Conservative Leader and Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper has rejected a meeting with political rivals Justin Trudeau and Thomas Mulcair to discuss a plan of action in dealing with refugees fleeing Syria on Monday, according to CBC.
"We're not going to get into partisan games on this," said Harper. "I already made announcements before these headlines that the government of Canada intends to bring in many more refugees from this area."
Harper promised to take in 10,000 refugees in January, and made an additional commitment to resettle 10,000 more if elected.
Harper claims that the refugee policy is not the answer to the crisis in Syria, echoing UK Prime Minister David Cameron, as covered by HNGN.
"Refugee policy alone is not a solution to this process," he said, and proceeded to emphasize the importance of Canada's military campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS) in order to decrease the violence in Syria, according to the Toronto Star.
Harper is currently facing a wave of increased pressure to take in more Syrian refugees, with Ontario's Liberal Party calling upon Ottawa to admit 5,000 more by the end of the year, according to the National Post.
"Without the will of the government, no amount of civilian support will actually help us get Syrian refugees to this country," said Ratna Omidvar, leader of Lifeline Syria.
