I am afraid the next disgraceful chapter in Canadian history may already be in the writing.
While it is incumbent upon politicians to represent their constituencies, a real leader takes a principled position, he does not pander to populist bigotry.
Stephen Harper does not get that. In fact, he is the guy wielding the pitchfork at the front of the irrational mob.
As everyone knows by now, I am no fan of the Conservative Party, but now that they have put me in the position of having to defend the rights of a terrorist because they do not understand the democracy and the rule of law, has me really pissed off.
Bill-C24, another in a long line of anti-democratic legislation this government has ramrodded through Parliament, gives the government the authority to strip dual citizens of their Canadian citizenship.
Now, right in the middle of an election campaign, right on the heals of the disgraceful niqab debacle, they have revoked the citizenship of Zakaria Amara, one of the leaders of the infamous Toronto 18, who plotted to explode three large bombs in Toronto.
Does this guy deserve to spend the rest of his life in prison? Yes, he does. Does he deserve to have his citizenship revoked. No, he doesn’t.
Before Harper, we did not distinguish between this type of Canadian and that kind of Canadian. A Canadian was a Canadian was a Canadian, entitled to all the rights and subject to the all the responsibilities of citizenship.
If it can be revoked for any reason whatsoever, it is meaningless.
Former immigration minister Jason Kenney explained that they wouldn’t revoke citizenship of sole-citizenship Canadians because of a United Nations convention that prevents signatories from making a human being stateless.
So, if it wasn’t for the U.N., would they extend that to all of us?
I am absolutely disgusted with this government and my fellow Canadians who actually believe that this is a just law.
Ironically, it is called the Strengthening of Canadian Citizenship Act.
As with so much of what the Orwellian culture in the Conservative Party does, the law accomplishes the exact opposite of what its title suggests.
It will be struck down by the courts as unconstitutional if not revoked by the Liberals or NDP first and history will not be kind to Stephen Harper.
