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When Conservative Canadian governments deport failed asylum-seekers and try to prevent them from arriving in the first place, they tend to boast about it. When Liberal Canadian governments deport failed asylum-seekers and try to prevent them from arriving in the first place, they tend to pretend its simply not happening. On migration policy, this is one of the key differences between our two natural governing parties. It basically boils down to branding.

The Trudeau government has taken traditional Liberal messaging considerably further, though. In March, amidst a global refugee crisis, having recently dropped the tourist visa requirement for Mexican citizens and with a surge of northbound border-crossers arriving concurrently (if not because of) the Trump presidency and with hundreds of thousands of undocumented people in the U.S. who could theoretically join that surge Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted out this now-legendary piece of reckless, insincere nonsense: Regardless of who you are or where you come from, theres always a place for you in Canada.

Spoiler alert: there isnt.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Conservative immigration critic Michelle Rempel tried to frame the northbound exodus as a direct result of Trudeaus shameless virtue signalling. Asked what her government had done or would do differently, she responded, essentially, that her government wouldnt have all-but-explicitly encouraged people to give Canada a college try.

Its a stretch; this is mostly about circumstances beyond any governments control. But the extent to which this government refuses to speak in plain English is truly remarkable.

On Sunday, in a visit to the border region in Quebec, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Canadian consulates in the U.S. would try to warn people thinking of heading north to claim asylum that their chances of success were far from assured. Thats a very good idea. Many of the current border-crossers are Haitians whose asylum claims failed in the United States. A temporary post-earthquake moratorium on removals having expired, they now face deportation. Reports suggest they are being sold garbage advice in some cases literally that Canada is a sure thing. To preserve Canadas already stretched border resources, to maintain whatever public trust remains in the systems integrity, and to save vulnerable people from extortion and financial ruin, the government should be warning people away in no uncertain terms.

Heres what Garneau put on Twitter: We are continuing to engage with diaspora communities in the U.S.A. everyone deserves to know the facts about what it means to come to Canada.

And on Wednesday, heres what Trudeau put on Twitter: Were reaching out to folks in the U.S. to make sure people who want to come to Canada understand the proper procedures to do so.

For the love of God, man, there is no proper procedure with a snowballs chance in Port-au-Prince via which a failed Haitian asylum-seeker in the United States can come properly to Canada. What you mean is dont come. Well probably deport you anyway. So say it.

Theres no guarantee a blunt message would get the job done, mind you. No matter how often the Conservatives called asylum-seekers from European Union countries bogus refugees, the Immigration and Refugee Board kept recognizing their claims at a reasonable clip 2,500 from Hungary alone over the last decade, for a roughly 18 per cent success rate.

Unlike Hungary, the now-famous unofficial border crossing in Quebec is just a Greyhound and a cab away from anywhere in the contiguous 48 states. If Canadas consulates are indeed distributing the facts, then Haitians will know Canada has accepted nearly 50 per cent of claims from their fellow citizens over the last 10 years. Many claims that failed in the U.S. might well fail in Canada too but its a safe bet quite a few would succeed. (The U.S. accepts a significantly lower percentage of claimants.)

If my options were (a) deportation to Haiti, where I have nothing, or (b) a $200 trip to the border, a longish stay in Canada during which I can legally work and make some money, a long-shot chance at permanent residency and then, at worst, deportation to Haiti anyway, I know exactly which one I would pick.

What can the government do about this? Without straying dramatically from traditional policy options, not a hell of a lot. But it could stray from traditional Liberal policy and not let a massive backlog build up. On Wednesday, citing a UNHCR official, Global News reported asylum-seekers arriving today wont even get preliminary eligibility hearings until January. The longer a hopeless claim takes to be resolved, the greater the incentive to give it a whirl. The government could hire more people to deal with these claimants expeditiously, which the Liberals have said they will, thus reducing that incentive. But most radically, as off-brand as it would be, the Liberals might consider saying what they bloody well mean.

Email: cselley@nationalpost.com | Twitter:

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Chris Selley: Astonishing nonsense from the Liberals amid surge of asylum-seekers - National Post