Emmett Macfarlane: Country Agreement and Ont .,

emmett macfarlane: Conservative leadership candidate Kevin O'Leary speaks in Burlington, Ont., on March 5, 2017, according to Huffington Post Canada. Photo Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press O'Leary released a video Monday morning criticizing the Liberal government's approach to refugee claimants who, he said, are exploiting a loophole in the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States. Emmett Macfarlane, a professor of political science at the University of Waterloo, sounded the alarm over O'Leary's musings about using the controversial legislative tool to help curb a growing problem with asylum seekers crossing the Canada-U.S. border. The 2004 agreement stipulates asylum seekers must make their claim at the first country in which they arrive, but that only applies at official border crossings. The Mounties have arrested nearly half as many border crossers this year 1,134 as were apprehended in 2016, according to recent figures. Asylum seekers who cross between official points are arrested by the RCMP but, as per Canada's obligations under the UN Convention of Refugees, are still entitled to go through a claims process. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.