Your local federal candidates are commenting on the Syrian Refugee Crisis.
Liberal Candidate Mary Jean McFall says we must put politics and partisanship aside, and cut through the red tape to bring more Syrian refugees to Canada. McFall says the federal government needs to commit more resources to processing refugee applications. She says citizens of Leeds-Grenville can play a part in this as well, by raising funds to sponsor a family privately.
Green Party candidate Lorraine Rekmans says the current government has done little in this regard and has embarrassed us as Canadians in the international community. She says we must ramp up our program to allow 25,000 more refugees into our country, but we must also use every diplomatic tool we have at our disposal to end the conflict.
NDP candidate Margaret Andrade says we know that, as a country we can bring in 10,000 Syrian refugees who have already been screened and approved by the United Nations. Mr. Harper needs to put this process into action immediately. She says the NDP has stated they will fast-track private sponsorships with no cap and remove the bureaucratic obstacles to private sponsorships.
The incumbent Gord Brown says Canada has committed to resettling 11,300 refugees, working with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to ensure that we maintain our national security. Brown says ISIL militants have threatened to use the displacement crisis to smuggle terrorists into Western countries – still, so far over 2000 Syrian refugees have been settled in Canada.