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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2017-03-01, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday. March 1, 2017 Seaforth Nuron Expositor PUBLISHED WEEKLY — EST. 1860 P.O. Box 39, 53 Albert Street Clinton, Ontario NOM 1L0 phone: 519-482-3443 www.seaforthhuronexpositor Ijj POSTMEDIA aIRIM NEIL CLIFFORD Advertising Director nclifford@postmedia.com SHAUN GREGORY Multimedia Journalist sgregory@postmedia.com NANCY DEGANS Media Sales Consultant ndegans@postmedia.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES 1 YEAR $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 2 YEAR $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) SENIORS 60 WEEKS $50.00 (47.62+2.38 GST) 120 WEEKS $95.00 (90.48+4.52 GST) Publications Mail Agreement No. 40064683 RETURN UNDELIVERABLE CANADIAN ADDRESSES TO CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT P.O. Box 39, 53 Albert Street, Clinton ON NOM 1L0 For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: phone: 519-482-3443 Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error, advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the loss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Seaforth Huron Expositor is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to www. mediacounci.ca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163. Member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association and the Canadian Community Newspaper Association. We acknowledge the14'1 financial support of the Iria a Government of Canada. Let's set refugee policy witliout U.S. involvement The streams of people crossing snow -laden fields, risking loss of fingers and life in the cold, have prompted a lively dis- cussion about what to do about migrants circumvent- ing our ports of entries at land borders. Conservative public safety critic Tony Clement called for a stop to the growing number of "illegal crossings" by refu- gees at the Canada -U.S. bor- der. But Clement did not understand what exactly happens at the border, even in legal terms. Now that this humanitarian crisis is at our doorstep, let's be sure we do. The term used by Clement, "illegal crossings," is incor- rect. The Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) does state that a per- son seeking to enter Canada must appear to be examined by a Canadian official (pre- sumably at a port of entry) to determine if he or she is authorized to enter. It also states that contravening any part of the act is an offence. It is important, however, to note that the act also pro- vides a caveat to this. A per- son who claims refugee pro- tection may not be charged with an offence in relation to their corning into Canada pending disposition of their claire or if refugee protection is conferred. In other words, it is not illegal for a refugee -- or a refugee claimant for that matter -- to enter a country without authorization. This exception in the act rec- ognizes a long -held principle of international refugee law and in the United Nations' Ref- ugee Convention: a state shall not impose penalties on refu- gees who may enter without authorization. It recognizes refugees sometimes make des- perate and perilous choices to find safe haven. The focus of our discussion should not be whether persons are entering "illegally" or not, but how we can alleviate the hardship of those taking risks to seek refugee protection. Indeed, the crossing of ref- ugees in barren fields is proof that Canada is not doing all it can to help. 'Ihe existence and enforcement of the Can- ada -U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement is the primary reason refugees are avoiding. our ports of entry. r The agreement delegates Canada's assessment of whether we should authorize entry of some foreign nation- als into Canada from the United States to the U.S. itself. Refugees understand that if they are corning from the U.S., they may not be allowed to enter Canada. They are expected to claim refugee protection in the U.S. if they set foot there first. Putting aside the issue of whether we should let refu- gees into Canada, every Cana- dian should feel queasy at the idea that Canada has allowed another nation to make such important decisions for us. Even before President Donald Trump issued his executive order barring travellers from several countries, questions arose regarding whether the U.S. was abiding by interna- tional human rights and refu- gee law standards. The U.S. assesses refugee protection in Wynne well deserves her 'Teddy' award In the life of any ill-con- ceived government pro- gram there comes a moment when it "jumps the shark" into utter absurdity. The phrase refers to a 1977 episode of the TV series Happy Days, when Fonzie, played by Henry Winkler, jumps over a shark while water-skiing, marking the popular sitcom's descent into farce. In politics, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation marks examples of government spending "jumping the shark" with its annual Teddy Awards, named for a former federal appointee fired for submitting dubious expense claims. Last week, the CTF awarded a well-deserved Teddy to Ontario's Liberal government, headed by Pre- mier Kathleen Wynne, for its Ontario Electric Vehicle Incentive Program. The program has given out $14 million in subsidies over, the past six years to buyers 9f luxury electric vehicles, such as Teslas, in the $70,000 to $150,000 range. These absurd subsidies -- given that people who can afford to spend up to $150,000 on a car don't ne d up to $14,000 from the pub is to do so -- are a small part of the Liberals' ill-fated climate change action program. The wider program has cost Ontarians billions of dol- lars, spent on dubious and ineffective schemes. The Ca also awarded the Wynne government a "Lifetime Achievement Teddy; in recog- nition of its disastrous green energy plan, which it keeps doubling down on even as the provincial auditor general criti- cizes it for runaway waste. That has sent electricity prices skyrocketing, forcing growing numbers of Ontari- ans into energy poverty, where they face choices such as buying food or paying their electricity bills. All this while the govern- ment pays billions of dollars for expensive and unreliable wind and solar power, which often has to be sold at a loss to Quebec and the U.S. very different ways from Can- ada. This should concern us. One example is that the U.S. imposes a one-year limit to make a refugee claim, and due to backlogs of immigra- tion processing, may miss this deadline through no fault of the claimant. As well, the U.S. detains many more refugee claimants than does Canada. If we want to ensure people are arriving to Canada with their limbs intact, a simple solution in the short term is to suspend the Safe Third Country Agreement. In the. long term, Canada must revisit the agreement and not take for granted that another state will make decisions the way Canadians would. Finally, we should stop characterizing this humani- tarian crisis as "illegal cross- ings" and focus on policy alternatives to provide a humanitarian approach to this refugee crisis. -Jamie Liew/Special to the Postmedia Network. Liew is a refugee lawyer and a Univer- sity of Ottawa law professor. because Ontario has a mas- sive energy surplus -- caused in part by high electricity prices, which gutted the manufacturing sector. The one benefit the Wynne government claims from this -- that it eliminated Ontario's use of polluting, greenhouse gas -emitting, coal-fired elec- tricity -- was actually achieved with nuclear and natural gas power, not wind and solar, which have turned into massive boondoggles. None of which is to mention Ontario's cap and trade carbon pricing scheme, poised to add hundreds of dollars to the average Ontario family's cost of living, starting this year. - Postmedia Network SEAFORTH HURON EXPOSITOR - HOURS OF OPERATION MONDAY: 9:00-4:00 • TUESDAY: CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: 9:00-4:00 • THURSDAY: 9:00-4:00 • FRIDAY: 9:00-4:00 • SATURDAY & SUNDAY: CLOSED ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAY AT2:00 • PHONE 519-527-0240 • FAX: 519-527-2858 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com