Refugees: while Harper promises action, Wynne, Tory announce moves

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The ongoing refugee crisis remains in the forefront of the federal election campaign.

Last week a photo of a drowned three year old Syrian boy washed ashore on a Turkish beach made headlines around the world. It was revealed that the boy’s relatives in BC hoped to sponsor the family to resettle in Canada.

The Syrian refugee crisis has now become a major election topic. In response, NDP leader Tom Mulcair says they would bring 10,000 Syrians to Canada before the end of the year, and 46,000 by 2019.

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau says they would accept 25,000 refugees by January 2016. Trudeau has asked Harper and Mulcair to meet and develop a better plan. Harper has rejected the proposed meeting and spoke about his current policy in Mississauga today.

“This government has already announced prior to the latest round of headlines to bring more Syrian and Iraqi refugees to this country. We have already brought in 23,000. we are looking to bring in more and to improve the process.”

“Let me be clear at the same time. We are going to make sure that we are selecting the most vulnerable bona fide refugees. We are going to focus on the religions and ethnic minorities that are the most vulnerable, and when we are dealing with people who are from in many cases a terrorist war zone, we are going to make sure we screen people appropriately and the security of this country is protected.”

A number of provincial and municipal leaders have also come forward in recent days, saying they are prepared to work with the federal government to begin accepting more refugees. Today Ontario premier Kathleen Wynne and Toronto mayor John Tory announced their plans.

Wynne: “What we can do in Ontario is we can put more supports in place for private organizations and individuals who are working, Lifelines Syria who are working to bring refugees into Ontario. We are going to put some of those support systems in place, we are going to set-up a fund that would help support those organizations and do everything we can to make sure that when refugees arrive here they can access programs that will help them to settle.”

Tory: “It’s great to hear that they are at various stages of putting together organizations like Lifelines Syria or even, in a way, adjuncts of that to do what Lifelines Syria is doing in the Toronto region which is actually help coordinate the efforts of many citizens and others to provide the resources necessary to be able to give these people a chance to come here.”

Wynne and Tory say the response from Canadians to aid these refugees has been overwhelming.

Pollsters at Nanos Research say last week’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis by harper has pushed the federal Conservative party into third place in public support among the three main federal parties.

The NDP is on top with 33 per cent, the Liberals in second with 31 per cent, and the Tories are down 5 points to 26 per cent.