Canadian minister suspends re-election campaign over Syrian asylum rejection

Conservative Canadian Immigration Minister Chris Alexander suspended his re-election campaign on Thursday reportedly after discovering that the family of drowned Syrian toddler Aylan Kurdi had been refused an asylum application in Canada in June.

“The tragic photo of young Aylan Kurdi and the news of the death of his brother and mother broke hearts around the world,” Alexander said in a statement Thursday morning. “Like all Canadians, I was deeply saddened by that image and of many other images of the plight of the Syrian and Iraqi migrants fleeing persecution at the hands of ISIS.

"I am meeting with officials to ascertain both the facts of the case of the Kurdi family and to receive an update on the migrant crisis.”

Elections are set to be held in Canada in October.