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A funny thing happened on the way to the Tory leadership race: The whole bustling, jostling field of contenders — which now includes Kellie Leitch, Tony Clement, Maxime Bernier, Michael Chong, Deepak Obhrai and soon Andrew Scheer, but not Peter MacKay — forgot the nature of the fight they’re in, and who they’re fighting with. Hint: His initials are J.T.

Monday, even as one-time heir apparent MacKay bowed out and former Speaker of the House of Commons Scheer prepared to bow in, Clement unveiled his ten-point plan to bolster Canada’s immigration, refugee and border security. Highlights included a promise to jail suspected would-be terrorists via an as-yet undefined judicial process, and a pledge to monitor every Canadian charity for signs of terrorist activity.

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Liberal partisans greeted this, by and large, with strenuous eye-rolling. They should not. The broad strokes of Clement’s tough-on-terror stance will resonate with many of the “everyday Canadians” at whom it is aimed. Stripping dual citizens who attack this country of their Canadian citizenship, for example, is problematic, if it means they’re deported overseas where they might launch further attacks. But on Main Street many will agree with him.