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Hate speech and the politics of division are creating a "dangerous path" for Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday as he vowed to steer clear of such roads and to continue calling out those who rely on "extremist" methods to make their voices heard.
Trudeau made the comments when asked whether he went too far in accusing a Quebec woman of racism and intolerance as she heckled him last week during a rally in Quebec.
During a campaign-style rally Thursday southeast of Montreal, the woman shouted questions in French at Trudeau, asking him when the federal government would repay Quebec for costs it has incurred as a result of an influx of "illegal immigrants" coming over the Canada-U.S. border.
The Quebec government has demanded Ottawa pay the full costs of social services provided to so-called irregular migrants who have crossed into Canada between established border crossings over the past couple of years — costs the province says have reached $146 million so far.
The prime minister responded to the woman by accusing her of intolerance and racism and saying her sentiments were not welcome.
At a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for a new Amazon distribution warehouse east of Ottawa, Trudeau said he fears a rise in extreme populism, particularly surrounding immigration issues, with some feeding fear and intolerance using partial truths and "outright lies."
"There has been a polarization in our political discourse," Trudeau said as construction machinery clattered in the background.
"And there are people who are trying to feed fears and intolerance for a broad range of reasons. ... I will remain positive and remain pulling people together, pulling communities together right across this country."
Progressive Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said Trudeau is using personal attacks to shut down criticism of his government.
"This is a calculated Liberal strategy to avoid being accountable for their record," Scheer said in a statement Monday evening. "Instead of demonizing critics, Justin Trudeau should confront the problem."
Ontario's minister responsible for immigration, Lisa MacLeod, was on hand Monday for Trudeau's news conference. It's the prime minister who is creating divisions by shouting "racism" at those who question his government's immigration policies, she said.
"I think when the prime minister, when confronted with some of the problems his government has created, turns around and fearmongers and calls people un-Canadian or racist, (he) really debases the debate that we're having."
Ontario's new Conservative government has also called on the federal government to foot the bill for services provided to asylum seekers, which that province has tallied at $200 million and climbing.
A woman who identified herself on social media as a member of the right-wing group Storm Alliance took responsibility for the confrontation with Trudeau in a post on Facebook. The group has been behind protests denouncing the arrival of asylum seekers at an irregular border crossing near St-Bernard-de-Lacolle.
"Pretty happy that I participated in him blowing a gasket," the post says.
The federal government has so far offered a total of $50 million to Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba to offset expenses incurred as a result of a spike in asylum seekers entering the country by way of unofficial entry points along the Canada-U.S. border. Of that sum, Quebec — where the bulk of the crossings have taken place — would receive $36 million.
Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said he hopes to persuade people that diversity is good for the province.
"If someone tells me they are worried about diversity, I will accept this worry exists and I will try to explain my point of view, that it (diversity) is something that can be very positive for our society," Couillard told reporters Monday.
The issue of irregular border crossings could become a wedge issue in the campaign leading up to the next federal election scheduled for the fall of 2019.
At an event Sunday marking Trudeau's formal nomination to run for re-election in the Montreal riding of Papineau, Trudeau emphasized the fight against extremist populism as a plank in his party's 2019 platform, and accused Scheer of exploiting fear and division.
— With files from Mylene Crete and Caroline Plante
Comments
Justin's fight is against anyone with an apposing view. Hateful racists is what that apposing view earns you from our PM. October 2019 will give us the opportunity to work it out.
There are a lot of different views opposing Prime Minister Trudeau's. Some of them are environmentalist. Some of them are people with compassion for the poor and an understanding of how the system makes them poor.
Others are hateful racists, and I'm totally with Trudeau when he calls those ones out.
Trudeau is good on multiculturalism and not being racist. However, most of the public discourse about immigrants and refugees seems to imagine that they just somehow appear out of nowhere--it's like the vast shmoo of everything "out there" just sort of randomly creates people in bad situations.
In fact the causes of vast numbers of refugees is surprisingly simple: Mainly it's a product of US, Canadian and European interference in other countries. The waves of refugees in Europe came from American, Europe-backed wars in Iraq, Libya and (covertly) Syria. Refugees from Latin America also stem largely from countries being wrecked in one way or another by American, and to some extent Canadian, interference. Like a coup government in Honduras killing off political opposition and driving people out of their homes for mining and resort companies. Or in Mexico, "free trade" with massively subsidized American corn driving half the farmers from their livelihoods, combined with billions of dollars in US "aid" for a militarized "drug war" that creates casualties at the level of a real shooting war. The pattern repeats all around Latin America--wherever there are lots of refugees, if we look halfway carefully we find US fingerprints (and quite often, Canadian-based mining companies).
The thing is that most of these people weren't lured here by the glowing promise of the good Canadian multicultural life. They had lives. They would have preferred to keep them and continue living in their homes near their families and friends. So if we want to have fewer immigrants, and mainly just ones who actually want to be here, the thing to do isn't be racist bastards victimizing them after they have no choices left and will come somehow anyway. The thing to do is to counter the policies that destabilized their countries in the first place, so they can live decent lives in their own homes.
I couldn't have put it better myself. We have to stop turning a blind eye to wars of imperialism, and extractivist operations, both of which make living impossible in the countries being exploited. We have to be conscious of the full circle...and if we're okay with governments rubber stamping American interference in other people's homes...then we'd better be okay with the survivors of those policies showing up at our borders.
Hating and fearing the victims is counter productive. If western imperialism destroys their homes and livelihood, we can expect them to migrate. We should have realized what goes around comes around thirty years ago, when the current warlords began their plans for global domination.
Anyone who disagrees with this government is labelled one of many nasty names. This woman's question was valid. However, instead of answering her question, he went to the typical Liberal rhetoric" racist, bigot, nazi, uncanadian, etc. etc." This paper is all Trudeau fluff. The reporter should have been very hard hitting on Trudeau. When will THE MONEY BE PAID BACK? How much more are we going to have to shell out?
When a PM tells a Canadian veteran who was severely injured in the line of duty that " he is asking for too much" , but calls a woman who is wanting to know when hundreds of millions will be paid back, then there is a HUGE problem. None of these Trudeau loving biased papers ever ask the tough questions.