WELLAND—Canada’s foreign affairs minister fled reporters and Conservative supporters heckled media at a campaign event Wednesday for trying to ask Stephen Harper about his handling of the Syrian refugee crisis amid growing calls for Canada to do more.

The outburst came after the Conservative leader had taken two questions on Syria and repeated answers of previous days, despite revelations that Ottawa’s efforts to meet existing commitments on admitting refugees are mired in red tape.

Conservative supporters applauded Harper’s answers, and erupted in loud groans when the Star attempted to ask a third question.

One man, who later identified himself as Martin Marko, brother of a Hamilton-area Conservative candidate, yelled loudly at the journalist: “How many kids drowned in pools in Canada last summer? Do you blame the government for that?”

Harper attempted to interrupt him, urging the reporter to go ahead and ask the question, which was a request that Harper respond to an attack from Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau had suggested Harper was acting in a manner unbecoming a prime-minister. He reeled off names of previous prime ministers, including his father, Pierre Trudeau, and said that none let security concerns stop them from acting swiftly when they faced a refugee crises. He accused Harper of using security as an excuse not to act.

Harper’s supporters appeared to be angered by the Trudeau quotation as it was read out.

Harper flatly rejected Trudeau’s statement.

“Quite on the contrary, this government is committed to acting, committed to bringing more people in and committed to expediting the process,” he said.

But Harper, who does not allow journalists to ask follow-up questions, refused to answer the question shouted by reporters: “How are you expediting the process?”

The Conservative leader has stipulated he will take only four questions a day from national reporters during the campaign.

Foreign Affairs Minister Rob Nicholson, now running for re-election in the riding of Niagara Falls, refused several requests to speak to national reporters following the Harper tour.

Tempers flared between senior campaign officials and the journalists over what the officials perceived as an inappropriate attempt to pursue Nicholson for an answer.

Canada’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis has dominated the campaign, after it was revealed that Alan Kurdi, a toddler who drowned off the coast of Turkey as his family tried to flee by boat to Greece, was the nephew of a Canadian woman who had failed in her attempt to bring part of the extended family to Canada because of Ottawa’s requirements for documents.

A news photo of Alan, 3, lying dead on a Turkish beach provoked outraged reactions around the world.

The Conservatives’ perceived hard-line on the crisis seems tailored to the response Conservative candidates say they are getting at the door. One GTA candidate, speaking on background, told the Star that, if anything, Harper’s approach is “hardening our vote.”

In an interview with the Star, Conservative candidate Bal Gosal (Brampton-Centre), said supporters in his riding “don’t want them. The majority of people don’t want them (Syrian refugees).”

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On Wednesday, Conservative candidate Dean Allison (Niagara West-Glanbrook) told the Star the Syrian refugee issue is coming up on the doorstep when he campaigns, but he said he has allayed people’s concerns when he “clarifies” that the government is, indeed, acting.

At the Conservative campaign stop, a party worker tried to urge Marko, the heckler, not to talk to the Star, but he ignored the party’s attempts to get him not to do the interview. A General Motors machine shop autoworker who retired when his plant closed, Marko, 53, said he supports Harper, and said his sister, Diane Bubanko, is a Conservative candidate. She is running in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek.

“How many boys and girls drowned in pools this past summer in pools around a backyard?” Marko asked. “Are the reds and the oranges (Liberals and NDP) going to blame the prime minister for all the children that drowned everywhere in this country?

“There’s no reason to blame the prime minister for a little boy drowning halfway around the world.”

Marko said refugees had to be vetted.

“You have to screen people, because there’s terrorists that want to act and do things here.”

“Yes, there’s legitimate little people, families that want to get to Canada. But the bad people want to come, too, and just pretend they’re nice people and then do something bad in Canada,” he said.

Marko said there had to be “due process” and an emphasis on whether refugees had skills as well.

Harper says he has already announced he intends to increase the number of Syrian and Iraqi refugees from the region by 10,000 over three years.

He wrote in a Facebook chat this week that: “We must ensure we screen every potential refugee carefully. We have been clear that we are willing to take more people, but we must be sure we are helping the most vulnerable.

“We cannot open the floodgates and airlift tens of thousands of refugees out of a terrorist war zone without proper process. That is too great a risk for Canada.”

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