Canada’s official opposition says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is “politicizing” Canada’s immigration and refugee system to a dangerous degree. Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel told The Daily Caller that Trudeau “wants it both ways” by sending out two seemingly contradictory messages: Canada’s borders are open, but please respect the border as you walk across.
She says that equivocation is undermining the entire immigration and refugee process, and is instead sustaining a border crisis.
“It is completely irresponsible for the prime minster not to be clear what the expectations are. You have to tell people that crossing the border illegally is unsafe and illegal – period,” Rempel told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview. “Maybe he just wants to appeal to left-wing supporters.”
Rempel made the comments as thousands of illegal refugees originally from Haiti continue to stream across the New York border into a remote Quebec town, where they are then bussed into the sanctuary city of Montreal about 30 miles north. The illegal immigrants are immediately eligible for social assistance and told to find permanent housing.
Another report is suggesting that the so-called “sanctuary seekers” could soon be targeting Toronto — another Canadian sanctuary city that offers full municipal services to illegals.
Rempel says Trudeau is endangering Canada’s relationship with the U.S. by creating the impression that Haitians coming from there are all refugees, when Canada considers its neighbor and closest military ally “a safe third country.”
Rempel continued, stating, “This is clearly border shopping, and our immigration system does not allow for people to come to Canada when they have already been accepted as a refugee in the United States.”
Calling Trudeau’s immigration strategy “short-sighted at best,” Rempel notes that the Liberal government has given no consideration to how much the illegal refugees are going to cost the provinces in social assistance, or even what happens when the weather changes. “Winter is coming,” she says, in reference to the tent city that have been constructed along the border to accommodate the thousands massing there.
“Canada’s immigration and refugee system is a process that works,” Rempel says, “unless you use it for political ends.” She notes that the influx of migrants could have a devastating effect on those trying to enter the country legally, potentially creating “an 11 year wait.”