(Canadian Press) A former Conservative cabinet minister is apologizing for not pushing against his party’s culturally divisive policies of the Stephen Harper era, including an effort to ban face coverings during citizenship ceremonies.
In a Facebook post, Tory MP Tim Uppal says he has been talking to people about how to make all Canadians feel safe following the deadly attack this month on a Muslim family in London, Ont.
As minister of state for multiculturalism in the Harper government, Uppal was the spokesman for a bill to ban wearing the niqab while taking the oath of citizenship.
Campaigning for re-election in 2015, the party also proposed a “barbaric cultural practices” hotline people could call to tell authorities about the supposedly objectionable practices of others.
