JOHN McCallum, Liberal Critic for Citizenship and Immigration and Multiculturalism on Tuesday denounced recent anti-immigrant sentiments from Conservative MPs.

“Last weekend’s statement by John Williamson is unacceptable,” said McCallum. “Terms like ‘whities’ and ‘brown people’ have no place in our discourse.”

When speaking on immigration and employment issues at the Conservative Manning Centre conference, Williamson, who was formally Prime Minister Harper’s Communications Director said, “It makes no sense to pay ‘whities’ to stay home while we bring in brown people to work in these jobs.”

“Mr. Harper needs to publicly reject these comments and demand his MP apologize in the House,” said McCallum. “This is not the first time this has happened. It was only a few weeks ago that the Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism asked Iranian-Canadians why they came to Canada in the first place.”

The Parliamentary Secretary for Multiculturalism, Chungsen Leung‎, was captured on video asking Iranian-Canadians why they came to Canada if they love their home country.

“Just this week we learned in a Conservative briefing document they were concerned that their ‘base’ might learn about how much the government spends on settlement,” said McCallum.

“It’s clear that the Prime Minister is under pressure from the old anti-immigration Reform Party to oppose immigration and multiculturalism. He is allowing this rhetoric to be an inherent culture in the Conservative Caucus. A true leader would stand up for Canadians, instead of falling into divisive politics. Canadians deserve better.”