Canucks to deport "foreign" criminals. Really!

Earlier today Walt posted an item which poked a little fun at Canada's Minister of Immigration, Jason Kenney, for calling an Alberta minister "a complete and utter asshole". You have to give the man credit, though, for telling it the way he sees it. As he did today when he introduced legislation which give him sweeping powers to deport "foreign" (i.e. non-Canadian) criminals, and to deny entry to "visitors" for pretty much any reason.

The new legislation, if passed unamended, would make it easier for the government to deport refugees, permanent residents and visitors for "serious criminality" -- crimes punishable by six months or more as guests of Her Majesty. Mr. Kenney told a CBC interviewer, "I think you can call them dangerous, you can call them serious, we don't want them in Canada anymore, and that's the bottom line."

He went on to say, "If you are a foreign national and you want the privilege of staying in Canada, don't commit a serious crime.… I don't think that's too much to ask people." Walt is having trouble hearing this afternoon, having been deafened by the sound of applause from coast to coast to coast.

The proposed law would also take away the rather overworked appeals to "humanitarian and compassionate grounds" as factors in appealing a decision that someone is inadmissible to Canada. Mr. Kenney's spokesthingy [Alexis Pavlich again? Ed.] said there are 2747 people with convictions appealing to the Immigration Appeal Division to be able to stay in Canada. According to numerous public opinion polls, most Canadians don't find these criminals so appealing, and would be glad to see the back of them.

Other proposed changes under the Canadian immigration laws include:
* A rule that would deny an appeal to those with foreign convictions for crimes that would carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in Canada.
* A rule that would deny entry to Canada to those with a family member inadmissible for security and human rights reasons -- ex-dictators, for instance -- or organized crime connections, even if that family member isn't travelling with them.
* A five-year inadmissibility period for lying on immigration applications.
* Reporting conditions for those under deportation orders.
* Automatic inadmissibility for non-Canadians and permanent residents for acts of espionage or acts "against Canada's interests".

In last year's federal election campaign platform, the Conservatives promised to streamline deportations of foreign criminals. Here's what their campaign literature said:
"It often takes years to deport even dangerous foreign criminals from Canada. In some cases, foreign criminals and terrorists here have evaded removal for over a decade as they exploit endless appeals and loopholes. Canadians expect that foreign criminals will get due process before being removed, but not an endless abuse of our generosity."

And here's what Mr. Kenney said today. "If you commit a serious crime in Canada, we are going to send you packing as quickly as we can." Wow. How long have Canadians been waiting to hear that?!

The long overdue reform of Canada's frighteningly liberal immigration rules counts as an election promise kept. Wonder how such a promise would play in Peoria.