Kevin Sorenson
MP Battle River-Crowfoot
In July of this year, I wrote about the problem of illegal immigrants crossing into Canada from the United States and I attributed this to the careless tweeting of the Prime Minister.
In January 2016, Justin Trudeau casually sent out the message “#WelcomeToCanada.” I explained all the consequences of such negligence and the unfairness of queue-jumping in that column.
On Dec. 10th, the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) revealed that this Liberal recklessness will, if left unaddressed, cost taxpayers $1.1 billion by 2020, not including the hundreds of millions of dollars incurred by the provinces. This figure also did not include the payments to eligible Quebeckers the Liberals announced just days after the PBO released his report. Ninety-six per cent of the 35,000 illegal migrants who have crossed into this country did so at Roxham Road in Quebec. On Dec. 12th, newly appointed Minister of Border Security, Bill Blair, announced payments of up to $25,000 for residents for the disturbances they endured from living on or near this entry point on the Canada-U.S. border.
While the ink was just drying on the PBO’s report, the Trudeau Liberals also once again rolled out the welcome mat and perhaps in doing so, abdicated even more control over who comes into Canada to stay. I say “perhaps” because we really don’t know for sure what the consequences will be of Canada signing the United Nations (UN) global pact on immigration. On Dec. 12th, just one day after Canada signed, headlines such as that in the National Post read “End of sovereignty or meaningless agreement”?
The Global Compact for Migration was the result of a 2016 UN declaration on refugees and migration, agreed to by all 193 UN member states. The statement was in response to unprecedented levels of worldwide migration. In 2017, the United States pulled out of the agreement along with a number of other countries, such as Australia, Hungary, Austria, Poland and many central and Eastern European states, following behind. Most of these countries cited concerns about the very real possibility of losing sovereign control over migration.
The crux of our opposition to signing of this pact is the uncertainty and the secrecy surrounding it and that it removes decision making authority about Canada away from Canadians. The Liberal government has readily defended this pact despite the Conservatives highlighting many anticipated problems.
Our diligence in raising these issues has promoted significant questions and concerns from Canadians across the country. Many unanswered questions remain.
Why was the government not forthcoming about this agreement and why did they fail to consult Canadians? Why did they not permit Members of Parliament the opportunity to, on behalf of their constituents, debate the positives and negatives of Canada signing this document? What exactly does some of the language found in the compact such as “sensitizing and educating” journalists on how they should report about immigration mean? Does this mean journalists are being muzzled from saying anything negative on immigration?
On December 11th, during debate on a Bill amending the Customs Act, I took the opportunity to reiterate some of the concerns being expressed by many Battle River-Crowfoot constituents.
I read from an email that was sent to all Members of Parliament and Senators in which was written:
“This agreement is the most destructive piece of literature I have ever read. It will be the end of our great country and the last nail in the coffin of free speech in Canada. This has been hidden on purpose and after I read this rambling straight jacket of so-called agreement, I understood why.”
“Something so divisive, damaging and horrendous to the future of Canada and it citizens should have been on the front page of every newspaper and magazine in the country……If it wasn’t so sad, I would give a round of applause to our PM for hiding it so well! I am stunned that there was no vote for us to voice our objections, and they were against signing Canada to it! The PM of course, was voted to represent the people of this country, but more and more he decides what this country should look like.”
Given how little Canadians and I currently know about the pact, I agree with the authors of this email: “Canada has had decades of peaceful and orderly immigration. Allowing our borders to be open and under the control of the U.N. and not our own government, is the death of our country. What is a country without a border to stop people that may do us harm? We should be the ones to say who, what and why people and things may cross into our country.”
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this or previous columns you may write me at 4945-50th Street, Camrose, Alberta, T4V 1P9, call 780-608-4600, toll-free 1-800-665-4358, fax 780-608-4603 or e-mail Kevin.Sorenson.c1@parl.gc.ca.