MONTREAL—Conservative leadership candidate Steven Blaney says Canada must act immediately to stop illegal immigrants from entering the country.

Blaney is proposing a series of measures he believes will make the border airtight.

They include giving Canadian authorities the right to immediately hand over illegal immigrants to their American counterparts.

He also wants the government to hire an additional 200 RCMP officers and an extra 200 agents at the Canada Border Services Agency.

Blaney told a news conference in Montreal today the new hires would cost about $40 million.

The MP for Bellechasse-Les Etchemins-Levis is also calling on cities to fully co-operate with authorities, especially with regard to illegal immigrants who have criminal records.

Read more:

Canada-U.S. border the final frontier for those seeking refuge

Conservative leadership hopefuls debate environment, drugs in Vancouver

The next leader of the Conservatives is ... one of these 14

The Toronto Star and thestar.com, each property of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, One Yonge Street, 4th Floor, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E6. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please contact us or see our privacy policy for more information.

Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.