UNTIL this point, the least sensible plan ever proposed to deal with asylum seekers in Australian territorial waters was to process them on East Timor.

That idea was put forward by the Labor government in 2011, but the notion of an East Timorese refugee centre collapsed under criticism from all sides of the asylum-seeker debate, including refugee welfare groups.

“I can’t think of a single organisation or government that has expressed support for this idea,” Refugee Council of Australia chief executive Paul Power said.

Now Labor is trying to go one better — or worse. Labor leader Bill Shorten and senior Labor colleague Anthony Albanese have confirmed they would like an asylum-seeker resettlement deal with Canada.

Shorten yesterday said Canada would be an “excellent settlement” option for refugees: “In terms of Canada, it’s an excellent settlement country, and we would certainly make a priority to negotiate through the United Nations High Commission For refugees and other nations in our region, the timely resettlement of people in Manus and Nauru”.

This followed Albanese’s earlier claim that: “There are a range of countries that are possibilities (for asylum-seeker resettlement). Canada, for example, is an obvious one”.

Perhaps it’s obvious to Shorten and Albanese, but possibly not to the Canadians. Remarkably, just as Labor didn’t bother asking the East Timorese about its idea for a refugee program to be run in their country, nobody from Labor has raised this new plan with the Canadian government.

There are obvious reasons to flatly reject this half-formed Labor proposal. When Labor was last in government it withdrew deterrents to asylum seekers and inspired a rebuilt people-smuggling industry. It ended with 50,000 arrivals and more than 1000 deaths at sea.

By making Australia a stopping point en route to Canada, the people-smuggling industry would recommence its deadly trade all over again. Our nation would become a kind of flight centre for thousands destined for Montreal and Quebec.

Labor is yet to learn that any lure, to Australia or other first-world nations, will encourage people smugglers. The only solution is the solution we have in place, which works well and save lives.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/how-much-lunacy-can-a-grizzly-bear...

I wonder when Canada is going to give Bull Shitten the almighty smackdown he deserves?

what a load of rubbish ... Albanese was asked what he would do with the asylum seekers stuck on manus, his answer was that it would be best to send them to a third country. He was then asked to name a 3rd country that would be suitable, he refused, the interviewer pushed the issue and Albanese suggested Canada as an example of a suitable third country. He did not ever claim he would send them to canada, just that they were a suitable option

of course armpit and the smelle don't understand English well enough to have a clue