He wants the government to hire an additional 200 RCMP officers and an extra 200 agents at the Canada Border Services Agency.
Conservative leadership candidate Steven Blaney says Canada must act immediately to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country.
Blaney is proposing a series of measures he believes will make the border airtight.
They include giving Canadian authorities the right to immediately hand over illegal immigrants to their American counterparts.
He also wants the government to hire an additional 200 RCMP officers and an extra 200 agents at the Canada Border Services Agency.
Blaney told a news conference in Montreal today the new hires would cost about $40 million.
The MP for Bellechasse-Les Etchemins-Levis is also calling on cities to fully co-operate with authorities, especially with regard to illegal immigrants who have criminal records.
The format didn't allow for any direct attacks on fellow candidates, but the twelve contenders for the Conservative Party of Canada leadership found quite a bit to disagree on in their first official debate in Saskatoon. Candidates will meet reporters after the event. CBC News is livestreaming the scrums.
In an email to her supporters, candidate Kellie Leitch said "our American cousins threw out the elites," calling this an "exciting message and one that we need delivered in Canada as well."
It said she is the only candidate who is "standing up for Canadian values."
Leitch, as well as Steven Blaney — who called for a ban on wearing the niqab in launching his bid — make this focus on "values" central in their pitch.
"Two-thirds of Canadians have said they agree with me on that policy and that transcends party politics," she said before the debate began. "I'm out talking to Main Street and that's what I'm hearing."
Other candidates disagree, including Michael Chong, who issued a statement Wednesday calling Leitch's policy of singling out newcomers for more screening "a losing strategy." [...]
O'Leary there to watch
Former MP Pierre Lemieux has also declared his candidacy but not yet filed his papers.
Businessman and television personality Kevin O'Leary is expected to be in Saskatoon as he continues to mull his decision whether to support any of these candidates or run himself. [...]
A Conservative leadership candidate is campaigning on reigniting the effort to ban niqabs at polling stations, during citizenship oaths and for federal public servants.
Steven Blaney, the latest Conservative to throw his hat into the party’s leadership race is planning to reignite the effort to ban niqabs at polling stations, during citizenship oaths and for federal public servants.
His will to ban the religious garb is so strong, he “will not hesitate” to take the unprecedented step of overruling the Supreme Court of Canada should it rule against federal legislation banning the niqab.
During an announcement Monday morning, the former cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s government, said he would, should he become prime minister, re-introduce legislation forcing voters, new citizens taking the oath and federal public servants to uncover their faces.
“Uncovering your face is a day-to-day requirement for every Canadian whether it is to obtain a driver’s licence or getting a passport for obvious security reasons. This same requirement should apply to all those who swear allegiance to our country, vote in-person at a polling station or work within the federal public service,” Blaney wrote in a statement Monday.
“A Conservative government under [my] leadership will not hesitate to use the notwithstanding clause should the Supreme Court oppose the will of Parliament.”
