At Least Coulter Obeys the Law

Yesteday, Members of Parliament pressed Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney on why Coulter had been allowed entry when British MP George Galloway had been excluded.

As you may have heard, the Ann Coulter talk scheduled last night at the University of Ottawa was disrupted and canceled. Think what you well of Ann (me, I'm not such a big fan), this disruption is wrong and shameful to local police, who should have acted forcefully to protect open discussion on university premises.

Earlier that day, left-wing Members of Parliament pressed Citizenship Minister Jason Kenney - one of the outstanding members of Canada's Conservative government - why Coulter had been allowed entry to Canada when British MP George Galloway had been excluded a year ago. The exchange, from Hansard:

Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina, NDP): Chowo@parl.gc.ca

Mr. Speaker, once again the government is showing its hypocrisy. A year after banning anti-war MP George Galloway from entering Canada, the minister of censorship has no problem with letting a pro-war conservative come and preach hate.

Ann Coulter said:

"--the government should be spying on all Arabs, engaging in torture as a televised spectator sport, dropping daisy cutters wantonly throughout the Middle East--"

I am all for freedom of speech, but why the double standard?

Hon. Jason Kenney (Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, CPC):KenneJ@parl.gc.ca

Mr. Speaker, I am surprised the member does not understand Canadian immigration law. It is not politicians who decide who can come into the country, it is professional members of the public service.

In the case, for instance, of Mr. Galloway, Mr. Galloway received a preliminary inadmissibility determination by an officer of the Canada Border Services Agency, I presume based on the fact that he publicly and overtly handed tens of thousands of dollars to the leader of a banned anti-Semitic terrorist organization called Hamas.

If the hon. member has information on anyone who comes to Canada that she thinks would be the basis for an inadmissibility review, I invite her to furnish that to the president of the Canada Border Services Agency.

Ms. Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, newly-filed court documents revealed that the minister was active in stopping Mr. Galloway from crossing the border. CBSA was told that Galloway could not be admitted under any circumstances.

For this government, a pro-peace British MP is a threat, but a pro-war conservative, who said that Jews needed to be perfected and called Muslims insane savages, is fine.

Will the minister admit he supports free speech only if he agrees with the speaker, or is this more Conservative hypocrisy?

Hon. Jason Kenney (Minister of Citizenship, Immigration and Multiculturalism, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, this government supports free speech within Canadian law. If the hon. member has any information that she thinks would render a visitor to Canada inadmissible, she should supply that information to the CBSA. It can take it into account.

It did take into account Mr. Galloway's admission of having financed the leadership of Hamas, which is a banned terrorist organization. I simply made it clear that I was not going to grant a ministerial permit to effectively override the inadmissibility determination of the CBSA because I actually happen to believe that we should enforce the law and not allow financiers of terrorist organizations to come to Canada.