George Galloway moves to Plan B: video link

A Federal Court upheld a decision to block outspoken British MP George Galloway from entering Canada, but organizers of his speaking tour had a back-up plan Monday: he appeared in Toronto via video link.

Roughly 500 people gathered inside the city's Metropolitan United Church to hear -- and watch -- Galloway speak on a large screen.

Although the speech focused on the war in Afghanistan and the most recent conflict in the Gaza Strip, Galloway frequently mocked Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

Although the decision to block Galloway was made by Canadian Border Services Agency, Kenney has said he will not intervene in the ruling.

"Come out and debate me like a man, Jason Kenney," Galloway said at one point. The speech was broadcast from New York.

After a judge upheld CBSA's ruling, organizers for Galloway's speaking tour said they did not want to try to escort him across the border.

"We're not interested in doing anything illegal whatsoever," organizer James Clark, a peace activist, told The Canadian Press.

"Our expectations were such that we were already implementing Plan B, which was to make sure that he can still deliver the speech from a live broadcast."

Earlier Monday, Justice Luc Martineau delivered a 14-page ruling that upheld a decision by Canadian Border Services Agency to block Galloway, who is currently in the United States.

"A fundamental principle of immigration law is that non-citizens do not have an unqualified right to enter in Canada," wrote Martineau.

"The admission of a foreign national to this country is a privilege determined by statute, regulation or otherwise, and not a matter of right."

Parliament has given CBSA officers the right to determine who is admissible, he said.

Martineau wrote while there have been serious arguments raised against the decision to keep Galloway out, "a proper factual record and the benefit of full legal argument" are missing.

The applicants didn't meet the necessary legal tests for him to issue an order allowing Galloway entry, the judge wrote.

Earlier this month, border security officials deemed Galloway inadmissible saying he was guilty of providing material support for terrorism.

Galloway had been part of a caravan that had delivered humanitarian aid to Gaza following the Israeli military incursion there. He also gave a $45,000 donation to Hamas, which the government said in a letter to the MP is a banned terrorist organization in this country.

Last week, Galloway told CTV's Power Play that ambulances and medical supplies must be delivered through Hamas because they are the democratically elected government in the Gaza Strip. He also said he does not support Hamas.

The Canadian Jewish Congress praised the court's decision Monday. In a written statement, CJC Co-President Sylvain Abitbol said "Canadians fully understand that fundraising for international terrorism puts us all at risk here at home and endangers our brave troops fighting terrorism on the front lines overseas."

Laith Marouf, chapter co-ordinator for Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights, and one of the organizers for Galloway's Canadian visit, said the British MP had no other option but to deal with Hamas.

"When (officials) enter Gaza, they have to deal with the democratically elected government of the people, which happens to be Hamas," he told CTV Newsnet.

"So even the Red Cross and the Red Crescent, when they go in and want to work in a hospital, they have to deal with the government that is there... It's a bit ironic that the Canadian Jewish Congress thinks that the Red Cross and Red Crescent and others are allowed to work in Palestine, but Mr. Galloway is not."

Galloway was initially scheduled to speak in person Monday night before a Toronto audience, followed by appearances in Ottawa, Montreal and Mississauga, Ont. in the coming days.

Organizers had been planning a solidarity caravan to meet Galloway at the border Monday morning.

"The caravan was planned before we knew the Federal Court decision would drag out until today," Marouf said Monday.

Galloway, who has previously spoken in Canada, most recently in 2006, is a controversial figure.

His opposition to the Iraq war got him kicked out of the British Labour Party in 2003, but he won re-election in 2005 running under the banner of his Respect party.

The Scottish MP's performance on Capital Hill in 2005 was one for the ages. He called the panel of senators grilling him about allegations he had accepted bribes from the regime of deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

He called them a "lickspittle Republican committee" and accused them of "the mother of all smoke screens."

In 2007, the British parliament's lower house suspended him for 18 days based on allegations he had concealed his dealings with the Hussein regime with respects to a charity he had established.

Galloway said his attackers were being hypocrites because no British political party asked people who donated to them where the money had come from.

With files from The Canadian Press