Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said one of Justin Trudeau’s tweets has contributed to Canada’s current ongoing border crisis and a loss of integrity for the Canadian immigration system.
“In terms of illegal immigration, we have seen this problem grow for the past few years. We all remember Justin Trudeau’s famous tweet where he couldn’t resist jumping in on Twitter and tweeting out all are welcome,” Scheer said in remarks at a Surrey Board of Trade event in Vancouver
Scheer was referring to Trudeau’s infamous January 2017 “#WelcomeToCanada” tweet where he opened an invitation “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war.”
Soon after, Canada’s border with the United States saw over 20,000 illegal crossings into Canada.
Since the tweet, Canada has continued to see an influx of illegal border crossings.
“Well, people have taken him up on his word. The problem is that that damages the integrity of our immigration system, and people who are trying to come to Canada the right way are now having to wait longer,” said Scheer.
In 2018, over 75% of the illegal border crossings took place along a Quebec portion of the Canadian border.
The ongoing border crisis will likely be a prominent issue in the October 2019 federal election.
As a result of Trudeau’s open invitation to the world’s migrants, processing costs alone have risen to over $1 billion over the next three years, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.
Scheer said the problem goes beyond partisanship.
“It’s not about left or right on this issue. It’s about what’s right for Canada. I’m going to continue standing up for principles and not be worried about the politics of it,” he said.
Scheer pointed out that legal immigrants suffer the most because of Canada’s border situation, adding that immigrants who live in refugee camps across the world are the most disadvantaged by those who can afford to come through New York.
Many Canadians feel that the Liberal government has been inadequate in handling Canada’s border.
A 2018 Angus Reid poll suggested that 67% of Canadians believed that the ongoing situation at the border was “a crisis”.
The current border situation has led to a backlog in the immigration system which the Liberal minister of immigration, Ahmed Hussen, has called “unsustainable” in a leaked federal memo.
It’s clear that Justin Trudeau’s open invitation to the world’s migrants has led to irreparable changes for Canada’s border.
