MICHELLE Rempel, Opposition Critic for Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, in a statement following a joint news conference between the Trudeau government and Toronto Mayor John Tory, said on Thursday: “Today, the Trudeau government was forced to re-announce an ‘installment’ payment of $11 million dollars in an attempt to cover up the fact that they have no plan to deal with the Prime Minister’s failure to manage Canada’s borders. We know from today’s announcement that there are more ‘installment’ payments to come.
“Instead of presenting a fully costed, long-term plan to Canadians, [Prime Minister] Justin Trudeau has instead chosen to set up a permanent hotel program to deal with the influx of illegal border crossers. This is yet another example of an unbudgeted, band-aid solution by this irresponsible Liberal government.
“The Trudeau government said that the truth is important when it comes to the situation at our borders. The truth is that the Prime Minister has only made the situation worse, and permanent, by failing to take action. Busing individuals from Roxham Road to Toronto to live in homeless shelters, dormitories, and now hotels is not compassionate. Money is not a plan. Justin Trudeau can’t keep throwing money at this crisis and hope it will go away.
“At a time when Canadians are struggling to make ends meet, and so many newcomers are trying to legally enter Canada, the Trudeau government’s failure to manage our borders poses an unfair and unnecessary challenge. It is long past time the Prime Minister presents Canadians with a plan to deal with this mess.”
“A Conservative government will regain control of our borders, prioritize refugees from the world’s most dangerous countries, and make sure those who obey the law are treated fairly.”
The last time Michelle Rempel’s party was in power, many people, previously Canadian and some for decades, had their citizenship summarily stripped with no notice or hearing. And the reasons (detailed in Don Chapman’s book “The Lost Canadians” were for old, “arcane” laws, some of which no one had ever heard, like not reaffirming your citizenship before your 28th birthday, being a child of a war bride, being a child of a Canadian veteran,second generation born abroad, being born prior to parents’ marriage (common in WWII due to Canadian orders to military and anathema to conservatives ).
My brother (a Canadian Naval Veteran who also served with a police force) and I are still out of citizenship after 14 years. We had it for the previous time since arriving on a War Bride Ship in 1946. With lots of work from Don Chapman and team and with some amengments to the Citizenship Act, a number of people have managed to get citizenship restored in the years since, we lost ours but, if there is a change in government again, I doubt we will ever get that back in our lifetime.
I wish Ms. Rempel and the Citizenship Committee would work together on a brand new Citizenship Act for Canada, one that could not allow citizenship stripping by individual governments according to their own individual values and prejudices, would get rid of those old laws and being clear so everyone, including their own members and staff, can understand it.