Canadians Supporting Trump To Build Wall

© Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press via AP An asylum claimant and her two daughters cross the border into Canada from the United States Friday, March 17, 2017, near Hemmingford, Quebec

‘Build that wall?’ Some Canadians are calling for more border control, too. Candidates for leadership of Canada’s opposition Conservative Party are calling for drastic measures to halt the flow of asylum seekers fleeing the United States into Canada, including deployment of the Canadian army to detain would-be refugees as they cross the border.

This get-tough approach reflects public opinion surveys that show a hardening of attitudes among some Canadians toward the asylum seekers and immigration in general, placing political pressure on the government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Canadian news recently has been full of images of migrants trudging across snow-covered fields and through icy ditches, hauling small children and suitcases as they cross into Quebec, Manitoba and other provinces from U.S. border states. The phenomenon has gained momentum since Donald Trump was elected president in November.

Kevin O’Leary, a reality-TV celebrity and neophyte politician who has taken a Trumplike approach to his quest for the Conservative leadership, says illegal crossings are “unacceptable” and that Canada must beef up its border security to avert a flood of refugees. “I don’t want what’s happening in Europe to happen in Canada,” he said in a recent campaign video.

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Obama Administration Crack Down On Tim Hortons And Burger King Deals

Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew on Monday announced a series of reforms to make corporate inversions difficult, if not illegal. Susan Walsh/The Associated Press

The Obama administration cracked down Monday on certain overseas corporate mergers and acquisitions, aiming to curb American companies from shifting their ownership abroad to shirk paying U.S. taxes.

New regulations from the Treasury Department will make these co-called corporate inversions less lucrative by barring creative techniques that companies use to lower their tax bill. Additionally, the U.S. will make it harder for companies to move overseas in the first place by tightening the ownership requirements they must meet.

"This action will significantly diminish the ability of inverted companies to escape U.S. taxation," Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said. He added that for some companies considering inversions, the new measures would mean inverting would "no longer make economic sense."

Administration officials who briefed reporters could not say how many pending inversions might be stopped by the new rules and specifically would not address whether the rules would block one of the most high-profile moves, an effort that Burger King announced in August to acquire Tim Hortons.

In such transactions, a U.S. business merges with or is acquired by a foreign company in a country with a lower tax rate. President Barack Obama has denounced inversions as unpatriotic and has urged Congress to stop them.

Obama applauded the Treasury for taking steps to reverse the trend of companies seeking to "exploit this loophole" to avoid paying their fair share in taxes. Yet he said he was still calling on Congress to pursue broader tax reform that would reduce the corporate tax rate, close loopholes and make the tax code simpler.

Canadian Citizenship Rules Face Broad Reform

Chris Alexander was sworn in as the minister of citizenship and immigration in July 2013. Alexander is poised to introduce changes to the Citizenship Act during this upcoming session of Parliament. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

The federal government will introduce several changes to Canada's citizenship rules after members of Parliament return to Ottawa next Monday following a six-week hiatus, says Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander.

In an interview with CBC News on Thursday, Alexander said the government will table a bill in the next session of Parliament that will see "the first comprehensive reform to the Citizenship Act in more than a generation​."