Canadian Liberal Promises to Remove Visa Requirement for Mexican Citizens Giuseppe Valiante - The Canadian Press
go to original September 26, 2015

Liberal leader Justin Trudeau holds up a maple leaf shape cut out of a sheet of metal prior to speaking at a campaign stop in Brampton. (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)

In an effort to smooth relations with Mexico, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promised Friday to remove visa requirements for Mexican citizens coming to Canada.

The subject has been a sore point between the two countries since the Conservative government imposed the visa in 2009 after a sharp increase in the numbers of Mexican asylum seekers.

The Conservatives argued at the time that many of the refugee applications were bogus. The Mexican ambassador to Canada said in 2013 his country was “really mad” because Canada made it difficult for tourists and businesspeople to travel north.

Trudeau said Conservative Leader Stephen Harper has soured Canada’s relationship with Mexico over the last decade and promised to “do right by our continental neighbor.”

He said since Canada and Mexico are both members of North American Free Trade Agreement, there shouldn’t be travel barriers for their citizens.

He dismissed the Conservative government’s claim that Mexico couldn’t be a source of refugees.

“We need to ensure that Canada is a country that is accepting refugees who are fleeing persecution from all sorts of places around the world for all sorts of different reasons,” Trudeau said.

Read the rest at The Globe and Mail

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