OTTAWA—Conservative Leader Stephen Harper says his government ordered an audit of Syrian refugees admitted to Canada to ensure security concerns were being addressed but has denied a report that his political staff were involved in vetting and approving applications.

The plight of Syrian refugees — and Canada’s response to the crisis — blew up on the campaign trail Thursday with a report that Conservatives delayed the intake of vulnerable refugees from war-torn Syria in the spring as the prime minister’s office got directly involved in processing immigration files.

The Globe and Mail reported that the Prime Minister’s Office intervened in the processing of Syrian refugees and declared that all applicants referred by the United Nations would require Harper’s approval.

Such files are normally handled by Citizenship and Immigration officials.

CTV News, quoting Citizenship and Immigration insiders, reported Thursday night that the PMO went through Syrian refugee applications to ensure that religious minorities such as Christians were being accepted over applications from Shia and Sunni Muslims.

The Conservatives told CTV that potential security threats prompted the delay of applications. But Citizenship and Immigration sources told the network that politics were also an influencing factor.

CTV reported that PMO staff reviewed the files to ensure the right refugees were accepted, such as those with established communities in Canada, which Conservatives could hopefully attract into their fold.

Earlier Thursday, Harper strenuously denied the suggestion that his staff were involved, saying they had no role in approving applications.

“Political staff are never involved in approving refugee applications. Such decisions are made by officials in the Department of Citizenship and Immigration,” Harper said at the start of a speech to a Vancouver-area audience.

The Globe and Mail also reported that the intake of Syrian refugees was paused as the government did an audit of the initial batch of 1,300 refugees accepted into the country.

Only UN-referred refugee files were audited as the government knows less about those cases when they arrive for processing than they do about refugees being brought to Canada by private groups, said a government source speaking on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the system, Canadian Press reported.

Harper confirmed his office asked for an audit to confirm the government’s goals were being met.

“Our government has adopted a generous approach to the admission of refugees while ensuring the selection of the most vulnerable people and keeping our country safe and secure,” Harper said.

Harper said his office asked for an audit to ensure “these policy objectives are being met.

An official told the Star Thursday that the audit was sparked in part by open reports and intelligence reports raised concerns that Islamic State fighters were “actively” trying to infiltrate the flood of migrants and make their way to western countries.

“That is a very real concern,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The audit meant a pause of the intake of government-sponsored refugees for several weeks, but private sponsorships continued uninterrupted, the official said.

He said the audit was a “look at the process, not the worthiness of any particular file.”

Still, Harper’s political rivals were quick to jump on reports of his alleged involvement, warning that it may have delayed help to desperate refugees.

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“Now, we learn it was Stephen Harper, himself, who prevented the arrival of Syrian families into Canada in the worst Syrian refugee crisis since World War II,” NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair said during a morning campaign stop in Toronto.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau said the news report was further proof of Harper’s meddling instincts and said it was another reason to toss the Conservatives out of government in the coming election.

Loly Rico, president of the Canadian Council of Refugees, said the latest news could explain why Canada has been slow to accept refugees fleeing the civil war-torn country.

“Now, it’s understandable how low numbers on the resettlement will come in this year, because they delayed the process of selection, and also they’re selecting what type of refugees they (want),” Rico told the Star.

Lorne Waldman of the Canadian Association of Refugee Lawyers said the PMO’s alleged intervention strongly suggested that it was the Conservative government’s plan to only take in Christian minorities from war-torn Syria.

“Canada’s response to the crisis had been pathetic because we’d been preventing people from coming,” Waldman said.

According to Waldman, all refugee applicants have to undergo security checks and some are then referred to an “enhanced security check,” if they fall under certain profiles, based on age or personal history.

Hanna Al-Khoulani of Mississauga have been waiting for 18 months on her refugee sponsorship for her nephew now stranded in Ivory Coast; she said she was surprised to learn Ottawa had put a hold on the government-assisted refugee program amid the PMO audit.

“The government has to do what it has to do, but they should have informed the public about it instead of keeping it a secret. That said, they should have continued the processing while they were doing the audit,” she said. “Any delay is unacceptable because so many people’s lives are in their hands.”

Ratna Omidvar, of Lifeline Syria and Global Diversity Exchange, said that political interference on individual files would be “highly unusual” especially since the United Nations refugee agency has already vetted the cases.

She said the cases referred to Canada for settlement are usually “highly vulnerable.”

“So a family in some gravity of danger is being left in limbo when it should be in safety,” Omidvar said. “The real issue is how fast we can bring refugees in fear of their lives to safety.”

Brian Dyck, chair of the Council of The Canadian Refugee Sponsorship Agreement Holders Association, said his group had been asking immigration officials since last year why there were so few profiles of Syrians in the selected pool for resettlement.

“We had no idea they had stopped processing UNHCR referred cases. There was no hint of a concern about security in our conversations,” Dyck told the Star.

Immigration Minister Chris Alexander said that the intake of refugees was paused so the government could ensure that “appropriate referral and screening procedures” were in place.

“Starting a new refugee resettlement program in a volatile conflict zone poses particular challenges,” Alexander said in a statement provided to the Star.

He called it a “prudent” step to ensure the integrity of the refugee system.