text: This is not the Conservative base that wins elections. Harper figured that out early on and marginalized these wingnuts.
  
  I have been a Conservative for nigh on a half century inspired by the great Conservative Prime Minister and civil libertarian - John Diefenbaker, the architect of the 1960 Canadian Bill of Rights.  Hey it even had a notwithstanding clause.
  
  It was Dief who got rid of racism in our immigration laws and opened up refugee status including taking at risk refugees with TB.
  
  And the Father of Canadian Multiculturalism? Dief appointed Conservative Senator Paul Yuzyk who brow beat Pearson and then Trudeau to recognize Canada was not just English and French. In 2009, the Paul Yuzyk Award for Multiculturalism was created by the Government of Canada to commemorate his achievements.
  
  And the largest refugee movement in our history? Joe Clark initiated the Vietnamese Boat People airlift of 110,000.
  
  The current system of oral hearings by a tribunal for refugees?  Mulroney.