REPORTERS HECKLED AT STEPHEN HARPER CAMPAIGN STOP IN WELLAND
Sep 09, 2015
By Bob Komsic
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For the second time in the federal election campaign, Conservative supporters heckled the media at an event with the prime minister.
Last month, it was when reporters asked Stephen Harper about the Mike Duffy trial in the riding of Etobicoke-Centre.
The latest was Wednesday in Welland and this time it was the Syrian refugee crisis.
Harper was asked to further explain his security concerns about refugees, as well as how he would speed up the process of bringing refugees to Canada.
He did not offer any new answers.
“We are going to make sure we identify the most vulnerable people from the most vulnerable groups. We are also going to make sure, in particular when we are talking about a significant number of people who come from a terrorist war zone, we are going to make sure that all screening is done to make sure we protect the security of Canada and Canadians.”
When reporters began shouting at the Tory leader, demanding specifics, he did not offer any.
And then as one journalist asked about the crisis, the crowd of supporters had obviously had enough and groaned in frustration.
One supporter shouted, ”How many kids drowned in pools in Canada since last summer? Do you blame the government for that?”
Harper encouraged the journalist to continue, saying, ”OK. OK. Go ahead.”
She did and he replied, ”We will help refugees. We will also protect Canadians on security and we are committed to doing both of these things.”