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Calgary MP Says Equality Questions Will ‘Keep Muslims Out Of Canada’

REUTERS/Chris Wattie

David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Ontario Member of Parliament (MP) and Conservative Party of Canada leadership candidate Kellie Leitch has outraged a Calgary MP and with her latest insistence that immigrants should be given a values test before becoming Canadian citizens. In questions first posted on TheRebel.media and then reported by iPolitics.ca on Monday, Leitch says immigrants should be asked three questions:

  • Are men and woman equal, and entitled to equal protection under the law?
  • Is it ever OK to coerce or use violence against an individual or a group who disagrees with your views?
  • Do you recognize that to have a good life in Canada you will need to work hard to provide for yourself and your family, and that you can’t expect to have things you want given to you?

Those questions have prompted Calgary MP and fellow leadership candidate Deepak Obhrai to issue a statement suggesting that Leitch’s questions would somehow “keep Muslim out of Canada.”

According to Obhrai, “Ms. Leitch’s proposal to screen every immigrant and visitor is nothing but Donald Trump’s executive order, disguised as Canadian values, and crafted to keep Muslims out of Canada,” he said.

“This is a dangerous environment to create in Canada, and I am outraged by this,” he added.

Leitch shocked Canada’s liberal mainstream media last summer when she announced her “Canadian values” initiative that insisted immigrants needed to be screened for their views on equality issues to ensure they would blend well into Canadian society. The proposal has earned Leitch, a former labor minister in the former Conservative government, with a faithful following and the ire of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who cited Leitch as a reason  he did not want to pursue proportional representation in Canada.

When confronted by proponent of an electoral system where representation in the a legislature is directly proportional to a party’s percentage of the popular vote, Trudeau asked, “Do you think Kellie Leitch should have her own party?

Leitch recently told The Daily Caller “Only about one in 10 new immigrants were interviewed by an immigration officer officer last year. The Senate thinks that’s a problem. The immigration department thinks that’s a problem. I’ll fix that problem and ensure that new Canadians not only understand our values but also share them. We are successful when we are not afraid to talk about conservative policies,” she said.

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