Conservative Party leadership candidate Kellie Leitch says she is âdisappointedâ by disapproving comments from Interim Leader Rona Ambrose over her controversial proposal to screen immigrants for âanti-Canadian values.â
The proposal has drawn accusations of âdog-whistle politicsâ from Tory leadership hopeful Michael Chong and prompted comparisons to Donald Trump. Last week, Ambrose that she âpersonallyâ doesnât support screening and doesnât know âwhat that would look likeâ in application.
In an interview on Question Period Sunday, Leitch said sheâs reached out to Ambrose over the public criticism.
âIâm disappointed that an interim leader would engage themselves in the leadership race,â Leitch said.
Leitch did not confirm whether she planned to file a formal complaint to the party and said her campaign is âhaving a discussionâ with Ambroseâs office as well as with the party.
âWeâll see where that discussion takes us. And as I mentioned before, Canada is a place where we have disagreements and we come to thoughtful resolution of them, and Iâm confident that we will in this case as well,â she said.
Leitch was asked to clarify particular aspects of the contentious proposal, which became a talking point last week after she asked constituents in an email survey if theyâd support screening immigrants for âanti-Canadianâ values.
The survey did not identify the purported values. Leitch has since named four âCanadian valuesâ that she believes âthe majority of Canadiansâ support: hard work, generosity, freedom, and tolerance.
âI donât think itâs such a stretch to then ask if people believe in the equality of women and if women have equal rights. If you have a different sexual orientation, are you respected here?â she said.
Asked what would happen to someone who doesnât support gay marriage or believes women should cover their hair for religious reasons, Leitch said she did not want to âtrivializeâ her idea by talking specifics.
âIâm not going to go point by point, issue by issue, and trivialize this issue. I think we as Canadians share a certain set of values, and Iâm looking forward to having a discussion with Canadians about that,â she said.
In a recent interview, Chong accused Leitch of dog-whistle politics, which is described as a type of political speech using code words that appear to mean one thing to the general population but have a different meaning for a targeted audience.
Leitch called the accusation âfundamentally false.â
âFor myself, I donât think itâs intolerant to have a discussion about Canadian values that we hold dear. And I look forward to having the discussion with the other leadership candidates as well as with my colleagues who are in the party, and Canadians,â she said.
Idea is âunworkableâ
Leitchâs idea has been criticized by other former and current politicians including former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and fellow Conservative leadership candidates Maxime Bernier and Tony Clement.
Speaking with Question Period, Clement called Leitchâs proposal âunworkableâ and âundesirable.â
âWe donât want to have government bureaucrats in Ottawa or elsewhere trying to decide what makes a future Canadian a good Canadian or a bad Canadian,â he said.
Clement has said that, if elected, he would support increased screening at borders to weed out individuals with connections to terrorism. Clement said the difference between his proposal and Leitchâs idea is âa matter of substance.â
âWhat I want to screen for, and our national security agencies want to screen for, is past activity of terrorism behaviour, past radicalization and consorting with terrorist organizations. So thatâs the real issue,â he said.
In an earlier interview, Leitch attempted to distance her âanti-Canadian valuesâ screening idea from the controversial barbaric cultural practices tipline she helped front under the former Conservative government.
âI recognize that it may be easy to paint the discussion about Canadian values in that light, but my intention that day when we made that announcement was to stand up for victimized women and girls,â she said.