On the same weekend Conservatives expedited a refugee processing system in a nod to what they called “Canadian generosity,” one of their candidates seeking re-election was telling voters about an “agenda” to move Muslims into European countries.

And that is something Joe Daniel doesn’t want to see in Canada.

In a video obtained by the Star, Daniel offered this warning to voters in Don Valley North: “So I think there is a different agenda going on in terms of these refugees.

“Whereas at the same time Saudi Arabia is putting up money for 200 mosques in Germany I think the agenda is to move as many Muslims into some of these European countries to change these countries in a major way.

“That is something that I certainly don’t want to see happening in Canada. I think Canada is the greatest country in the world.”

One GTA Liberal candidate who has seen the video called it an “outrageous . . . conspiracy theory to promote fear and hatred.’’





What exactly does Daniel mean with these words? Neither he nor the Conservative party attempted to clarify his remarks.

Instead, he issued a statement Tuesday evening, relayed from party headquarters, pledging support for Stephen Harper’s three-pronged approach to the ongoing crisis and “support of the government’s recent additional action on refugees, while still ensuring that rigorous security standards are maintained for the safety and security of Canadians.”

Daniel would not do a phone interview. He has recently made news after his office told the Ottawa Citizen that he would be available to do interviews only after his re-election and then told the Star that he would work to his own deadlines, not the media’s deadlines, in deciding whether he would return a phone call.

Daniel, a 60-year-old native of Tanzania was first elected in 2011, but he left little footprint in Ottawa.

He was clearly referring to a Saudi offer that has garnered some controversy in Germany.

The offer to build the mosques for Syrian refugees in Germany has been described as Saudis offering a place to pray, not a place to stay.

A couple of German politicians branded the move cynical, adding Germany doesn’t need the funds, and the refugees need solidarity from the Arab world, not offers of money for Germany.

Until Daniel arrived on the scene, making his comments at an informal meet-the-candidates forum at a barbecue in his riding, no one had suggested — as the video appears to — the refugee crisis was some type of conspiracy to plant Muslims in Europe to change the face of the continent.

Earlier in the campaign, when this issue first flared, one GTA Conservative candidate, speaking on background, told the Star that, if anything, criticism of Harper’s approach was “hardening our vote.”

In an interview with the Star’s Tonda MacCharles, 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).”

According to the Ottawa Citizen, star Conservative candidate Dianne Watts in Surrey South-White Rock (B.C.) retweeted a message implying the Islamic State had “orchestrated” the migration of Syrian refugees. The re-tweet has since been deleted.

Ottawa is speeding the process of getting 10,000 Syrian refugees to this country, but the Liberals have called for the welcoming of 25,000 at a cost of $100 million.

The NDP has promised to bring 10,000 refugees from Syria by the end of the 2015 and to resettle 9,000 more every year until 2019.

Liberal Rob Oliphant, a former MP seeking to regain a seat in neighbouring Don Valley West, is a United Church minister. His congregation has sponsored refugee families from Colombia and Afghanistan.

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He said he wants Stephen Harper to repudiate Daniel because the Conservative leader has a candidate who is using a religious group to divide Canadians and is using women and children fleeing Syria to sow fear in this country.

There had been a sense in some quarters that the refugee announcement by Immigration Minister Chris Alexander may have helped Conservatives turn the corner on the refugee question. The pivot may have been viewed as cynical or a bid to inoculate Conservatives from wider criticism even if it is not threatening support among their base.

But comments like those from Daniel indicate this issue will linger. And legitimate questions will be raised as to how many Conservative candidates might be at least leaning in his direction.