To question & strengthen immigration policies

The undiplomatic talk from Ankara this past weekend against Liberal Democracy starwalt Holland underlines the incredible miscalculation that Clinton, Obama, Merkle and other Western politicians have made in the past 30 years: ignore and excuse the lack of respect for Western borders and laws. The Netherlands has one of the most welcoming and open societies, yet is compared to Nazi Germany by no less than the leader of Turkey, Erdoğan.

Why should only European nations have open borders while Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other wealthy Arab states take none (let alone Japan). These are reasonable queries, not some Alt-Right extreme viewpoint.

The fallout from Chancellor Merkel’s 2015 decision to announce to the Middle East that anyone who runs for the EU border will be accepted has real world consequences. The shock to European citizens is evident, and is waking up a sleeping population.

This reaction poses significant challenges to the moderate immigration policies of Canada. Not open borders nor closed, but Canada has the Goldilocks immigration policy of vetting and admitting a specific amount of immigrants. Various left and right governments in Ottawa have been striking a balance since 1945. Question is, will other nations notice this model?

“It is a generous response, it is a responsible response, it is not based on the headlines,”

“It is based on the right thing to do.”

• Steven Harper, 2015 in response to his governments decision to accept a further 10,000 refugees fleeing ISIS.