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If you leave Canada to go fight for ISIS, you should not be welcomed back with open arms. Since Justin Trudeau doesn’t seem to take this seriously, MPP @DaveSmithPtbo is taking action to send a message that there are consequences for leaving Ontario to commit indefensible crimes. https://t.co/83zaya5PcD — Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 20, 2018

“If you leave Canada to go fight for ISIS, you should not be welcomed back with open arms. Since Justin Trudeau doesn’t seem to take this seriously, MPP @DaveSmithPtbo is taking action to send a message that there are consequences for leaving Ontario to commit indefensible crimes,” Ford said in a tweet.

It’s certainly a far cry from PM Justin Trudeau’s 2015 quote while on the campaign trial that “the Liberal Party believes that terrorists should get to keep their Canadian citizenship…because I do. And I’m willing to take on anyone who disagrees with that.”

Ford is one who disagrees and is willing to put his money where his mouth is.

And while Trudeau has lent support in the past for people who have fought against Canada or its allies, including allowing a $10.5 million payout to Omar Khadr, Ford is solidly behind his member Smith.

His bill, which will be read out at Queen’s Park next week, is polar opposite to the approach Ottawa has taken toward people with Canadian citizenship who have left the comforts of home to go over and fight abroad with ISIS.

“It’s my strong belief that somebody who’s committed a criminal act as a terrorist outside of Canada, when they come back to Ontario, they should not have more privileges than somebody who lives in Ontario,” Smith told the Toronto Sun’s Bryan Passifiume, who broke the story. “Since the Federal Government doesn’t seem to take this seriously, I felt obligated to take action and send a message that there are consequences for leaving Ontario to commit indefensible crimes.”

Whatever the crime, the message is loud and clear: If you want to be a terrorist in the world, don’t think you can come back to Ontario and milk our system.

jwarmington@postmedia.com