The House: How should Canada respond to U.S. immigration policies?
Migration experts say it's time for Canada to help address the root causes driving people to cross borders illegally.
U.S. President Donald Trump's decision in May to change American immigration policy to stop what he claimed was a practice of adults using minors as "tickets" to get into the country sparked widespread outrage as many children were separated from their families.
In six weeks, more than 2,000 children were taken away from their migrant parents and detained in three facilities in Texas.
This week, Trump signed an executive order to reverse that directive, but the United States' "zero tolerance" policy on illegal border crossing still stands: anyone caught will be prosecuted.
Experts say the problem of illegal migration can't be solved at the border.
"To pretend that this is an issue that starts at the border simply ignores the reality that there are deep-rooted causes," Lloyd Axworthy, a former immigration minister and chair of the World Refugee Council, told CBC Radio's The House.
If you want to stop asylum seekers from crossing your borders, you have to find other ways to offer them safety and security, he said.
Jean-Nicolas Beuze, the UNHCR representative for Canada, said there's a way to secure your border and still remain open to people fleeing conflicts — and that balance will be key moving forward.
Most of the detainees in Texas are fleeing from drug cartel violence in central American countries like El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.
Deterring them from crossing the border won't work, Beuze said, because they're fleeing things so terrible that detention in a safe country is better than freedom in an unsafe country.
But based on the recent U.S. response, the countries they enter may not be a safe haven, either.
Countries are trying to go it alone, and that's not going to work, Axworthy argued; putting the problem to rest requires a global effort.
"We're not going to deal with it simply by flexing muscles at borders."
Beuze agreed.
"What's happening in the U.S. is unfortunately what many countries in the world are being confronted with."
Canada is also dealing with an influx of illegal migrants. About 20,000 asylum seekers walked across the Canada-U.S. border last year, and the numbers remain high in 2018.
Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen has visited communities in the United States where potential migrants — mostly Haitian and Nigerian nationals — are living in order to deter them from crossing into Canada illegally.
Both Axworthy and Beuze said Canada needs to offer more support to address those root issues before they turn into a larger crisis.
Singh admits holding seats in Quebec will require hard work
Winning in Quebec seems to be getting harder for the federal NDP — which is why leader Jagmeet Singh is vowing to roll up his sleeves and get to work as a byelection approaches in the riding held by the party's former leader.
Jagmeet Singh told The House the outcome of Monday's by-election in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord, won by the Conservative candidate, was a blow to the party.
The NDP vote suffered an almost total collapse; the party pulled in just 8.7 per cent of the vote after winning the riding with 37.7 per cent in 2011 and narrowly losing in 2015 with 29.7 per cent of the vote.
"The results are disappointing," Singh said.
"It means that we've got to make sure that we work really hard in Quebec and I'm committed to doing that."
With one Quebec byelection over, the NDP is turning its attention to the next one in the fall — former NDP leader Tom Mulcair's seat in Outremont.
That Montreal seat — a splash of orange in a sea of Liberal red — became the cornerstone of the NDP's success in the 2011 election when Mulcair snatched it from Liberal control in 2007.
Singh didn't rule out the possibility of running in that riding — he currently doesn't hold a seat in the House of Commons — but he said he has many factors to consider before making a decision.
He acknowledged Outremont has "significant history" for his party, given how Mulcair's success put an end to decades of Liberal representation there.
Earlier in the week, Mulcair had some words of warning for the party as he wraps up his political career: Start worrying.
"I am worried about a score like that, what it means for the future, no doubt," Mulcair told host Vassy Kapelos on CBC News Network's Power & Politics on Wednesday.
The NDP has finished in last place in the past two Quebec byelections — quite a change from its strong second place showings in the previous general election.
"All seats in Quebec, any time we've had a great showing, means it's an important region," he said.
Tax havens, relations with the U.S. and regulating web giants like Netflix are all issues that have troubled Quebec voters, and Singh said those are the subjects on which the party will focus going forward.
"There's issues that have resonated with people in Quebec and we're going to continue to double down on those issues."
When asked about a recent Radio Canada report about the Liberal Party attempting to convince NDP MPs to cross the floor, Singh said that his caucus members said no.
Addressing unanswered questions about cannabis legalization
The government has announced a legalization date for cannabis — but don't light up just yet.
As Oct. 17 nears, there are still regulatory wrinkles to iron out and questions to answer.
Some of the rules are clear: You can purchase only from a federally licensed producer, you can only possess up to 30 grams of dried cannabis, you're only allowed to grow up to four plants at home. But other details haven't firmed up yet.
Provinces like Quebec and Manitoba have asked the federal government for the right to ban home growing. Will they impose different rules?
When the prohibition on the drug lifts, what will happen to Canadians who have a criminal record because of cannabis convictions?
How can Canadians easily cross the border into U.S. states, where marijuana is still illegal?
The House asked MP Bill Blair, the government's point man on the two pieces of cannabis legislation, to shed some light on some of these issues.
Amnesty:
The federal government has said it's not currently looking at retroactive pardons for people with marijuana charges.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said this week there was no point in talking about retroactive pardons until after the drug becomes legal.
Blair agreed.
"I think that it's an important conversation this country can only have after we've repealed and replaced this law," he said.
The former police chief also said he was in favour of implementing amnesty at some point.
Home cultivation:
Quebec, Manitoba and Nunavut have each asked for the right to ban home cultivation in their jurisdictions, but the House of Commons rejected a Senate amendment that dealt with provinces' rights to regulate cannabis.
Blair said if provinces choose to pass their own legislation, both the federal and provincial laws would apply.
The federal law says it's an offence to have more than four plants, he said, but if the provinces pass a law saying you can't have any, that still falls under the 'four plants or less' standard.
"If you prohibit, you can't regulate," he said.
And if court challenges come, he said, the government is ready.
"It's available to Canadians to challenge any law — provincial or federal."
Crossing the border:
Despite cannabis becoming legal in Canada, it will still be a serious criminal offence to bring marijuana across the border into the U.S.
Blair's advice to Canadians is to be smart, and to avoid doing anything that could arouse a border guard's suspicion.
"If somebody is going to the border, I think it would be really stupid to have the strong smell of cannabis in your car," he said.
While the border officers could ask Canadians to submit to secondary searches, Blair said it's important to be honest.
"I'm not going to ever tell anybody to lie to the customs people."
Police enforcement:
Police will still be expected to uphold the law until Oct. 17, Blair said.
Lawyers and judges also will have to use their discretion when it comes to dealing with cannabis-related charges between now and the legalization date, but he said he strongly encourages people to continue to obey the current law until the law changes.
"Until the law is repealed and replaced, the rule of law still prevails," he said.
Blair added he's concerned about people opening up illegal dispensaries, and cautioned that police will be cracking down on those businesses.
"I'm hopeful that we won't see that proliferation."
Canada not ready for space army, former defence chief says
Canada's military may not be ready to plant a flag in outer space, but a former chief of the defence staff says the federal government would do well to keep an eye on what the U.S. does next with its promised new "space force."
It wouldn't make sense for Canada to attempt to build something as costly as a military presence in space right now, Tom Lawson told CBC Radio's The House on Thursday.
"I think the best things Canada can do is to remain closely linked with U.S space agencies," he said.
"From that we can continue to learn and influence and play a part."
Lawson said U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off a debate on "a really important subject" with his announcement on Monday.
Trump vowed to make his country a leader in space exploration again. He has directed the Pentagon to create a "space force" to serve as an independent branch of the military.
Part of that force's mission would be reviving the United States' flagging space exploration efforts — returning astronauts to the moon and working toward a manned mission to Mars.
As he has with so many of the White House's recent actions, Trump described his "space force" notion as an urgent matter of national security, saying he doesn't want "China and Russia and other countries leading us."
Trump and other western leaders have good reasons to be concerned about Russian and Chinese space projects, Lawson said, pointing to the threat posed by spy satellites and attempts to capture other nations' space infrastructure.
However, big questions about Trump's policy remain unanswered.
Could this push rival nations into a race to weaponize space? Would countries begin to carry out combat activities above the earth's atmosphere?
"It's kind of remarkable, what's been going on," Lawson said. "These things are kind of Star Wars-level ideas."
This rapid shift toward seeing low-Earth orbit as a commercial and military field is shattering the long-held view of space as a neutral place, where everyone operates peacefully.
But it's an ideal Lawson said many countries still seem prepared to uphold.
"I think the real goal is to make space war less likely."