Two federal leaders touch down in the Lower Mainland
Posted April 17, 2011 1:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
RICHMOND (NEWS1130) – Conservative leader Stephen Harper is spending his second day in the Lower Mainland highlighting the party’s tough-on-crime priorities.
This morning he announced his government would re-introduce a bill that promises to better prevent human smuggling. “This law will send a clear message to overseas human smuggling gangs to stop targeting Canada,” Harper noted.
Bill C-49 contains measures to deter migrants from using smugglers to get into Canada. It would also subject refugees to re-assessment within five years, and prevent what the Conservatives call “illegal migrants” from sponsoring members of their families for five years.
“Dealing with this legislation, dealing with human smuggling is the kind of things we as Conservatives were working on before an unnecessary election was forced upon the country,” says Harper.
Martin speaks out
Former prime minister Paul Martin spent the morning campaigning with Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff in Vancouver.
Ignatieff was also joined by Liberal candidate Ujjal Dosanjh, to announce his government would convene a meeting with the provinces within two months of a fresh mandate to discuss health care funding. The current Health Accord doesn’t expire until 2014.
The Liberal leader says dialogue has been sorely lacking. “Harper gets into government and he doesn’t take any leadership in health for five years. Nothing. There is no leadership to improve the system, to work together to make the system work effectively.”
Martin says the present government has violated the Health Care Act. “The Conservatives have violated the basic understanding of a health agreement in 2004. That agreement was that we were going to deal with the questions of accessibility further and we were going to deal with the issues that we were not in a position to deal with at the time of the accord.”
The Liberals insist their health care priorities are home care, to reduce hospital costs, and drug coverage, to cut the costs of prescription drugs.
