Canada’s hypocritical response to Trump’s anti-Muslim order
By
Roger Jordan
6 February 2017
US President Donald Trump’s January 27 executive order banning travel to the US from seven majority Muslim countries and halting all refugee approvals for 120 days has prompted a hypocritical and duplicitous response from Canada’s Liberal government.
The day the ban came into effect, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued a tweet that was widely promoted by the liberal media in Canada and around the world as a challenge to Trump’s policy, even though it did not mention the president, his order, or even the US. “To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith. Diversity is our strength #WelcomeToCanada,” tweeted Trudeau.
A BBC report hailed the tweet, under the headline, “Canada’s Justin Trudeau takes a stand.” The tweet has since been shared more than 400,000 times, giving an indication of the widespread hostility to Trump’s brutal, discriminatory measure.
However, Trudeau’s pose of opposition to the travel ban has nothing in common with the humane sentiments that have animated protests internationally over the past 10 days.
Since coming to power in November 2015, the Liberal government has struck a phony “refugee-friendly” stance, the better to press ahead with a right-wing agenda of expanded militarism abroad and austerity at home.
Canada’s refugee policy only appears “generous” in comparison with Trump’s reactionary anti-immigrant measure. In reality, the Liberal government’s much ballyhooed intake of 25,000 Syrian refugees comprised only a tiny fraction of the millions forced to flee their homes as a result of “regime change” wars that the US, with Canada’s support, has led and…