Dear Prime Minister
Due to the recent policy change, you have offended two countries. In retaliation, the Czech Republic has put forward a proposal to the EU for all 27 nations to require a visa from Canadian citizens. Thanks to your new policy in dealing with Roma refugees, you have made it more difficult for Canadian citizens to travel in Europe. I can imagine that processing so many Roma refugees is difficult but you could have changed the criteria of how you handle a refugee instead of making a blanket change in travel document requirements. This tends to annoy many countries and will interfere with trade as business executives from Eastern Europe will have to get additional documentation. More broadly, what were your policy advisers thinking when they recommended you make this switch in the middle of the summer travel season? As I'm sure you are aware, the biggest industry in the world is the travel and leisure industry. You have now given them a black eye because other than cancellation fees, they will not make very much money and bleed a lot of profits due to the decrease in sales. This decision will be NO HELP TO OUR ECONOMY. September would have been better for the change.
As for Mexico, I am not aware of any refugee crisis. Did I miss something?
In closing, internationally this could be considered discrimination and within Canada it could lead the citizens to consider the Conservative Party of Canada to be racist in its nature. As you have not made a compelling security or economic reason for the sudden policy change. Because you removed the visa require for the Czech Republic and Mexico two years ago and then have chosen to reimpose it, that in itself shows evidence of possible discrimination. If that was not your intent, work on your communication strategy as soon as possible. Another consequence of the perception issues I have just mentioned, Canadians of Mexican or Czech heritage may not vote for you in the next election. Bye bye majority.
A Canadian citizen that was hoping to travel in Europe without requiring as many visas.
Thank you Mr. Harper
