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The crowd of about 300 people started applauding and cheering on that point.

“We sent the message that if you wanted to come to Canada, you should come legally through the front door waiting your turn in the line, not sneaking around it by cutting the queue. That’s not right. It’s not the Canadian way. And we need a fair immigration system.”

Kenney delivers this message with a credibility and enthusiasm that few other Conservative politicians can match. He combines it with urging tough-on-crime policies and support for entrepreneurs that also go down well politically in these suburban, immigrant-heavy communities.

As immigration minister in Stephen Harper’s government from 2008 to 2013, Kenney famously pushed these messages at event after event with cultural communities in the Greater Toronto Area. And it worked, helping deliver the Conservatives a near-sweep of the 905 region in 2011. The Liberals, however, reversed that tide in the last election; now Kenney is back in the GTA, aiming to give the Conservatives a boost in what looks to be a very close election campaign.

Photo by Nick Kozak/ Postmedia News

“The federal party doesn’t need me down here,” Kenney insisted at one event, speaking to reporters afterward. “I don’t have any illusions that my visit here doing 18 events or so is somehow going to be decisive at the federal election. But it’s a little bit of encouragement for some campaigns that are right on the bubble.”

There is also the awkward fact that while Alberta’s premier is pitching Ontario crowds on voting for Andrew Scheer, Ontario Premier Doug Ford is nowhere to be seen. Polls have strongly suggested that Ford’s controversial government may be costing Scheer votes, and Ford has kept the legislature on break and stayed largely out of sight.