Pressure mounts on Stephen Harper to do more over refugee crisis

Stephen Harper said he rejected accusations from his political rivals that he using security as an excuse not to do more about the refugee crisis in Syria.

"We don't have to choose between more refugees andproper screening of applications for security. We don't have to choose between humanitarian and military support in the region,"Harper said during a partisan rally in Kitchener Wednesday evening.

"We're doing all of these things and we will keep doing all of these things."

• ANALYSIS |On refugee crisis, PM must heed more than public opinion
• ANALYSIS |Canadians want more to be done to help refugees, polls suggest

But pressure continuedto mount on the Conservative leader forCanada to do more to help ease the Syrianrefugee crisis.

Saskatchewan premier Brad Wallbecame the fifth provincial leader in recent days to respond to theinternational crisis.

"We have identified another $150,000 that we're going to provide to the cause. We have asked the minister, Jeremy Harrison... to find out how best we can allocate these dollars and possibly even discuss what else, whatmore can be done... we'll take advice from the non-governmental agencies that are involved and the resettlement agencies," Wall said on Wednesday.

"We had actually, over a month ago, indicated to the federal government that we wished to increase our refugee intake by 15 per cent."

Wall echoed harper's sentiment that bringing in more refugees while conductung security checks was not mutually exclusive.

Former Conservative ministersand former diplomatsalso added their voice to the debate on what more Canada can do to help.

'Ibelieve that there are ways in which governmentdepartments and agencies who are responsible for security screeningcan work effectively together if this is a priority.

"If welcoming more refugees to Canada becomes a national priority then resources will have to be applied to that."

Glenn Davidson,former Canadian ambassador to Syria on CBC News Network, Sept. 9, 2015.