Immigration

Tuesday May 7, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 7, 2019

The Tories insist racists aren’t welcome in their party. What are they doing about it?

There’s no way around it: Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives have a racist jackass problem.

This is not to say that Scheer or any of his MPs have consciously invited the affections of the country’s racist jackasses, and there are far fewer votes in Canada’s racist jackass constituency than you might think. But it’s a problem. And Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives have it, in spades.

This is what it has come to. Sixty-nine per cent of the “too many non-whites” respondents say they back Scheer’s Conservatives. It only stands to reason that a fairly high number of these people are racist jackasses. And there’s growing evidence that sociopaths from that creepy white-nationalist subculture that congregates in obscure 4chan and 8chan chatrooms are hoping to mainstream their contagion into conservative parties. Scheer’s Conservatives insist they’re not happy about any of this.

February 21, 2019

The most recent evidence is quite jarring. It comes in Ekos Research Associates’ latest annual findings about Canadian attitudes about immigration. Nothing much has changed in the long-term trends, but for the first time, the proportion of Canadians who say immigration rates are too high has merged with the percentage of Ekos poll respondents who say too many non-white people are coming to Canada. And that bloc is coalescing, for the first time, behind a single political party: Scheer’s Conservatives.

March 5, 2019

It’s not good enough for Scheer to get better at dealing with the occasional flare-ups that leave him looking like the hillbilly caricature Liberals like to make of him. He needs to openly admit that the Conservatives have a problem. He needs to clearly and emphatically demonstrate that he means what he says, that his party is not open to voters who scapegoat immigrants and hold fast to the view that there are too many non-white people coming to Canada. He needs to do something about it.

August 17, 2018

He needs to show them the door and invite them to leave. Whatever numbers he’ll lose to Mad Max Bernier, he’ll pick up from more centrist voters who’ve grown weary of Trudeau’s “woke” politics, with its wardrobe of groovy socks and a photo album filled with glamour magazine spreads where a portfolio of policy accomplishments should be.

But whatever the faults that can be laid at the feet of the Liberals, it’s Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives who have the racist jackass problem. And however much they genuinely don’t want it, they’re clearly not trying hard enough to shake it. (Source: MacLean’s) 

Wednesday January 9, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday January 9, 2019

Trump doubles down on push for border wall in televised address

U.S. President Donald Trump blamed unauthorized immigrants for killing Americans, taking their jobs and flooding his country with drugs as he doubled down on demands that Congress hand over US$5.7-billion for a wall on the border with Mexico in a nationally televised address.

In a 10-minute Oval Office speech, Mr. Trump tried to rally his base and hold his Republican Party together amid a government shutdown he triggered over congressional refusal to fund the wall.

August 29, 2013

“Some have suggested a barrier is immoral,” Mr. Trump said. “The only thing that is immoral is for the politicians to do nothing and continue to allow more innocent people to be so horribly victimized.”

Democratic leaders on Tuesday rejected the President’s demands, and accused him of unfairly targeting asylum-seekers.

“The women and children at the border are not a security threat,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a televised rebuttal, as she accused Mr. Trump of “manufacturing a crisis.” Added Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer: “The symbol of America should be the Statue of Liberty, not a 30-foot wall.”

In his speech, the President described several murders committed by immigrants, lamented the quantities of heroin arriving from Mexico and claimed that “all Americans are hurt” by migrants coming to work in the U.S.

In fact, a study by the libertarian Cato Institute last year found that crime rates among immigrants in Texas – both legal and unauthorized – were lower than those among native-born Americans. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency found that 90 per cent of smuggled heroin went through designated ports of entry such as border crossings, and air or seaports, which means it would not be stopped by a wall.

The President also repeated an assertion that the wall will be paid for by Mexico through the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The trade pact contains no provision for Mexico to pay for the wall.

Mr. Trump, however, stopped short of declaring a state of emergency that would give him the power to divert money from the military to build the wall. Such a move would likely be met with a court challenge. (Source: Globe & Mail) 

 

Wednesday August 22, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday August 22, 2018

Trudeau stands by ‘racism’ comments to heckler

October 25, 2017

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is standing by his comments to a heckler last week after telling her she was intolerant.Trudeau was speaking at a rally in Sabrevois, Que., when a woman started yelling that she wanted back the $146 million from Quebecers that he’s “given to illegal immigrants,” referring to the amount the Quebec government says asylum seekers have cost since a recent surge in irregular arrivals.

“That intolerance with regard to immigrants doesn’t belong in Canada. That intolerance with regard to diversity, you don’t belong in Canada,” Trudeau said in French Thursday night.

February 23, 2017

“Madame, your intolerance doesn’t belong here.”

The woman then asked Trudeau if he was tolerant toward “Quebecois de souche,” a reference to Quebecers who can trace their ancestry to the earliest French settlers.

In a video posted online, Trudeau can be heard telling the woman her racism isn’t welcome.

The woman who confronted Trudeau was later the subject of debate on social media over her ties to white supremacist groups. She is a member of the Facebook group for Storm Alliance’s Quebec wing. The group says it is “made up of Canadian citizens whose goal is to make our Country stronger, to make it a Country that takes care of its own communities.” It was part of a protest last year at the Lacolle, Que. border crossing, against a rise in asylum seekers.

Speaking in Ottawa Monday, Trudeau said he won’t “flinch from highlighting the politics of division.”

“It’s important that we have people who come at problems from very different perspectives because that actually ensures that we solve them right,” Trudeau said. (Source: CTV News) 

 

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Friday August 17, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday August 17, 2018

Scheer cautions Bernier: Members of caucus need to work together

May 19, 2017

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer issued an indirect warning to outspoken caucus member Maxime Bernier on Thursday: members of caucus are expected to be team-players, focused on the same goal.

“There is an expectation in our caucus, and on our team, that everyone is focused on working together to earn back the trust of Canadians and to replace Justin Trudeau as prime minister in the next election,” Scheer said.

“Every Member of Parliament should be, as their key priority, working towards putting out the types of policies that resonate with Canadians.”

His comments to reporters in Regina come after a few days of back and forth exchanges over the Quebec MP’s public remarks.

On Sunday evening, Bernier issued a series of tweets on diversity, saying that “Trudeau’s extreme multiculturalism and cult of diversity will divide us into little tribes,” and that “more diversity will not be our strength, it will destroy what has made us such a great country.”

September 22, 2015

Bernier then questioned the naming of a park after Pakistan’s founder; and criticized the federal government looking to make a statutory holiday in recognition of residential schools as a “cult of victimhood.”

On Wednesday night, Scheer issued a statement distancing himself and the party from the outspoken Quebec MP and characterized his comments as using identity politics to divide Canadians.

Bernier followed that up Thursday morning with another round of tweets denying he was engaging in identity politics.

Facing questions about whether he’s entertaining the possibility of Bernier’s removal from caucus—something Liberals and New Democrats have called for— Scheer said he wouldn’t talk about internal caucus matters but pointed out that it would be something decided on as a team. (Source: CTV) 

 Posted to Reddit. Posted to iPolitics. 

Tuesday July 17, 2018

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday July 17, 2018

‘Not Canadian’: Hussen, MacLeod exchange sharp words over asylum seeker ‘crisis’

A meeting between Canada’s federal and provincial immigration ministers ended bitterly Friday, with federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen openly criticizing the Ontario government for what he called a dangerous and un-Canadian approach to the issue of asylum seekers.

December 7, 2016

“They’ve chosen to use false language with respect to so-called queue-jumping, when we have told them over and over again there is no such thing,” Hussen told reporters in Winnipeg at the closing press conference.

“Asylum seekers are processed in a separate queue at the IRB and all the other regular immigration programs are processed by IRCC, and conflating the two knowingly is irresponsible, it’s divisive, it’s fearmongering and it’s not Canadian, and it’s very dangerous.”

Hussen criticized Ontario’s Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Lisa MacLeod — who is also responsible for the immigration file — for walking away from discussions between the other immigration ministers and for refusing to sign the official communique issued after the meetings.

MacLeod did not take the attack lightly, telling reporters after Hussen left the podium that it was the federal minister who did not want to collaborate on the issue of irregular migration.

“I am not going to get into a debate on semantics with the minister,” she said, “but I did request that he take into consideration these exorbitant costs which … is about $174 million on top of the $3 million that Ontario provided to the Red Cross.

“I was expecting that we would be able to collaborate on that. Instead, what I saw here today was … him calling me un-Canadian, which I take great offence to. And I so hope he will apologize and reconsider his language.

“There is a problem at the border, the border must be enforced and … Ontario should be made whole for all of the costs that we’ve incurred.” (Continued: CBC News) 

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