There was a brief surge of optimism among humanitarian groups when Chris Alexander was named minister of citizenship and immigration six months ago.

The Ajax MP spent 18 years as a diplomat, served as Canada’s first resident ambassador in Afghanistan and went on to become a special representative of the United Nations assistance mission in Afghanistan.

He was well-spoken and well-educated. He had seen suffering in wartorn countries. He was the father of two young children.

“There was hope that the government might decide to change the discourse,” said Janet Dench, executive director of the Canadian Council of Refugees

It gradually dissipated. The last thread snapped a week ago when Alexander lambasted Ontario for its “scandalous” decision to provide medical care to “bogus” asylum seekers.

“It’s irresponsible,” he railed. “It’s also unfair to for taxpayers.”

His tirade set a new low in intergovernmental relations. It signalled that any Canadian office-holder who showed compassion, tried to mitigate the harm Ottawa is doing or defended the values jettisoned by Stephen Harper’s regime was open to attack.

Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews, to her credit, stood her ground. “I am not going to put our front-line health-care providers in the position where they have to turn away people based on arbitrary rules of the federal government,” she said. As for the immigration minister’s broadside: “I find that offensive and beneath him.”

Neither her words nor the entreaties of concerned citizens are likely to have any influence on the Harper government. As if to prove that, Alexander ratcheted up his rhetoric the following day in a testy interview with CBC radio host Matt Galloway. “We won’t have our policy made by doctors,” he declared. “We have to deter those who take advantage of our system — and there are a lot of them out there.”

Speaking directly to listeners, he asked: “Do you really want your tax dollars to be spent on bogus, rejected refugee claimants?”

(Before answering, consider this: the refugee health program cost $84.6 million when the Tories killed it. That is five one-hundredths of 1 per cent of public health spending in Canada.)

The Tories obviously believe they can win more votes by denigrating asylum seekers than by offering health care to sick people awaiting a refugee determination hearing. No doubt they have polls backing up their strategy.

Refugee advocates know that. They watched Alexander’s predecessor, Jason Kenney, systematically convince Canadians — even those who took pride in their country’s reputation for openness — that they were being duped, used and ridiculed abroad.

He changed the vocabulary used by immigration officials. Phrases such as bogus refugee claimants, gold-plated benefits, queue jumpers and fraudsters came to the fore. Public attitudes hardened.

A minority of Canadians objected. “We’ve been encouraged by the number of voices that have been raised,” Dench said. “We had a large number of people signing the Human Rights Statement (circulated by a coalition of civil society groups) on Dec. 10.”

It called on Canada to reaffirm its role as a generous and welcoming nation. “As Canadians we are at our best when we treat refugees fairly and with respect and compassion. We must return to the better parts of our tradition.”

Dench is a realist. She understands wedge politics. The governing party divides the electorate by age, ideology, ethnic background and postal code; targets voters it can win and ignores the rest. “If you look at it politically, we (the church leaders, human rights activists, artists, writers, academics and labour leaders who signed the statement) wouldn’t have voted for them anyway,” she said ruefully.

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In the short term, she and her colleagues will continue to stand up for refugees, reach out to sympathetic Canadians and do what they can to soften public opinion. Their hope is that the 2015 election will bring a change of government and a change of heart.

They’ve given up on Alexander. He had the talent, the knowledge, the international experience and the diplomatic skill to be an exemplary minister of citizenship and immigration. He chose instead to use his power to crack down on sick, vulnerable people.

Carol Goar’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

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