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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.




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