Poor John Ibbitson, is always straining so hard to pretend that this xenophobic strain of Reform Conservatism is  other than so clearly is and has been from the very start,founded as it was on anger and resentment of the"other".

..That Jason Kenny thought for a time he could convert the social conservatism of some immigrant groups into votes for the Conservatives in no way lessened the bigotry that has defined the Reform party from the start. 

Stephen Harper co founded the Northern Foundation in an attempt to derail Mulroney's support for Mandela

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2013/12/16/Harper-Mandela/

http://www.stopracism.ca/content/stephen-harper-and-his-northern-foundation-past

,,,and the whole niqab debate when  both Kenny and Harper used xenophobia for fundraising and pandering to  bigotry and fear shows that those leopards have not changed their spots.