10.03.2019 03:43 PM

That was then, this is now

So:


Therefore:


38 Comments

  1. whyshouldIsellyourwheat says:

    The United States makes its extremely difficult and time consuming to renounce US citizenship. It is not an easy thing to do. Particularly to get clearance from the IRS. It typically takes years. Not months.

  2. Campbell says:

    Scheer’s attacks on Liberal/Trudeau hypocrisy are ringing more hollow by the day.

  3. Doron Berger says:

    The political geeks do.

  4. John says:

    Another Liberal/media nothing story to distract, just like the stupid story that somehow Scheer will bring back the abortion debate. When is Groper going to talk about real issues? And does anyone believe that CUPE going out on strike on the day of the debates wasn’t planned? Expect Blackface to rant about Doug Ford and the school strike at the debate.

  5. Leasa Janssen says:

    The problem I had with Iggy is his refusal even after all that time, to give up his home in the US and make Canada permanent. My husband is a dual citizen with Holland. But, he has no real estate in Holland and his home for over 30 years has been here. With Dion, it was different. His inability to speak English clearly and his often spoken love for France is what cast doubt on his allegiance to Canada. Professor and former colleague Denis St. Martin said about him: “His vision of Canada was very influenced by his views on the politics and society of France – very Cartesian, very much about clarity.” I think Dion himself without meaning to, created the issue of dual citizenship. ~L

    • Campbell says:

      Dion’s inability to speak English clearly cast doubt on his allegiance to Canada??!

      What an incredibly offensive thing to say.

  6. Ian says:

    To be fair, the situations are not directly comparable. Most citizenships other than those that flow from place of birth are elective, one has a claim to citizenship to the citizenship of one’s parents. However, US citizenship (and therefore taxpayer status) does not work that way. You are a US citizen and taxpayer whether you want to be or not. Thousands of Canadians with no tie beyond a grandparent have been arbitrarily saddled with US citizenship, tax-filing obligations – and have to pay a ludicrous fee to go through a slow process of renunciation.

  7. We could turn this into a contest and list all the names. As I recall:

    Dion;

    Jean;

    Mulcair;

    Scheer.

    Anyone else?

  8. Joseph Taylor says:

    How about we just pass a law that says anyone standing for federal office cannot hold citizenship of another nation? If the US can exclude naturalized citizens from being the president for being born in another nation, I don’t think requiring undivided loyalty for the country you are serving is that radical.

  9. WestGuy says:

    Yeah, they need to smarten up. With this and the insurance broker thing, their latest wounds are self-inflicted.

  10. Marleen says:

    OMG had to laugh when first read it…
    MMmmm talk about biased reporting…
    So lets be open How many in the other parties hold dual citizenship and with what counties ????
    The Liberals and media are really scraping the bottom of the barrel with that one…….

  11. Greg Landry says:

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/dual-citizenship-mps-senators-parliament-australia-1.4439522
    According to this CBC article, more than 22 MPs hold dual citizenship. Why is this even an issue?

    • Campbell says:

      Because of hypocrisy. If you have a history, as Scheer and the CPC do, of questioning the suitability of dual citizens for the very position that Scheer is running for, maybe your central line of attack against your opponent shouldn’t be that they are hypocrites.

      • Lance says:

        And conversely, if you’re Party that has a history of defending it, you don’t then get to use it as an attack.

  12. Anon111 says:

    They only had years to disclose this, so clearly not enough time.

  13. Judy says:

    From 2017. Think there is a difference in which other country the citizenship is from. Are we outraged at those with dual citizenship from human rights abusing countries or dictatorships or is this selective outrage?

    “As a dual citizenship debacle rocks Australia’s political world, Canada’s Parliament embraces sitting MPs and Senators who were born around the world and hold dual, or even triple, citizenship.

    There are now at least 56 sitting parliamentarians — 44 MPs and 12 senators — born in countries outside Canada, according to information from the Library of Parliament and websites.

    That figure does not include MPs and senators who hold citizenship through descent, naturalization or marriage.

    Canadian MPs hold citizenship from various countries, including Afghanistan, Lebanon, Portugal, Poland, Pakistan, Syria, the United States and the United Kingdom.

    At least 22 of them have citizenship from other countries, CBC News confirmed through queries to parliamentarians’ offices.”

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/dual-citizenship-mps-senators-parliament-australia-1.4439522

    • Fred from BC says:

      “Think there is a difference in which other country the citizenship is from. Are we outraged at those with dual citizenship from human rights abusing countries or dictatorships or is this selective outrage?”

      It makes all the difference in the world, to me. Being Canadian isn’t very different than being American…we share culture and values, and our economic and political ties are very strong too.

  14. Patricia Nielsen says:

    So why is this such a serious problem with you? My husband has dual citizenship. And I am pretty sure a good number of Canadians do. What about you, Mr Kinsella, seeings as you travel back and forth to work in the States? To date, I have not heard anything from Scheer about his stand on dual citizenship, maybe missed it, so enlighten me on it.

    • Warren says:

      It’s not about dual citizenship, it’s about hypocrisy. Try and keep up.

      • Joe says:

        I never knew that Mulcair and Dion renounced their French citizenship like Scheer renounced his US citizenship.

        • Jim R says:

          Mulcair said he had no intention of renouncing his French citizenship. I *believe* Dion said he’d renounce his French citizenship if he became Prime Minister.

          From what I can gather Mulcair wanted to keep his French citizenship for the convenience it afforded him – he cited a situation before he had it in which he had to go into a different immigration line than his French citizen wife & kids at a French (or EU?) airport, and for some reason he found this anxiety inducing (or some such oddness). Well, seems to me that having a PM holding a 2nd citizenship for the convenience it affords sets a terrible example in a country like Canada where we expect new citizens to fully embrace Canadian citizenship and not treat it as a passport of convenience, as so many apparently do nowadays. But maybe that’s just me.

  15. John says:

    Is it true that Justin has dual Canadian/Nigerian citizenship?

  16. PK says:

    Is that his immigrant background – one of his parents is an American?

  17. Jim R says:

    According to Scheer, nobody every asked him about other citizenships, and that’s why we are only now finding out about his US citizenship. Fair enough I suppose. Though it is odd that we are only now finding out. Did not one single reporter or journalist ask him a question that would have brought this up? We know what pets the guy has, but not his other citizenships?????

    Now, I’m one of those folks that thinks the *leader* (i.e. the Prime Minister in our case) of a country should not hold other citizenships, as there is at minimum the appearance of divided loyalties. Scheer claims to be in the process of renouncing his US citizenship (that was transmitted from his US dad), and initiated the process after he became Conservative leader. Knowing from bitter experience that it can be a lengthy process to renounce US citizenship, that seems *plausible* and I’m OK with it as long as it’s true (insurance broker issue makes him somewhat less trustworthy in my eyes). So, I’ll be eagerly looking for details on this story to see if they support his narrative.

    And, FWIW, the stories I’ve read so far did not indicate Scheer actually attacking anyone’s duel citizenship status. What he apparently did was ask his constituents whether they thought Michaëlle Jean’s duel citizenship was an issue. One can read into that question any number of things, but it’s not an actual attack.

    For those that care, it sounds like Scheer has had his US Consulate visit where he formally renounced his US citizenship (yes, a trip to the Consulate is required, can’t be done any other way) and is now waiting for his CLN (Certificate of Loss of Nationality). The CLN can take some weeks to many months to arrive depending on deity knows what. The CLN is what makes it official that one is no longer a US citizen.

    [And, BTW, I don’t need anyone to tell me that however trustworthy or not Scheer is, we now know for a fact that Trudeau is *far* from trustworthy]

  18. Prashant Shukle says:

    Warren

    Many of these responses to your post also ring of the partisan hypocrisy. Good post and it is unfortunate that rationalizations based on partisan perspectives also don’t land with the point you are making. A pox on all those partisan houses…

  19. Gilbert says:

    I think we should pass a law that anyone who wants to be prime minister cannot hold dual citizenship. That seems reasonable to me.

  20. Pedant says:

    Extremely difficult and time consuming to renounce US citizenship. Just ask Boris Johnson. Still, he should have revealed this himself years ago and renounced it immediately upon being elected leader.

    I don’t think this will have much of an impact on the election though.

  21. Mezba Mahtab says:

    The question is not about dual citizenship but hypocrisy. This same Scheer used to criticize others (most famously our Governor General) for having dual citizenship. Karma is a bitch, innit.

    • Jim R says:

      What I have read is that Scheer asked his constituents if it bothered them that the then GG had duel citizenship. That is hardly criticizing her.

      • Mezba Mahtab says:

        Really???

        From Scheer’s blog, 2005: ” I have a few quick questions for anyone who thinks that Michaelle Jean is a good choice to be our next GG. Does it bother you that she is a dual citizen (France and Canada)? Would it bother you if instead of French citizenship, she held U.S. citizenship?’

      • Fred from BC says:

        “What I have read is that Scheer asked his constituents if it bothered them that the then GG had duel citizenship. That is hardly criticizing her.”

        I thought the same…and he also asked whether dual citizenship with the US would be better than dual citizenship with France (my answer would be yes).

  22. Don Johnson says:

    Personally, I could care less about dual citizenship, at least conceptually. It’s a worthwhile question, however to probe how an individual is using that citizenship. That is, how is he/she demonstrating his loyalty, commitment, etc to Canada. To me, that would be the main question.

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