Controversy is swirling around B.C. Liberal Ron McKinnon after he evoked Nazi policies in criticizing the Conservative government's plan to deal with Tamil migrants.
His own party is distancing itself from him. In fact, they are now referring to him as "this individual" amid calls from senior Harper strategists for Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff to apologize for his remarks.
Mr. McKinnon is president of a federal riding association in British Columbia and a former candidate. In a blog post entitled " An Evasion of Duty," he wrote: "This brave new policy is sordidly familiar, akin to collaborating with the Nazis to stop the flight of Jews."
"So they propose to stop on the high seas vessels carrying such persecuted souls, and turn them back well before they get to Canadian waters," he wrote. "If we build the wall high enough, and make it impossible for refugees to actually get here, we can bask in our warm pious glow and never have to actually face them."
Conservatives accused him of going to far.
"There are some issues which should never be politicized," the Tories said in a memo to supporters and MPs on Thursday. An "Ignatieff Liberal Association President ... crossed the line when he likened our Government's determination to tackle human smuggling at its source to the Nazi's treatment of Jews."
Calling the comments "deeply regrettable," the Tories argue the episodes "cheapens and trivializes the magnitude and evil of Nazi crime." The Liberals, meanwhile, are equally unimpressed.
"We don't support those comments at all and the comparison is inappropriate and unhelpful," a senior Ignatieff official told The Globe. "What matters is that Canada's policy towards political refugees is one of compassion and decency towards all individuals fleeing fear and persecution in their countries of origin."
Asked about the Tory demands for an apology, the Ignatieff official said: "This individual does not make party policy. If the Conservatives kicked out every member of their party for a lapse in judgment, they'd have half the caucus they do today."