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Alexander is not to blame for the death of Alan or his brother. It turns out early reports the Kurdi family had been denied refugee status by Canada were wrong and the application that was rejected was for another branch of the family.

But Alexander clearly has a tin ear for politics if he thinks it was an appropriate time to go on the offensive. It made him look like an insensitive ass and didn’t enhance his chances of getting re-elected in his Ajax-Pickering riding where he is in a tough fight against Liberal Mark Holland.

It also put added weight on Harper’s shoulders when he held his press conference in British Columbia Thursday.

The migrant crisis has the potential to be a turning point in this campaign, and required the Conservative leader to display qualities of empathy and compassion that do not come easily to him.

On this occasion, he just about got away with it. He said that the situation was “heartbreaking” and the now-iconic picture had brought tears to his eyes as he thought of his own son, Ben — at which point he got a lump in his throat that seemed genuine enough.

He said that in his visits to Jordan and Iraq, he has witnessed the refugee camps up close, calling the daily lives of their inhabitants “catastrophic.”

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He said that Canada has the most generous refugee system in the world and his government has already committed to accepting more migrants from the Middle East, if re-elected.

But he added humanitarian aid alone will not solve the situation – it also requires the military will to confront the Islamic State of Iraq & the Levant. “I don’t know for the life of me how you can look at that picture (of Alan Kurdi) and say we want to walk away from the military mission trying to prevent (ISIL) from trying to kill thousands of people. We will do more of everything,” he said.