A 'French' Prime Minister?
Too many things to talk about these days, but we can save the equal marriage talk for after the vote. The question at hand here is should Stephane Dion renounce his French citizenship. Quite frankly, I hate to be the only Liberal on this one but, yes. Now let me be clear, he shouldn't do this because Canada simply can't have a Prime Minister with dual citizenship. We have already in the past. He shouldn't do it out of some kind of show of Canadiana. Canada is better than that. He shouldn't do it because it divides his loyalties and questions his dedication to this country he wishes to lead. I have total faith that he is a dedicated this country and that he wants to make it the best nation on the face of this planet. He should do it because the Canadian electorate as a whole will simply not understand it. It looks bad optically. I don't care that its occurred in the past, even recently with John Turner. It looks bad. For the sake of his career -- for the sake of the Liberal party -- for the sake of bettering this country he will renounce his French citizenship for no other reason than it just looks better. This is not about xenophobia or anything else of that nature. It is simply about electability. And as our leader (and hopefully future Prime Minister) Stephane Dion must understand that.
posted by Jordan | 9:25 AM
16 Comments:
And Laurier was born in France.
Good call Jordan. I expect you will get beat up on this one. Too many Liberals are loathe to criticise Dion regardless of whether he is wrong on this issue, and he is.
Politics is often about perception, and Dion (as a possible future PM) holding onto his French citizenship looks all wrong.
As far as sitting MPs, I have no issue with dual citizenships, but the PM of the country is an entirely different story.
To canuckistan:
The comparison of French citizenship to Jewish religion is different. These are two different types of devotion and should be treated as such. Moreover, I believe I made it clear that the fact that we have had Prime Ministers with dual citizenship is irrelevant. That was than. This is now.
Why should any Canadian be held to a different standard than another, especially on an issue such as citizenship with a country as deeply tied to our history as France? And to say that in the past, at a time when the world was a much larger place and far less cosmopolitan, dual citizenship was acceptable but today it suddenly becomes less so?
The big question for me is 'Why should he give up his French citizenship?' He is Canadian and has a proven track record of public service to our country. How does dual citizenship with France or any other country implicitly impede his ability to lead the governing party of our country, if and when the time comes?
Dave
To anon (8:30):
The answer is nothing. It has absolutely nothing to do with his ability to govern this country. It has to do with his ability to be victorious in the coming election. It has to do with his ability to gain that top post.
That was the point of this post folks. It was no xenophobic rant on divided loyalties. It was a simple awareness that Stephane Dion is just a less preferred candidate by holding dual citizenship. That may sound horrible, but it is fact. A fact he should realize if you wishes to be Prime Minister.
Dion said in his interview with CBC and Peter Mansbridge that if it became a problem that prevented him from becoming P.M. he would give up his French citizenship because it was more important to win an election against S. Harper. I hope it will not be necessary. He has a love of our country without doubt.
I saw that interview. (Between CBC and Newsworld and the 4 or 5 times they played it, I think everyone in the country saw it.) And I was delighted to see that he is willing to put Canada ahead of himself. That is what a good Prime Minister needs to do.
It is also, oh so typical of the Federal Liberals, do or say whatever it takes to get back in power. Talk Kyoto, deliver nothing, yes. Insult the United States, and Israel, done and doner.
My anonymous, that statement is nothing more than political giberish. It allows M. Dion to be villified no matter his decision. That is not what this thread is about.
I fully agree here. I know Dion is loyal to Canada, but too many Canadians see dual citizenship as not having full loyalty to Canada. In addition there is always the concern if Canada had a dispute with Canada, where would he side, although I am positive he would side with Canada. I think there are more important issues and this is not an issue worth losing an election over.
In addition I don't think those who oppose dual citizenship are xenophobes as long as they apply it equally to every country, not just some. I myself have never really understood how someone can be loyal to more than one country, but since I am a fourth generation Canadian, I am not going to attack someone who has dual loyalties since without living in multiple countries it is not something I can really understand.
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