How many multiculturalism ministers does Canada need?

It appears that Jason Kenney -- or, at least, whoever drafted the following statement on his behalf -- may have taken the ongoing turf war over ministerial ownership rights over the multiculturalism file to the next level.

A release issued by Citizenship and Immigration earlier today to mark the start of a Greek festival in Toronto initially identified Kenney as "Minister of State for Multiculturalism", seemingly undaunted by the fact that the current cabinet line-up already includes one thus-styled minister of state, but his name is Tim Uppal, not Jason Kenney:

Moments after the curious wording was noted on twitter, the release was edited to remove the title, although not, it's worth noting, to add either Uppal's name or, for that matter, that of newly minted Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander, even though it was posted to his departmental website.

So, was this an inadvertent administrative blip back to the pre-shuffle era?

That's a definite possibility, particularly when you consider that the listed media contact, Alexis Pavlich, worked as Kenney's press secretary right up until he left for his new gig at Employment and Social Development.

Still, it does raise the question of why Kenney, and not Uppal, garnered sole billing in the first place. Isn't that exactly the sort of release that the actual minister of state should put out?

In any case, given the ongoing confusion surrounding the chain of command, it's fair to say that the question of who's in charge of the multiculturalism file remains an open one.

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