Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer ventured into the tricky terrain of immigration policy this week. We shall see how he fares.

Polls show that a good chunk of Canadians — particularly Conservative-leaning Canadians — think too many immigrants are coming to Canada.

But at the same time, the experience of those politicians who have tried to mine this sentiment shows how difficult it is to do so without being labelled racist.

Scheer’s solution to this quandary is a kind of double reverse. On the one hand, he would appease anti-immigration voters by getting tough on those refugee claimants who enter Canada illegally — particularly at the Quebec-Vermont border.

On the other, he would not reduce overall immigration. He told the Star editorial board last month he thought the current target of 331,000 immigrants for this year was just about right.

Indeed, he has not ruled out raising that target should he deem that to be in Canada’s best interest.

Which is roughly where the Liberals sit. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government has said it would raise the target to 350,000 by 2021.

Raising immigration levels isn’t universally popular, particularly among Conservative voters. An Angus Reid Institute poll released this week found that roughly 40 per cent of Canadians found the current immigration target of 331,000 per year too high. Only 13 per cent wanted it raised.

About 39 per cent of those polled found the current target just about right.

Among those who identified themselves as Conservatives, only 26 per cent agreed with the current target, while 65 per cent said it was too high.

In theory, this should be good news for Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada, which is campaigning on a promise to slash immigration.

But voters — even Conservative ones — haven’t been kind to politicians who are blatantly critical of immigrants.

Former prime minister Stephen Harper’s Barbaric Cultural Practices Act, which was aimed at Muslim immigrants, backfired in 2015 and left him looking both mean and ridiculous.

Kellie Leitch’s attempt to exploit anti-immigrant sentiment in order to win the 2017 Conservative leadership race also failed spectacularly. She came sixth.

It seems that regardless of what they might say privately to pollsters, the Conservative rank and file weren’t prepared to risk their party being labelled nativist.

Scheer understands this. As a result, his critique of Liberal immigration policy this week was very specific. He avoided abstract issues, such as whether immigrants should be subject to a values test, as suggested by Quebec Premier François Legault,

Instead, he focused on the Liberal government’s handling of asylum seekers who enter Canada at unofficial border crossings, such as Quebec’s Roxham Rd., in order to avoid automatic deportation to the U.S.

Under the Canada-U.S. safe third country agreement, would-be refugees are required to claim asylum in whichever of the two countries they arrive first. But over the last three years, thousands of refugee claimants have successfully come to Canada from the U.S. by exploiting a loophole that allows them to claim asylum if they enter this country at any place other than an official port of entry.

Scheer says he would renegotiate the safe third country agreement with the U.S. to close this loophole, a difficult task given Washington’s reluctance to sign the deal in the first place.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

He also says he would send refugee board judges to unofficial border crossings, such as Roxham Rd., in order to speed up things. Short of detaining illegal entrants at these crossings until their cases are heard, it’s not clear how that would work.

Nor, given the fact that illegal crossings into Quebec have declined by close to 30 per cent since last year, is it clear that radical action on this front is necessary.

But it does sound tough. And that’s good politics. As the Angus Reid poll found, a majority of Canadians say the Liberals have been too soft on asylum seekers who cross the border illegally.

Read more about: