Was Trudeau’s refugee delay justified?

Re Ottawa sets the right pace, Editorial Nov. 25 The Trudeau government has broken two election promises by delaying its Syrian refugee resettlement plan. The first is understandable; settling thousands of refugees is a massive undertaking, and spreading it out over several months makes sense.

However the second one is simply indefensible. Slowing down the arrival of refugees because of irrational fears of so-called “terrorism” is not based on anything resembling factual evidence. And let’s remember that Justin Trudeau came to power in large part by promising to reverse Stephen Harper’s fantasy-based approach to policy-making and to base his decisions on actual fact.

Statistics Canada reported on Wednesday that there were 516 homicides in Canada in 2014. Two of those deaths could perhaps be forced to fit the definition of “terrorism,” if anyone knows what the word means anymore. But the fact is that Canadians should be more afraid of each other than of any external threat.

And U.S. figures show that since 9/11 the nation has resettled 784,000 refugees from around the world. Of those, only three have been arrested on terrorism-related charges.

I’m happy the Liberal government is following through on its Syrian refugee plan, albeit with a delay, and about its recent $100million pledge to help refugees in the region.

But I do worry, as Thomas Walkom suggested in his Thursday column, that Canada’s role in the idiotic and counterproductive air attacks in Syria, which continue to breed fresh recruits for ISIS, might be extended, not ended as promised, and that Canada will become more enmeshed in the Syria-Iraq quagmire. Andrew van Velzen, Toronto

This is what Canadians want. So what if the election-pledged deadline is extended by a mere 60 days? The job is still getting done. I didn’t vote Liberal but even I’m saying give him a chance. David A. Carson, Whitby

Now that we finally have a leader who listens, please do not start to vilify him when he takes his cue and actually responds to what we want. Sharon Maisonville, Toronto

Walkom accurately describes the flaws in Trudeau’s ad-lib refugee policy and correctly identifies the cynical nature of the vote-grabbing campaign promise. He asks the logical question about which other campaign promises were equally cynical. A great question! Too bad it is posed after the election. Pav Penna, Georgetown

We’ve all seen politicians and others make impossible promises, then lie or fudge figures when they can’t keep them. It’s a relief to have one who will admit that he made a mistake, and change the plan rather than pretend that it works. Andy Turnbull, Toronto