Doug Collins _. ON'THE OTHER HAND BEING A busy kind of bee } -- @0 not have the time to lis- ‘ten to ‘open-lines. But the | . other day a friend sent me'a “tape of a Bill Good show, ‘that starred Phil Rankin the fawyer. os f 7 ° dt was 3 ‘gem: Let’ s ; call it the Bill and Phi} Show... 205-5 - Rankin is part of the immigra- thon industry, which is not too pop- ‘ular these days, So there was only one favorable call and that was . from | a man who identified himself ‘asia (aa ‘Asian. «. A But. that’s not the story, ‘The “ stoty ig Rankin, Son of. Harty, who. , follows faithfully, i in Dad’ s foot-" -!. As an immigration lawyer he. -specializes in refugee cases. Makes ‘a lot of moriey‘at it, too; no doubt... 7 “And: why not, since “refugees” get : legal ; aid in spinning their fairy.. stories to the Inmigration and» Refugee Board?/, : = Without. laughing, Rankin - : Claimed he. got no money from the, government’— a statement of such dizzy. audacity that it can only be : admired’. “Who pays. for legal aid ifi it is’ not “‘government"'?. : ‘, The total cost of the refugee program is something like $1 bil- : Nona year, of which immigration “ lawyers get a nice fat cut:.. Rankin also claimed that : refugees were. “not “automatically” ‘entitled to’ welfare and medicare. Well, perhaps not if they are the Aga Kahn. But everyone else ts. You don’t everi have to be a ‘refugee.” Being an illegal immi- “ grant will do. "Two Fijians got kid-— _ney dialysis treatment at Vancouver Genera] while Hah Canadians waited in line. The cost? A mere $900,000, The callers on this radio pro- gram were not sucked in. Most of them were well informed and told Rankie he was fall of it “You think we are idiots,” one, The politically carrect Mr. Good did his best to help. So much zay.thar Lsemetimes, jyondered who was providing the “answers,” Phil or Bill, BH! even referred to his guest as an “expert” “Yeah, and look what the ‘experts have done to this country.” was the response, ‘Te got better, the high point being immigration and crime, Yes, mused Rankin, there may be sone criminals among the immigrants. Bul so what? We are said ~ ALL criminals in one way or another. It’s just that many of us haven't been found aut. So why .. take it out on the refugees and ~ other poor souls?’ {t's natural for refugees and the "like to turn to crime, he went on. They have had a tough time. But “criminality’is less among refugees : than among the native-born popu-, lation.” Pa Provf, please. Alas, Bill failed : to ask for it. ~~ Warming to his theme, Rankin’ said that “almost all our young - _beople are involved in criminal “ activity,” ” And the cooperative’ interviewer said that what Rankin was saying was that people who live in glass houses should not throw stones, The stunned callers didn’ t take to Rankin’s stuff very kindly. One wanted to know if there were ANY immigrants Rankin would object to. “Yes, he said. “I object to Nazi war criminals coming in. As a Jew I feel upset by that.” There’s no doubt about it. This was a program fit for the music * halls of old. Every line a tummy” bender.” "KEN BAXTER LAWYER.” . 24 Years © Experience LG, Gi, ee ie Gs eel eBay Buch We turn now to the other side of the coin, Paidraig O' Donahue is a QC who has just spent five years on the refugee board. and the day after the Good shaw he gave the Vatcouver Suna very different version af events. He doubted whether he had seen a single genuine refugee i in all _ the time he thing was j game, . 5 in 1990 legal aid was ni. ds available for all claimants (Hi, there, Phil!) and “the floodgates opened.” : These phoneys — who have been admitted to Canada in their tens of thousands, with more on the way —- would tell one story at the border, he said, another to their lawyer, and another to the inquiry. Their storics changed so often, they got in only because of the good-heartedness of board mem- bers. But the board members were clearly not good-hearted enough because a couple of months ago your ever-carin’ Liberal govern- ment got rid of O’ Donahue and many others and packed the board with the anointed — people who are every bit as pro-refugee as Rankin. The Chinese “refugees” seem to be the best organized, he claimed. Ninety-nine per cent of them get here on fake passports and ‘their stories are so untrue that the interpreters at the inguiries “wig- gle in their seats.” His “employers” — meaning,. presumably, board chairwoman ;/ Nurjehan Mawani in Ottawa and’ her Liberal bosses — “wanted him’. ~ to be a janitor, opening the door with a polite bow.” “Ottawa should not have made _ it so easy for.legal aid lawyers to “ make so much money. They have" : destroyed a system that wasn’t so bad at first,” he declared. Hi there, Phil. You too, Bill. LONSDALE QUAY © “NORTH VANCOUVER | 988-6321 | Y A hoists Y fast service ¢ cars, trucks, & motorhomes: , v fully guaranteed ‘A TRUSTED NAME IN Parts For Over 38 Years Now Orrers INSTALLATION: & Service At Prices THat Won’T Empry Your Walter! “BRAKES e CLUTCHES ° TUNE- UPS @ oll CHANGES * COOLING SYSTEM © STARTERS « ELECTRICAL | LORDCO PARTS LTD. 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