Harper demands Mulcair apologize for suggestion that Conrad Black decision was ‘racist’
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair should apologize to public servants for suggesting that they were “biased, prejudiced, and even racist” in granting former media mogul Conrad Black a temporary residency permit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday.
Ottawa has cleared the way for Black’s return by granting him a one-year temporary resident permit, setting off a political row in Ottawa after it was learned yesterday. Black applied for the permit in March.
Mulcair compared Black’s case to that of Gary Freeman, an American-born man who has been denied re-entry into Canada because of a criminal record. The 63-year-old was involved with the Black Panthers, and was extradited to the U.S. in 2008 and pleaded guilty to shooting a police officer in 1969. After serving a 30-day sentence, he was denied re-entry to Canada, where his wife and four children live.
“It is a clear case of a double standard, one for an American black man from Chicago, another for a British white man coming out of federal penitentiary,” Mulcair said.
Harper was unimpressed with the comparison, saying the NDP leader was accusing officials of being “biased, prejudiced, and even racist . . . without any evidence” during question period Wednesday.
Harper also flatly rejected charges that the Conservatives had anything to do with Black’s permit, saying the decision was made by bureaucrats.
“It would be just as easy for us if Mr. Black was not allowed to come to Canada but that was not the judgment of those that administer the law,” he said in response to Mulcair.
“On the government side we have to administer and let our public servants administer the law as it is and not apply political criteria to it.”
Mulcair, to say the least, wasn’t picking up what Harper was putting down.
“Conrad Black is a British citizen, he’s still in U.S. jail and he’s been convicted of serious crimes in the United States,” Mulcair said during question period Wednesday.
“The only exceptional case in this case is that he is a friend of the Conservatives. Why is (Harper) not tough on crime when it comes to his Conservative cronies.”
Mulcair was asked about playing the “race card” on the CBC’s “Power and Politics” Wednesday evening but he declined to directly respond to the issue.
“I think it’s very clear that with regard to the Conservatives, they’re insiders, they’re friends . . . people that are connected with them get one treatment and everyone else gets another one,” was Mulcair’s response.
Stephen Harper demands Thomas Mulcair apologize for suggestion that Conrad Black decision was 'racist' | News | National Post
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair should apologize to public servants for suggesting that they were “biased, prejudiced, and even racist” in granting former media mogul Conrad Black a temporary residency permit, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Wednesday.
Ottawa has cleared the way for Black’s return by granting him a one-year temporary resident permit, setting off a political row in Ottawa after it was learned yesterday. Black applied for the permit in March.
Mulcair compared Black’s case to that of Gary Freeman, an American-born man who has been denied re-entry into Canada because of a criminal record. The 63-year-old was involved with the Black Panthers, and was extradited to the U.S. in 2008 and pleaded guilty to shooting a police officer in 1969. After serving a 30-day sentence, he was denied re-entry to Canada, where his wife and four children live.
“It is a clear case of a double standard, one for an American black man from Chicago, another for a British white man coming out of federal penitentiary,” Mulcair said.
Harper was unimpressed with the comparison, saying the NDP leader was accusing officials of being “biased, prejudiced, and even racist . . . without any evidence” during question period Wednesday.
Harper also flatly rejected charges that the Conservatives had anything to do with Black’s permit, saying the decision was made by bureaucrats.
“It would be just as easy for us if Mr. Black was not allowed to come to Canada but that was not the judgment of those that administer the law,” he said in response to Mulcair.
“On the government side we have to administer and let our public servants administer the law as it is and not apply political criteria to it.”
Mulcair, to say the least, wasn’t picking up what Harper was putting down.
“Conrad Black is a British citizen, he’s still in U.S. jail and he’s been convicted of serious crimes in the United States,” Mulcair said during question period Wednesday.
“The only exceptional case in this case is that he is a friend of the Conservatives. Why is (Harper) not tough on crime when it comes to his Conservative cronies.”
Mulcair was asked about playing the “race card” on the CBC’s “Power and Politics” Wednesday evening but he declined to directly respond to the issue.
“I think it’s very clear that with regard to the Conservatives, they’re insiders, they’re friends . . . people that are connected with them get one treatment and everyone else gets another one,” was Mulcair’s response.
Stephen Harper demands Thomas Mulcair apologize for suggestion that Conrad Black decision was 'racist' | News | National Post
