Immigration process just fine as it is, Mulroney says
Leitch’s call for screening of values is unnecessary, ex-PM says at U of C
Former prime minister Brian Mulroney has waded into the debate over screening newcomers for “anti-Canadian values,” saying he sees no need to toughen the immigration process as one Conservative leadership contender is suggesting.
Ontario MP Kellie Leitch has floated the idea of applying such a test to potential immigrants as a way to make sure their views on issues such as gender equality are aligned with Canadian values.
But Mulroney said that’s unnecessary.
“We have a good process now. People don’t just walk in the front door here,” he told reporters after delivering a speech to the University of Calgary on Tuesday.
“They have to meet certain criteria, and I think if they meet those criteria, that should be OK.”
Mulroney, who was the Progressive Conservative prime minister from 1984 until 1993, also diplomatically waded into U.S. politics, where immigration has also been a hot-button issue.
“This (upcoming presidential election) is a most unusual choice that Americans have to make.”
He said he knows both Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and her Republican opponent Donald Trump personally.
He said his children know Trump’s children and “anybody who can raise wonderful children like that has got something going for him.”
But, he said, in the end, Clinton has more going for her in terms of experience.
“Who’s the more qualified? Obviously because of her background, Hillary. She’s spent her whole life in public policy,” he said, predicting that the outcome of the election will turn on who does better in the televised debate in about two weeks.
But Trump, he said, has “caught a wave” with his hardline stance on immigration, particularly from Mexico and Muslim countries — a view Mulroney said he doesn’t share.
Mulroney’s speech to the University of Calgary’s law faculty focused on another controversial issue dominating Canadian politics — pipelines.
He urged Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take a leadership role in ensuring new pipelines, including the $15.7-billion Alberta-to-New Brunswick Energy East pipeline, are built.
“This Canadian energy and resource agenda under the prime minister’s personal direction would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in new investments, millions of new jobs, bring West and East much closer together and be as transformational and beneficial to the country as any major policy initiative undertaken in Canada in the past 70 years,” he said.
When asked whether he believes Trudeau will take that advice, Mulroney said: “We’re going to find out.”