Attempting to keep-alive debate over LO Stéphane Dion’s French citizenship, conservative pundit Ezra Levant wrote in today’s National Post, that Dion “applied” for French citizenship. And in case anyone missed it the first time, he repeated the “applied” accusation later in his column.
The true and accurate way to report Dion’s French citizenship is that he “inherited” it from his mother. If there was ever an application, it was probably an application for a passport which would have enabled Dion to reside in Europe during his PhD studies in Paris. But that’s hardly something that would alarm most Canadians, so desperate to tarnish Dion’s image, Levant resorts to misleading innuendo.
The fact is that Dion was a French citizen the day he was born. I appreciate his offer to renounce his French citizenship if it threatens to negatively influence electoral politics for the Liberal Party, but I hope he won’t have to. As one whose father was born in England, I have a right to a United Kingdom passport and to reside permanently in any European Community nation. Renouncing this right would be a little like renouncing my father, something I would be no more likely to do than, I suspect, would Dion be to renounce his mother. Renouncing his mother for electoral gain, however, probably would come easily to Levant.
I don’t want to discourage Conservatives from continuing this low-level smear campaign. Millions of Canadians hold dual citizenship, either through ancestral links or because they themselves immigrated to Canada, and most of them are living right here in Canada, the tales of passport of convenience holders notwithstanding. No one questions the loyalty to Canada of Dion, me or these millions of others. Are Conservatives suggesting that Canadians with dual citizenship constitute a second class? Are less loyal to Canada?
Keep it up Ezra – the boost you give the Dion and the Liberals is always welcome.
The true and accurate way to report Dion’s French citizenship is that he “inherited” it from his mother. If there was ever an application, it was probably an application for a passport which would have enabled Dion to reside in Europe during his PhD studies in Paris. But that’s hardly something that would alarm most Canadians, so desperate to tarnish Dion’s image, Levant resorts to misleading innuendo.
The fact is that Dion was a French citizen the day he was born. I appreciate his offer to renounce his French citizenship if it threatens to negatively influence electoral politics for the Liberal Party, but I hope he won’t have to. As one whose father was born in England, I have a right to a United Kingdom passport and to reside permanently in any European Community nation. Renouncing this right would be a little like renouncing my father, something I would be no more likely to do than, I suspect, would Dion be to renounce his mother. Renouncing his mother for electoral gain, however, probably would come easily to Levant.
I don’t want to discourage Conservatives from continuing this low-level smear campaign. Millions of Canadians hold dual citizenship, either through ancestral links or because they themselves immigrated to Canada, and most of them are living right here in Canada, the tales of passport of convenience holders notwithstanding. No one questions the loyalty to Canada of Dion, me or these millions of others. Are Conservatives suggesting that Canadians with dual citizenship constitute a second class? Are less loyal to Canada?
Keep it up Ezra – the boost you give the Dion and the Liberals is always welcome.
