If I were to get the honour of living in Canada and someday becoming a Canadian citizen, I would be a dual citizen. As an American journalist who writes a blog devoted to Canada, I do have an intriguing perspective over Andrew Scheer also being an American.
John Turner was prime minister, though not elected, and was born in the United Kingdom. Unlike the United States, Canada does not have restrictions on foreign-born prime ministers. Canada doesn't have a rule against binational prime ministers.
The only restriction in Canadian politics is ironically in the unelected federal Senate. Canadian Senate candidates have to renounce all other citizenships to be a Canadian senator.
The United States allows only natural-born citizens to be president and vice president. Foreign-born people can serve in Cabinet posts and in Congress. Madeline Albright was a foreign-born Secretary of State.
Andrew Scheer isn't the only federal party leader who is a dual citizen. Elizabeth May was born in the United States and moved to Canada as a teenager. People have known that information for a very long time. You might argue that May isn't going to form government but she isn't being called out for being a hypocrite.
Scheer posted the blog post above asking his constituents about Michaëlle Jean being a dual citizen. The first question about being a referee in a minority government situation was that Jean shockingly ruled for Stephen Harper to prorogue Parliament, which extended the Conservative leader's reign in power.
Scheer's party has also been critical of Stephane Dion and Tom Mulcair for having French citizenship.
Scheer has been a dual citizen since birth. He knew that but his constituents didn't know that.
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The comparison between Ted Cruz and Andrew Scheer might seem unfair to each other but Scheer might learn a lesson or two from Cruz.
Ted Cruz wanted to run for president of the United States. There was an issue as to whether Cruz was a natural-born citizen since he was born in Calgary and lived there for his first 4 years. The argument made by conservatives was that Cruz's mother was American. That made Cruz an American citizen but not necessarily a natural-born citizen.
Cruz said he discovered he was a Canadian citizen after a report in the Dallas Morning News. This seemed a gigantic stretch for someone who has argued before the Supreme Court 9 times since U.S. policy grants citizenship to those born in the United States. Cruz decided to renounce his Canadian citizenship because he wanted to be president. This wasn't a requirement but Cruz realised this would be politically expedient to renounce his Canadian citizenship.
Cruz is also likely a Cuban citizen since his father was Cuban by the same logic that makes him an American citizen. Somehow, Canada was more of a stigma than Cuba in conservative circles in the United States.
Everything was public in that we knew that Cruz had filed and we found out when Cruz's citizenship was renounced. If Cruz decides to run for president again, he won't have Canada hanging over him.
Cruz could have told Scheer that the process takes several months to complete. Scheer had a couple of years to start but didn't get started until August.
Scheer wasn't forthcoming about any of this until the news was uncovered. We can only speculate if Scheer would have told Canadians once the paperwork went through.
UK prime minister Boris Johnson was born on U.S. soil in New York City. Johnson renounced his U.S. citizenship in 2016. His desire to be prime minister and likely for tax reasons were the incentives for Johnson to make the move. Johnson did so before he put himself in contention to be prime minister.
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"Would it bother you if instead of French citizenship, she held U.S. citizenship?"
The wording of Scheer's question applied to Michaëlle Jean, but if you switch gender pronouns, the question applies to Scheer. The Conservative leader has criticised Justin Trudeau for his handling of the NAFTA 2.0 negotiations. Trudeau's reply has been that Scheer would have capitulated more.
For the record, we think Scheer is correct on that file, though Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland were in a bad situation due to the cranky toddler. We also think Trudeau is correct in that the Conservatives would have given in more. Scheer did say in the TVA debate that Conservatives would pass the new trade deal.
If Scheer had French citizenship instead of U.S. citizenship, the reaction would have seemed normal. Secretly having U.S. citizenship calls what Scheer has said into question. That is likely unfair but Canada has a much different relationship with the U.S. than with France.
The secrecy adds to that. If Scheer told us, the reaction would be less suspicious.
The previous Conservative prime minister admitted to watching American news instead of Canadian news. Scheer would have to work hard to deflect that perception of conservatives. Being secretly American won't help.
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Andrew Scheer will still be a U.S. citizen if the Conservatives prevail on October 21. There is a cynical thread out there that Scheer timed this so that if the Conservatives don't win that he will withdraw the paperwork.
The United States and Eritrea tax citizens who live aboard, even if they don't have U.S. income. Scheer is registered for the Selective Service (I am too). That puts Scheer in a much more difficult situation than Dion or Mulcair.
Elizabeth May says she is not an American citizen but as far as we know, May has not renounced her American citizenship, a necessary step.
I get the stigma. I could have taken the easy route on NAFTA 2.0, played the citizen card, and cheered that the new trade deal that heavily favours the United States. I played it objectively and said this was a great deal for the U.S. and a lousy deal for Canada. Even with that analysis, someone could challenge me because I'm not Canadian.
We at CanadianCrossing.com applaud dual citizenships as a way to spread understanding around the world. A leader can be a dual citizen but that is up to the people who would elect that person.
Having U.S. citizenship in Canada would be that stigma if such a stigma existed. Americans likely wouldn't care if a U.S. president was also a citizen of Canada. Canadians think much more about the United States than Americans think about Canada. Canadians might care, whether that be Elizabeth May or Andrew Scheer.
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"As much as I love Canada, renouncing the citizenship of your birth would be rather difficult. The idea of standing in the lines of non-U.S. citizenship people when flying to the United States. I shudder just thinking about having to go through that humiliation. Then again, that experience would definitely make me feel Canadian."
I wrote those words in my desire to become a Canadian senator. Scheer's identity as an American is tied to his American father. Cruz had no family ties to his Canadian citizenship and Johnson had no known family ties to his American citizenship.
Scheer would be more believable in his actions if he had been upfront and understood why people are concerned about suddenly discovering his dual citizenship.
photo credit: Andrew Scheer
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