Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is devaluing Canadian citizenship and denying the need to protect our immigration system.
As I laid out in my last Sun column, he’s a border denier. In just three short years, Trudeau has made a mockery of Canada’s once proud tradition of successful immigration and integration.
Through my immigration think-tank True North, I speak to countless Canadians who are angry and upset with the direction this government has taken our country.
Many worry about Trudeau’s lax approach to border security, his endless generosity and handouts to migrants and his open border agenda.
But all hope is not yet lost. And 2019 could be the year things turn back around.
With an election coming this fall, now is the time for opposition parties to carve out a new plan to secure our borders, bring order back to our immigration system and protect the future of our country.
Canada has many natural advantages, including two large oceans that separate us from war-torn regions and the world’s most dysfunctional and least developed countries. Our only land border is shared with a wealthy, industrialized, like-minded country.
There is no reason why we should have a crisis of illegal border crossings. And yet, more than 40,000 migrants have illegally walked into Canada in the last two years.
In late 2018, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer took a bold stance by opposing the UN Global Compact for Migration, stating it would undermine Canada’s national sovereignty. Scheer deserves kudos for standing up to the groupthink of Liberal Canada and the whiny mainstream media, and for standing firm in his opposition to the UN compact.
But much like the UN scheme, illegal border crossings also undermine Canadian sovereignty. By allowing self-selected migrants with mysterious backgrounds to show up, unannounced, at our doorstep and demand a helping hand, we are undermining our own rules-based immigration system.
What’s the point of having serious criteria and tough rules about who can immigrate to Canada if we’re also willing to accept unscreened and unvetted migrants who stream across the border at an illegal entry point? What’s the point of keeping the front door locked if the side gate is always open?
Every year, more and more migrants cross illegally into Canada and make asylum claims in our country. Many of these claims turn out to be unfounded, and this system costs Canadian taxpayers billions each year.
The more migrants we accept this way, the more our reputation grows. People around the world already consider Canada’s citizenship and immigration rules a joke; many take advantage of our generosity through schemes to get citizenship without ever contributing to our country.
They see the Canadian passport as a status symbol, a luxury, and not a source of pride, commitment, responsibility or patriotism. This could all be stopped with the stroke of a pen.
If Canada were to deem all illegal border crossings as a “mass arrival,” we could detain every single migrant who enters illegally and hold them until a fast-tracked decision is made about their claim. We could enforce our laws saying that true refugees cannot enter Canada via a safe country like the US.
This would disqualify every single migrant walking across the US border. Word would get out that there’s no free ride in Canada, and the numbers would dry up.
If Andrew Scheer is serious about upholding Canadian sovereignty and protecting our immigration system, this would be a good place to start.
Candice Malcolm is the Founder of the True North.
