‘I have no time for illegal immigration,’ Harper says

Former Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he has “no time for illegal immigration,” because it turns people against legal immigration, which is a boon for the economy and potentially electorally for the Conservative Party.

“As I have told other leaders in other countries, no illegal immigration system or phenomenon will ever be popular with a mass of people. It just will not,” said Harper, in a wide-ranging conversation on the Ben Shapiro Podcast on Sunday.

Harper said he’s “fundamentally proimmigration,” and that his record in government reflects that, but that “immigration has to be legal” and “is not a right.”

“I would really doubt that there’s an argument to say the U.S. has no needs for immigrants and that there’s no immigrants who could possibly help build the U.S. economy. I think that’s a nonsensical position.

“But what’s happened in the United States — and this is what happens when you have unpopular or illegal immigration — public opinion turns against all immigration,” said Harper.

A recent poll by the Angus Reid Institute found that 65 per cent of Canadians believe that the 31,000 irregular border crosses since 2017 is “too many people for Canada to handle.”

Harper’s comments echo the argument made in his recently released book, Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in the Age of Disruption, which urges conservatives to listen to populist grievances, rather than focus on other priorities like tax cuts for the wealthy.

Harper said he see patriotism and nationalism as virtually indistinguishable, but warned against extreme versions of it.

“I would agree that if you get far-right nationalism that’s essentially racial or ethnic in character, it could become a different kind of beast. But frankly, conservatives don’t advocate that kind of nationalism,” said Harper.

Harper was also highly critical of Chinese trading practices and lauded U.S. President Donald Trump for “being the first president willing to take on this.”

“You have a bad deal that provides grossly unequal access and the consequence has been the outflow of millions of jobs from the United States, from Canada, to China with no discernible benefits to our working population,” said Harper.

“As a populist conservative, or frankly I would say as a conservative, you don’t sign deals like that.

“You sign deals where you know your economy is going to benefit and that lots of people in your economy are going to benefit,” he said.

Harper cautioned against a trade war and protectionism in general, but said the end goal of any trade deal or trade remedy must be for China to open its markets.

Harper saved some of his harshest criticism for progressives, many of whom he said believe in “the opposite of nationalism,” which argues that everything their country does is wrong. He also accused U.K. Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn of creating a Marxist party that was engaging in “Stalinist-type purges” of Jewish members and people who aren’t far enough left.

... THE CONSEQUENCE HAS BEEN THE OUTFLOW OF MILLIONS OF JOBS FROM THE UNITED STATES, FROM CANADA, TO CHINA WITH NO DISCERNIBLE BENEFITS TO OUR WORKING POPULATION. — STEPHEN HARPER