In an interview with CTV's Victor Malarek, Jason Kenney suggested that individuals must take responsibility for who they marry, vouch for, and sponsor to come to Canada. He washed his and the government's hands of the issue. Kenney missed the boat on this one - big time. Indeed, Canadians marrying abroad must be cautious, however if it only becomes apparent that they have been duped after some time, how can the government sit back and do nothing, and simply blame the victimized spouse?


I doubt that Kenney has read Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point. In this book, Gladwell explains what he calls "The Broken Window Theory", that works like so: Say a part of a city is run down has broken windows and the like...then criminals become empowered because it appears as if nobody cares, and that the law is not being enforced. The result is that all types of crime will increase because lawbreakers will figure that enforcement is neglected. This was the case in New York City in the 1980's before they addressed their "Broken Windows." Finally, tons was spent cleaning up the city, and imagine... crime decreased!


So what does the theory suggest about our immigration ministers laissez-faire attitude towards immigration scams through marriage fraud? By ignoring this seemingly small issue, Jason Kenney and Citizenship and Immigration are creating a fertile environment for encouraging far worse problems.