Election season citizenship controversies: Canadian edition
Via Ben Smith, here’s a withering attack that Canada’s Conservative Party is running against Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff: There’s a bit more to this one than certain other North American nationality controversies one could name. Ignatieff reportedly told a British reporter in 2004 that he was an "American Democrat" and planned to vote for John ...
Via Ben Smith, here's a withering attack that Canada's Conservative Party is running against Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff:
Via Ben Smith, here’s a withering attack that Canada’s Conservative Party is running against Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff:
There’s a bit more to this one than certain other North American nationality controversies one could name. Ignatieff reportedly told a British reporter in 2004 that he was an "American Democrat" and planned to vote for John Kerry in the upcoming U.S. election — which he would not have been eligible to do since he’s not a U.S. citizen. A spokesman for his campaign then told reporters last week that Ignatieff "has never held any other citizenship and as such, has never voted in a foreign election."
Except … it turns out he has. Ignatieff voted for Britain’s Labour Party in 2007 when he was living there. This is all perfectly legal since, as a Canadian, Ignatieff is a citizen of the British Commonwealth. But it has naturally resulted in the globe-trotting public intellectual’s insufficient Canadian-ness emerging as a campaign issue. Ignatieff has responded by questioning his opponent’s loyalties:
"But I am also someone who didn’t go to a foreign audience and call this country a second-class, failed socialist state in front of a Republican audience. I’m a proud Canadian. I’ve lived overseas, and wherever I’ve been I’ve supported progressive policies."
Ignatieff said he was referring to a speech by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper to a conservative group prior to becoming prime minister. Harper’s comments also became an election issue during the leaders’ debates in the 2006 election.
But which one is secretly Muslim?
Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating
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