U.S. Administration and U.S. Senate

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary: The U.S. Administration has in fact supported our refugee initiative, McCallum told the Star, according to Toronto Star. I have spoken to the U.S. Homeland Security Secretary as well as the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, and both expressed support. Even the decision by a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate committee to hold a meeting in Washington next week on Canada fast-track refugee plan and its implications for U.S. national security doesn’t rankle him. We are confident in the measures we have taken on security, as are the heads of the RCMP, CSIS and CBSA. The fact that the U.S. Senate has chosen to hold hearings on this issue is of course their decision. The statement seems genuine, although it hard to reconcile the emotion with the no-nonsense, shoot-from-the-hip manner that the Cambridge-educated McCallum is known for. The 65-year-old Markham-Thornhill MP — who has been front and centre on the Syrian refugee file since he was appointed to cabinet after the election — is deeply honoured and moved to be in charge of what has become one of the most important files in Ottawa, he says. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.