Canadian visa law is at fault, says Harper
August 10 2009 by Matt Jones
Canadian immigration is at fault says PM
Following last months Canada visa restrictions imposed on Mexico and Czech immigrants, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has defended Mexico, putting the blame instead on his own country.
Harper arrived in Guadalajara, Mexico on Sunday for two days where he met with US President Barak Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.
Calderon was expected to try to persuade Harper to withdraw the Canadian immigration restrictions. Harper did not do this, but did defend Mexico with some of the strongest words he has used regarding Canadian immigration since becoming prime minister.
Harper said: “This is not the fault of the government of Mexico. Let me be very clear about this. This is a problem with Canadian refugee law, which encourages bogus claims. Parliament should be seized with this issue, and I hope our Parliament will take advantage of the attention that’s been brought on this issue to deal with this problem.”
He went on to explain:
“We have many legitimate refugee claimants, and of course we have lots of people who are going through our immigration system in very large numbers legally, but we are spending an enormous amount of money on bogus refugee claims that encourages those claims.”
The three leaders are meeting again this morning and are expecting to discuss matters including global warming, the global financial crisis and security.
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