Whatever happened to ＂a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian＂？
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
172.67155
Summary
Lisa McLeod, the new immigration minister in the new Ontario government, calls Ahmed Hassen "not Canadian" for daring to criticize the federal government's handling of the asylum file. Andrew Lutton explains why Lisa McLeod has a point of view that is different than that of the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
Transcript
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Last week the Federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hassen was going after the tone of those
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who had criticized his government's immigration policy.
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This week he's going after their citizenship, namely Lisa McLeod, the Provincial Immigration
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Minister in the new Ontario government, who Ahmed Hassen called not Canadian for her daring
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to criticize the federal government's mishandling of the asylum file.
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This is what Minister Hassen had to say about her.
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Program seekers are processed in a separate queue at the IRB and all the other regular
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And conflating the two knowingly is irresponsible, it's divisive, it's fear-mongering and it is
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Lisa McLeod, who's served numerous terms in the Provincial Legislature, who's now in Cabinet,
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Lisa McLeod, who has always been an incredible patriotic woman and always a great advocate
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for her province and her community, is now not Canadian because she espouses a position
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that is different than that of the federal government.
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This is the Justin Trudeau, Ahmed Hassen government.
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You're either with us or you're against us and if you're against us, you're not actually Canadian.
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Whatever happened to a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.
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I mean, the federal government under Justin Trudeau thought that if you committed a heinous
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act of terrorism, you should still keep your citizenship.
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But Lisa McLeod dares to say Ahmed Hassen screwed up and oh, well, she's not a Canadian, folks.
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It's amazing how much of that double standard is really coming back to bite them in the rear
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Gerald Butts, who is Justin Trudeau's principal advisor, called Lisa McLeod and, frankly,
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her supporters alt-right for having, again, a very legitimate skepticism for the federal
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government's mishandling of immigration and asylum seekers.
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When the workload is adding up, the border workers are not being given the resources they
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need and Canadians and provinces specifically are left footing the bills.
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But if you criticize them, you're not a part of their country.
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See, my country is one where people have the right to disagree with their government.
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Maybe that's not the Justin Trudeau, Ahmed Hassen approach, but it's all the more important
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that voices like Lisa McLeod stand up and speak out.
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For the True North Initiative, I'm Andrew Lutton.