Justin Trudeau's tweets won’t make Canada a refugee haven—but popular pressure can | Martin Lukacs

The Prime Minister's refugee-friendly branding has veiled Canada's fortress policies that are in urgent need of overhaul

It was a tweet heard around the world: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's rejoinder to Donald Trump's repugnant Muslim travel ban that has sparked outrage around the world. "To those fleeing persecution, terror & war, Canadians will welcome you, regardless of your faith," Trudeau tweeted on Saturday. "Diversity is our strength. #WelcometoCanada."

While Trump has immediately stoked reactionary chaos, Trudeau has always struck the progressive posture. With fuzzy memes and messaging and photo-ops of him hugging refugees - and his predictably popular latest tweet - Canada's Liberal party has painted themselves as a welcoming government in a sea of rising intolerance. Praise from the international political and media class has flowed.