Ontario Premier Doug Ford refuses to apologize for comments about immigration
Ontario Premier Doug Ford refused to apologize for comments he made about immigrants coming to the province “to collect the dole,” instead saying that he is “pro immigration.”
Speaking to reporters in Tecumseh, Ont. on Monday, Ford said there was a labour shortage in the province and urged people to come to Ontario to work.
“We’re in such desperate need of people from around the world,” he said.
But then the premier specified that he only wanted “hard-working” people to come to Ontario.
“You come here like every other new Canadian. You work your tail off," Ford said. "If you think you're coming to collect the dole and sit around, it’s not going to happen. Go somewhere else.”
‘Collecting the dole’ is a term used in some countries to refer to receiving unemployment benefits.
Shortly after the comments were made, some Ontario politicians spoke out and demanded Ford apologize for the “divisive” remarks.
“A premier is supposed to unite Ontarians, not wedge us further apart,” Ontario Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said on Twitter. “As a son of immigrants, I know first-hand how people like my parents helped to build Ontario. Doug Ford should apologize for his callous comments.”
Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said the comments echoed “demeaning stereotypes” associated with immigrants while Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said that to suggest newcomers are not hard workers “is inexcusable.”
While in Question Period on Tuesday, Ford was asked by the NDP to apologize for the “discriminatory” comments. He did not do so and instead used the opportunity to say he is “pro immigration.”
“I have been pro immigration from day one,” he said. “We are short 290,000 people. I was the only government who wrote letter after letter to the prime minister saying we need more people.”
“All you have to do is come to a ‘Ford Fest’ and you’ll see the support from people around the world,” he added.
Earlier in the day, Ontario’s health minister said that she did not think Ford had to apologize for the comments.
“I don’t think it’s necessary because what the premier was actually saying is that we need more immigrants in Ontario. We have lots of work,” she said at a news conference. “We know that when people come here they do work hard, they provide for themselves and their families, they contribute largely to our communities and we need more people in Ontario. That’s what the premier was indicating yesterday.”
Elliott emphasized that the premier was not saying that immigrants are not hard workers, but rather “his expectation is when people come here that they will work and we know they are working.”
‘IT WAS A VERY OUTDATED AND TIRED THING TO SAY’
Speaking after Question Period, Horwath said that Ford’s response proves the premier has “some pretty distasteful and inappropriate values and beliefs about immigrants.”
"What he is doing is showing stereotypes of immigrants that create dislike, that create division, that create a situation where people assume that what the premier says is correct and it is not correct,” Horwath told reporters.
“He can parse his words all he wants but a premier that speaks with such ignorance about who it is that built our entire province. We are a province and country of immigrants."
Del Duca, meanwhile, said that he wants to give Ford the benefit of the doubt, saying that “at the very least the language was poorly chosen.”
"I think what he said was incredibly hurtful to lots of Ontarians. I think at the very least it shows a very outdated notion of the value of immigration,” he said. "It was a very outdated and tired thing to say so I hope he apologizes and we can move on."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.