Galloway was not informed of the decision until it had already been given to journalists. The grounds provided by a spokesperson for Mr Kenney for the ban are that Galloway’s opposition to the deployment of Nato troops in Afghanistan make him “inadmissible” to Canada . Galloway says: “This decision, gazetted in Rupert Murdoch’s Sun, is a very sad day for the Canada we have known and loved – a bastion of the freedoms that supporters of the occupation of Afghanistan claim to be defending.
“This has further vindicated the anti-war movement’s contention that unjust wars abroad will end up consuming the very liberties that make us who we are. “This may be a rather desperate election ploy by a conservative government reaching the end of line, or by a minister who has not cottoned on to the fact that the George Bush era is over.
“All right thinking Canadians, whether they agree with me over the wisdom of sending troops to Afghanistan or not, will oppose this outrageous decision. “On a personal note – for a Scotsman to be barred from Canada is like being told to stay away from the family home.
“This is not something I’m prepared to accept.”
Galloway’s most recent comment on Afghanistan was to the Grimsby and Scunthorpe media group and was, “More British soldiers have now died in Afghanistan than in the whole of the disastrous war in and occupation of Iraq. And yet the Taliban are growing in strength and instability is spreading across the border into Pakistan. My heart goes out to the families of all the loved ones who have lost their lives and in particular to the families of Corporals Grahame Stiff and Dean John, the latest soldiers to lose their lives in Afghanistan. The majority of British people, the latest opinion polls show, do not understand why we have sent troops to Afghanistan. I want our troops brought home from Afghanistan now, so no more lives are lost in this pointless and unwinnable war."
George Galloway is due to make a series of speeches in the United States and Canada following the successful Viva Palestina convoy of more than a hundred vehicles, including 20 ambulances, which he led to Gaza last week and which brought more than a million pounds worth of aid to the Palestinian people.
In 2006 the President of Egypt personally apologised to Galloway after he was detained for some hours on arrival in Cairo to speak at an anti-war conference. The speaking engagement went ahead, contrary to the Press Association report today.
