Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall and Canada

Syrian refugees: Canada being Canada, Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall backed down after making the fairly innocuous statement on Tuesday that this nation should go slow on its plan to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015, according to The Chronicle Herald. On Thursday, Wall reacted to a very Canadian backlash by announcing his government will establish a refugee settlement centre. Instead, the presidential hopeful fuelled the fire by adding that Muslim refugees should simply migrate to countries in the Middle East. In short, Canada most right-wing voice on refugee policy — among elected politicians, anyway — now wants to help newcomers adapt to Canadian life. Enough of that — I don’t want to sound glib in the wake of the tragic attacks in Paris, the London bus bombings in 2005, the World Trade Centre tragedy in 2001, and the stark realities facing 60 million refugees worldwide. Good on Brad, I say, but as a fan of free speech, I have to add that the narrow range of Canada debate on refugee policy almost makes me miss Rob Ford. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.