I was listening to the Glenn Beck show on CNN XM radio, August 21st. He and his guest (MICHAEL SCHEUER, FORMER SENIOR CIA OPERATIVE) were discussing the SPP (security and prosperity) meeting between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. In the course of criticizing the “northern border” security, Scheuer stated that
“immigration rules are such that almost anyone who speaks French can get into [Canada]” and because of this “there is a large community of Tunisians, Moroccans and Algerians in Montreal and Quebec City, and those communities have ties into the Boston area in the United States, so it`s a dangerous situation.”, implying that Canada is a major terror threat to the United States. He underhandedly connected the security of the northern border with a possibility of “Bin Laden delivering another 20,000 to 40,000 dead Americans inside the United States”.

The transcript for this program can be found here.

The section that troubles me is:

–begin snippet —

SCHEUER: He came through Vancouver. That`s exactly right, sir. There is a large community of Tunisians, Moroccans and Algerians in Montreal and Quebec City, and those communities have ties into the Boston area in the United States, so it`s a dangerous situation.

BECK: OK. And tie in birth rates for me, Michael, because I know Canada is having not as extreme as Europe is having, but they`re having a problem with birth rates in Canada. Why is that dangerous?

SCHEUER: Well, especially in the French-speaking province of Quebec, their immigration rules are such that almost anyone who speaks French can get into the country in order to beef up the numbers of the French community, and so people from French-speaking Africa, French-speaking Asia come in very easily, but also, French-speaking North Africans from those three countries I just mentioned, Glenn.

— end snippet —

I am not an expert on Canadian immigration policy. But I have some concerns as a result of hearing this program. (Frankly, since subscribing to XM radio about a month ago I have been surprised by the ultra-protectionist opinions held by most of the mainstream media in the United States – including a veiled (and sometimes open) mistrust of Canada).

My concerns are as follows:

1. If the claims about Quebec’s immigration policy are founded, and almost anyone who speaks French can get into the country, then this seems like an important issue that needs to be dealt with and changed.
2. If the claims are false, then something should be done to hold people like Michael Scheuer responsible for their slanderous statements about Canada. We, as Canadians, can not afford to underestimate importance of American public opinion towards us.