Former PM calls Harper out on Syria inaction

Former prime minister Jean Chrétien says he is “embarrassed” by Canada’s slow response to the Syrian refugee crisis and that it’s “unacceptable” for the Conservative government to use security concerns as an excuse to keep out migrants.

Chrétien made the remarks Saturday to journalists after delivering an energetic speech to Liberal supporters gathered to open the campaign office of Mauril Bélanger, the party’s candidate in Ottawa-Vanier.

“When I am going around the world, they always ask me, ‘What happened to Canada?’” Chrétien told the crowd.

Afterward, he was blunt in addressing questions about the Syrian refugee crisis that has exploded like a bombshell in the federal election, putting Conservative Leader Stephen Harper on the defensive over his government’s record.

Chrétien said that a year ago — about the time the government was announcing plans to deploy Canadian military jets on bombing missions against ISIL in Iraq — he published an open letter in a newspaper on the topic.

“I said to participate, you know, it would be very marginal,” Chrétien said.

He had predicted that even with the few planes committed by Canada, it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

“So I said we should use that money to welcome refugees. I wrote that a year ago, anticipating the nature of the problem ... I said we should do like we had always done: open our gates. And we did nothing.”

Chrétien chastised the government, saying fewer than 2,000 Syrian refugees had been processed during the past year-and-a-half.

“Look at the Germans. Hundreds of thousands. They don’t go and check them to know if they sleep on the right side or the left side of the bed. They take them in.”

“That is what is not happening in Canada. And it is not part of a Canadian tradition. We have opened our gates all the time. This is the way we have built a very good country.

“And I’m very embarrassed by that.”

On Sunday, at a campaign event in Stittsville, near Ottawa, Harper was asked to respond to Chretien’s criticism.

“I would just say two things that are plainly obvious. First of all, the vast, vast majority of Canadians are immensely proud of this country. And the data that we have from around the world indicates that this is the most admired country in the world, respected as never before.”

In recent days, Harper has defended his party’s record on the refugee issue.