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OTTAWA — Stephen Harper found himself on the defensive today, dogged by a controversial phrase from the leaders’ debate and his government’s efforts to prevent a Muslim woman from voting while wearing a niqab.

During Thursday’s economic debate, the Conservative leader said “new and existing and old-stock Canadians” agree with his policy on refugee health care.

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The government sought to scrap a program that covered health care costs for people awaiting decisions on refugee claims, sharply curtailing coverage and allocating it based on where the claimants were from.

Harper says the policy is supported by “Canadians, who themselves are immigrants,” as well as “the rest of us” — Canadians descended from immigrants for one or more generations.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau says the old-stock comment shows Harper uses “the politics of division” and doesn’t believe that “a Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian.”