Ezra Levant stirred up a conversation regarding Stephane Dion’s dual citizenship.
Stephane Dion is the new leader of the Liberal Party. And he is a citizen of France.
Imagine the shrieks from the media if the Conservatives were to elect a leader who is a dual citizen of the U.S. He would be called a U.S. poodle at best or a spy at worst. Every time he opined on a subject, it would be scrutinized through the lens of Canada-U.S. relations. Everything from military spending to foreign treaties like Kyoto would be looked at through the question: Was the Prime Minister of Canada truly pursuing Canadian interests, or was his loyalty to his other homeland at play?
Gasp!
Alert the media! Alert the opposition! Alert somebody!
Dion’s mother was from France, he was born and raised in Canada. Her children receive French citizenship by birthright.
Some people are understandably discussing loyalty, as they would be if someone from The Conservative Party had duel citizenship, say with the US?
Loyalty exhibits itself in behavior.
Ted Morton who ran for the position of Alberta premier on the weekend holds dual citizenship. Canada-US. Why isn’t Levant hyperventilating and shrieking?
Alert somebody!
If one of your parents is foreign born and you are born in Canada, what does that make you? Would Levant have raised this if Dion held duel citizenship with a country he likes?
This was an issue with the GG. Governor General Michaelle Jean chose her French citizenship as an adult and once in office repudiated it.
Levant took a cheap shot questioning Dion’s loyalty to Canada.
Given Dion’s service, his reputation as a federalist, and his authorship of The Clarity Act, the only person looking bad here is Levant.
I read about 40 MP’s hold duel citizenships, I don’t know if anyone has counted up the dual citizenships in legislatures and municipalities. About 4 million Canadians hold duel citizenships.
It’s a none issue to most people. While someone may well have legitimate questions, which are answered with reason and logic, I’ve seen discussion were people are not going to allow sense to get in the way of their baser instincts.
Levant showed ugly partisanship. The disgust I feel reading his column is because of his attempt to question definition three.
- [n] the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action; “his long commitment to public service”; “they felt no loyalty to a losing team”
- [n] the quality of being loyal
- [n] feelings of allegiance
Dion is a step closer to the PM’s office than he was last week, as a minister of the Crown he has sworn an oath of service and allegiance twice. Most of us never have to.
While it’s a none issue to Dion, he may have to rethink his none concern. I doubt the Levants of Canada are going to stop shrieking until he does.
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What I think this dual-citizenship “issue” is about is playing to Anglophile fear/dislike of the Quebecois-think Don Cherry’s shtick. They can play the Quebecois card without being openly ethnocentric.
I’ve got a niece and nephew that are US-German dual citizens, since their dad’s a Anglo-German immigrant. Those kids are unlikely to be taking orders from Berlin were they to get active in US politics in the 2030s. Nor is Dion going to be checking in with Paris if he’s PM just because his mom is French.
He might give Paris a better hearing that “Steve” Harper, since the Liberals tend to be more Eurocentric than the Tories are, but that’s a different issue that the disingenious dual-citizenship flap.
True, and Levant might have wasted his time, according to Pierre Bourque:
“Meanwhile, the Government of France may have a bone to pick with one of its citizens. “Steph” Dion, now Leader of Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition here in Canada, would seem to no longer be entitled to French citizenship. That, according to French Law (Art.23-8), which states that a citizen loses French nationality when “filling an employment in a foreign army or public service or in an international organization of which France is not a member, or more generally providing his assistance to it, did not relinquish his employment or stop his assistance notwithstanding the order of the Government.”
the only concern I have with Dion is that I think he is going to whip poor Harper. Which is to bad, because I kinda liked harper.
But if history repeats itelf (as we know it eventually will). We are looking at an eventual majority government under Dion. Just think how long the last two real french liberal leaders lasted… scary.
Peter