Supporters ramp up efforts to bring British anti-war MP

[Spazito]

Supporters of British MP George Galloway are challenging the government's decision to ban him from Canada over his controversial views on Hamas and the war in Afghanistan.

snip

James Clark, spokesperson for the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War, said the group is "incredulous" that Citizenship and Immigration Canada has banned Galloway, and plans to launch a legal challenge in Ontario provincial court on Tuesday.

"All week we're going to be campaigning and lobbying the federal government to defend freedom of speech and reverse the ban," Clark, whose group is helping organize Galloway's tour, told CTV.ca.

If the government doesn't change its position, a group of Galloway's supporters plan to try and personally escort him across the border on March 30, Clark said.

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http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090322/Galloway_protest_090323/20090323?hub=TopStories

I am glad to see this is happening. For the government to ban him is beyond the pale. Free speech is free speech, it is NOT dependent on whether what is said is 'agreeable' to the government.

[tuvor]

1. I've emailed my (Conservative) MP...

...as well as the Harper, Jason Kenney, Ignatieff and Layton.

It takes only a couple of minutes.

[Spazito]

2. I did the same....

I hope many Canadians did this as well. Ignatieff and Layton have already spoken out against this decision but it certainly doesn't hurt for them to hear from us individually on it as well.

Edited to add: There is certainly an irony in that he was not banned from entering the US, is on a speaking tour there and, yet, he is deemed a "security risk" here?

[tuvor]

3. And if he's such a damn security risk...

...someone here knows something that Gordon Brown and the Queen do not. OMG, how can they sit on that information without telling our QUEEN?!

[CHIMO]

4. Canada can't muzzle me

The Canadian immigration minister Jason Kenney gazetted in the Sun yesterday morning that I was to be excluded from his country because of my views on Afghanistan. That's the way the rightwing, last-ditch dead-enders of Bushism in Ottawa conduct their business.

Kenney is quite a card. A quick trawl establishes he's a gay-baiter, gung-ho armchair warrior, with an odd habit of exceeding his immigration brief. Three years ago he attacked the pro-western Lebanese prime minister, Fuad Siniora, for being ungrateful to Canada for its support of Israeli bombardment of his country. Most curiously of all, in 2006 he addressed a rally of the so-called People's Mujahideen of Iran, a Waco-style cult, banned in the European Union as a terrorist organisation. On one level being banned by such a man is like being told to sit up straight by the hunchback of Notre Dame or being lectured on due diligence by Conrad Black. On another, for a Scotsman to be excluded from Canada is like being turned away from the family home.

But what are my views on Afghanistan which the Canadian government does not want its people to hear? I've never been to Afghanistan, nor have I ever met a Taliban, but my first impression into the parliamentary vellum on the subject was more than two decades ago. At the time the fathers of the Taliban were "freedom fighters", paraded at US Republican and British Tory conferences. Who knows, maybe even the Canadian right extolled these god-fearing opponents of communism. I did not, however.

On the eve of their storming of Kabul I told Margaret Thatcher that she "had opened the gates to the barbarians" and that "a long, dark night would now descend upon the people of Afghanistan". With the same conviction, I say to the Canadian and other Nato governments today that your policy is equally a profound mistake. From time to time and with increased regularity it is a crime. Like the bombardment of wedding parties and even funerals or the presiding over a record opium crop, which under our noses finds its way coursing through the veins of young people from Nova Scotia to Newcastle upon Tyne. But it is worse than a crime, as Tallyrand said, it's a blunder.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/21/george-galloway-canada

George. I don't know if you are reading this, but if not, perhaps someone could pass it along to you.

Make a try to land in Newfoundland. If that is turned down, then try Quebec. If that is turned down the go to St. Pierre and do a televised broadcast to the the censored people.
Much like the old USSR censors now.

[Spazito]

5. The man certainly has a way with words....

"Kenney is quite a card. A quick trawl establishes he's a gay-baiter, gung-ho armchair warrior, with an odd habit of exceeding his immigration brief. Three years ago he attacked the pro-western Lebanese prime minister, Fuad Siniora, for being ungrateful to Canada for its support of Israeli bombardment of his country. Most curiously of all, in 2006 he addressed a rally of the so-called People's Mujahideen of Iran, a Waco-style cult, banned in the European Union as a terrorist organisation. On one level being banned by such a man is like being told to sit up straight by the hunchback of Notre Dame or being lectured on due diligence by Conrad Black."

Nails Kenney perfectly!

[CHIMO]

6. I Am

Still puzzled why they did this.

The only conclusion that I can come to is that Harper wants to go into attack mode. He can't stand the daily grind. The economy is working against him now.

He can't get support from the Bloc. It seems that the NDP won't be able to support him. So what is he worried about. He is in power. He has all the levers. And still he wants to create issues.

He is one stupid guy. He must think that he has a lot of underground support.

[Spazito]

7. I don't get it either...

Geez, even the US didn't stop him from entering, he is on a speaking tour there right now and harper usually follows the US but, then again, his neocon buddy is no longer Pres.

It is possible he is losing some support from his base and this is his way of trying to shore it up?

He IS one stupid guy, fully agree there.

[Grimm]

8. One possibility...

Harper's government has taken a very strong "with-us-or-a-terrorist" approach to all things related to the Middle East. For example in the last year alone, they pulled out of "Durban 2" even before the Israelis did, Kenney pulled funding from the Canadian Arab Foundation for new immigrant training because of a few offensive comments by their president and they fully 110% support Israel's actions in Gaza. The fact that Galloway is vocally pro-Hamas and pro-Hezbollah is likely enough to make the Conservatives happy to keep his out.

However, all this only explains why they didn't make an exception for Galloway's entrance into the country under 34(2) of our immigration act. It doesn't explain what the rationale was for his original 34(1) ban. My understanding is that he was barred by the non-politically affiliated CBSA under 34(1) for being a security threat. They've barred plenty of people in the past on both sides of the political divide and under both Liberal and Conservative federal governments, so I think they were just upholding the letter of the law. As long as Hamas and Hezbollah are terrorist groups in Canada, then providing support for them (possibly including Galloway's plan to raise funds for another Gaza convoy in Toronto) would likely fall under 34(1)(b) or (f) of the Act.

As much as I dislike Galloway (I think he says and does controversial things simply because he loves the spotlight - e.g. Big Brother UK - not because he's a moral or upstanding person), I am interested to see if he or his supporters bring a court challenge and what result may spawn from that.

[CHIMO]

9. GALLOWAY BARRED

For the record, that was British Member of Parliament George Galloway, speaking last night to an audience at Columbia University in New York City. And according to our government, that speech -- or any other speech that might emerge from Mr. Galloway's mouth -- is too dangerous for Canadians to hear.

Mr. Galloway was supposed to begin a speaking tour of Canada next week. But Canada's Border Services has barred the controversial politician from entering the country. And Canada's Immigration Minister Jason Kenney says he has no intention of overruling the decision.

The government claims that Mr. Galloway's alleged material support of Hamas makes him a security threat.

We reached George Galloway in Newark, New Jersey.
http://www.cbc.ca/mrl3/8752/asithappens/20030324-aih-1.wmv
http://www.cbc.ca/asithappens/latestshow.html