Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose says that she 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 support the idea鈥� behind a proposal from leadership candidate Kellie Leitch to screen immigrants for 鈥渁nti-Canadian values.鈥�
Ambrose told CTV鈥檚 Question Period that she 鈥減ersonally鈥� doesn鈥檛 support such screening. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 even know what that would look like,鈥� she said.
Ambrose added that 鈥渁s far as our party is concerned, we value immigration.鈥�
鈥淲e just had our convention, the largest convention in the history of our party, 3,000 Tories got together and no one talked about this,鈥� she said.
Chong: 鈥榙og-whistle politics鈥�
Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong, whose parents are immigrants from Hong Kong and the Netherlands, wrote Friday on Facebook that Leitch鈥檚 proposal has been called 鈥渢he worst of dog-whistle politics.鈥�
鈥淚n order to win in 2019 we need to build a modern and inclusive Conservative Party that focuses squarely on pocket book issues that matter to Canadians, and not on issues that pit one Canadian against another,鈥� he wrote.
Mulroney: 鈥楰ind of unacceptable鈥�
Former Progressive Conservative prime minister Brian Mulroney was asked about Leitch鈥檚 proposal on Question Period and replied that he believes immigrants bring 鈥渄ynamism 鈥� expertise 鈥� devotion and loyalty to Canada.鈥�
鈥淚 think anything that diminishes that concept is kind of unacceptable,鈥� he said.
Frum: 鈥楻easons to worry鈥�
Conservative commentator David Frum, meanwhile, told Question Period that values-screening is worth discussing, pointing out that European countries are already doing it.
鈥淭he Netherlands since 2006 has applied a test to immigrants to make sure they don鈥檛 bring misogynistic, anti-Semitic and homophobic values with them,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he Danes have a long pattern of not allowing visas for spouses if a Dane marries a foreign national to head off child marriage in immigrant communities.鈥�
Frum added: 鈥淭he world is full of people who are very different one from another and a lot of countries that have faced internal struggles and security problems, people want barriers at the border to screen out people who won鈥檛 adjust.鈥�
According to him, people on the receiving end of mass immigration from war-torn countries 鈥渉ave reason to worry.鈥�
鈥淭hey see the kind of security threats that Europe has so horrifically suffered from and they want to prevent it at the border,鈥� Frum added.
鈥淭he problem, of course, is that most of these threats show up not with first-generation immigrants but second-generation immigrants,鈥� Frum said.
Leitch feels 鈥渧ery strongly鈥� about proposal
Leitch doubled-down on her screening idea on Friday, issuing a press release that stated she will be 鈥減utting forward policies that will make Canada safer, stronger and that will enhance a unified Canadian identity.鈥�
"Screening potential immigrants for anti-Canadian values that include intolerance towards other religions, cultures and sexual orientations, violent and/or misogynist behaviour and/or a lack of acceptance of our Canadian tradition of personal and economic freedoms is a policy proposal that I feel very strongly about,鈥� Leitch wrote.
Leitch had asked potential supporters in an email to vote on whether 鈥渢he Canadian government (should) screen potential immigrants for anti-Canadian values as part of its normal screening for refugees and landed immigrants.鈥�
