Canada tough on crime and criminals, not on foreign criminals

There's a story circulating about a quite famous personage who used to live in Canada. He gave up his Canadian citizenship in order to enjoy the privilege and honor of being part of the British government which had been denied him by a former Prime Minister of a Liberal government. His business dealings in the United States eventually saw him convicted of fraud and he spent time in prison there. His wife is a Canadian media personality and lives in Toronto. Today Canada has a new business-friendly government that claims it's tough on crime and criminals, especially foreign criminals. So how is it that this individual was granted a one-year residency permit? Why would Canada want to admit into the country a man who spent time in prison and who is not even a Canadian? In Section 36 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, only the Minister can make an exception to allowing a convicted criminal into Canada, so it's kind of odd that the Minister responsible for immigration is blaming his officials and claiming protection under the federal privacy act for not disclosing details. I think this would be a case where the public interest should be satisfied and I suspect the federal privacy act has an exception to that effect. After all, this individual is not a Canadian and he is a convicted criminal. Canadians have a right to know why he's being allowed into Canada.