Australia, Thailand and Indonesia. Thank. Thorough our cordial relationship we have brought the government of Canada to pay more attention on this issue."

“We have no intention of blocking future arrivals of those refugees to Canada and in fact we want to extend our helping hands to them. There is a kind of fear that hearing of these refugees, who arrive after March 2010, will be dealt differently by the government. We have discussed this issue with the government and it was a fruitful discussions but I don’t want to reveal the outcome to the public now.”

So the notion that these particularly controversial amendments were simply "boob bait for bubba" (the Tory core) that were never intended to be in the final bill has always been a possibility, and one that seems more likely after today's announcements.

Like So Much Smoke From An Xmas Fire

Up goes all the speculation re a Spring vote, as yet another (Harris Decima this time) poll has the parties deadlocked.

You want another hint that absolutely dick all has changed? I offer you the dog that didn't bark: the absolute lack of Conservative threats to make any vote on Bill C-49, the Ending the Abuse of Canada's Immigration System by Human Smugglers Act, a confidence motion. Why their silence? Sure, this bill plays to the Torys "tough on crime" image, but its not something you can hang an entire election campaign on.

Sorry folks. My bet is we're stuck with what we've got until 2012, like a dead salmon on the beach, waiting for the high-tide of voter discontent (or at least the government's own term-limits legislation) to wash us to another place, but until that day, decaying slowly under the sun.

In the meantime, weep for our stinky nation!

More On Strange Endorsements Of Tory Human Smuggling Bill

Imp's got a nice post up this morning, riffing on a G&M story about the endorsements the Tory government has thus far received for its human smuggling bill, which are, as the story notes, "not all they seem". For one thing, it looks like at least one of the groups supporting Bill C-49 was told that the contentious aspects of the bill would not be there in the final version. So, if I were to guess Tory strategy, I'd say they are either going to a) let the oppo parties strip out the crazier bits of the legislation, pass it and blame "the coalition" for the watered-down result, or b) refuse to compromise, let the bill die, and blame "the coalition" for stalling the reform of our broken refugee system and etc..

Also interesting is the reference to Balan Ratnarajah and the Peel Tamil Community Centre, a group that came out on October 22nd to endorse the bill, whose endorsement was widely retweeted by the likes of Jason Kenney and Alyknan Velshi.

For one thing, after googling around a bit, I can't find any sign of the community center's existence on-line previous to...you guessed it...October 22nd, and then suddenly their endorsement was everywhere. For another, a fellow named Balan Ranarajah ran and was elected to the first Transnational Constituent Assembly of Tamil Eelam for district 3 (Western Ontario). Now:

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (PTGTE) is an organization formed by the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora which aims to achieve independence for Tamil Eelam, the state which Sri Lankan Tamils aspire to create in the north and east of Sri Lanka.[1] The PTGTE and Tamil Eelam have no official status or recognition by any state or authority. The PTGTE has been called a "ploy to perpetuate terrorism" by the government of Sri Lanka.[2]

I don't know how much credence should be given to allegations that the PTGTE was formed by remnants of the LTTE (the Tamil Tigers). Probably not much. But if the Tories are looking for endorsements from Tamil separatists, then that's something to think about as well.

PS. And the PTGTE Ratnarajah is described here as a "business consultant"; the guy behind the Peel Tamil Community Center (the phone numbers match) runs a company called Blr Management Services, who are located in Mississauga and described as accountants. Furthermore, the PTGTE definition of "Western Ontario" = Etobicoke, Rexdale, Brampton, and Mississauga. So I'm pretty sure but not 100% certain that these two are the same guy.