Thursday, September 23,
1999 Reform MP tells tale about migrant
ship
Conversation denied
Sheldon Alberts
National
Post
OTTAWA - Leon Benoit, Reform's immigration critic, yesterday
claimed a senior government source had personally confirmed the
impending arrival of "multiple" illegal Chinese migrant ships on
British Columbia's shores.
But Mr. Benoit, who made the statement during Reform's daily mock
Question Period on Parliament Hill, was later forced to admit his
alleged conversation with the federal official never took place.
"It's another Reform MP, actually," Mr. Benoit told the National
Post.
But the other MP Mr. Benoit cited, Gary Lunn of Victoria, said he
had only spoken to the federal official after Mr. Benoit made his
statement, and the official had told him the immigration department
knew of no other ships on their way to Canada at the moment.
Mr. Benoit's non-existent conversation was the second incident to
mar the Reform party's attempt this week to gain publicity by
staging its own Question Periods outside the House of Commons.
Reform is holding fake Question Periods in protest of the Liberal
government's decision to postpone the resumption of Parliament until
Oct. 12.
On Monday, the Liberals upstaged Preston Manning's complaints
about the postponement by highlighting the Reform leader's own
attendance record in Parliament -- he has attended only 35 of 73
Question Periods this year.
Yesterday, Mr. Benoit took the microphone in the Commons foyer
and demanded to know what legislative changes the Liberals had
planned to fix loopholes in immigration law that made Canada the
destination for almost 600 illegal Chinese migrants who landed here
aboard four ships over the summer.
The smuggling problem is growing increasingly serious, said Mr.
Benoit, adding that he had received new information that immigration
officials were tracking more ships carrying illegal migrants from
the Fujian province in China.
"Just as I was coming down here, I heard from Jim Redmond, from
the immigration department in Vancouver, and he reports that they
are expecting multiple arrivals of boats over these next few days,"
Mr. Benoit said.
But when contacted to confirm Mr. Benoit's claim that immigration
officials were tracking new ships in the Pacific, Mr. Redmond was
startled.
"I haven't said that, because I don't know that it is true," said
Mr. Redmond, who has acted as the media spokesman on the illegal
migrant ships. "All I can say is that I have not had a conversation
with Leon Benoit. To my knowledge, I have never spoken to the man."
Mr. Redmond said immigration officials are planning for the
likelihood there will be more Chinese migrant ship arrivals in
Canada this fall, but "we have nothing currently under surveillance
or being tracked."
Confronted with Mr. Redmond's denial, Mr. Benoit admitted he had
not personally spoken to the immigration official. But he insisted
that his information was accurate because another Reform MP, Gary
Lunn of Victoria, had talked with Mr. Redmond about the impending
arrival. And Mr. Benoit insisted Reform staff had even called Mr.
Redmond back to confirm the information about the new migrant ships
"I would never use it if I was going to get a guy like him into
trouble," Mr. Benoit said.
"You'll find that it is accurate ... they have been given some
intelligence that there are multiple ships on their way. That's all
I know. You'll find that this will happen."
But Mr. Lunn, contacted by the Post, said he only spoke with Mr.
Redmond yesterday afternoon -- after Mr. Benoit's news conference.
Mr. Lunn confirmed Mr. Redmond's version of events -- that
immigration officials did not know of any more mystery ships.
"I was told specifically that they are not specifically tracking
any individual boats," Mr. Lunn said.
RELATED SITES:
(Each link opens a new window)
Reform Party
United Alternative
The Reform Party's proposal for a new alternative to the
governing Liberals.
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