I signed the petition fully expecting and knowing it would be denied.
The point, for me, wasn’t to revoke his citizenship but to get more Canadians talking about Musk. He is a very real threat to our democracy and quality of life and we need to be talking about how we can counteract him.
If this guy has the Canadian citizenship, would it be possible to enact a tax for Canadian billionaires intriguing against Canada? Just an idea.
Or just a 99% tax on all wealth over, say, 1bn, belonging to any Canadian citizen regardless of residence. The problem will thus solve itself.
There are real things we can be doing to damage the Nazi that do not include violating citizenship law.
Regardless of how you feel about Musk, acting like Trump doesn’t solve problems and the ignorant Canadians responsible for the petition need to give their heads a shake.
People trying to “both sides same” when Musk is calling our sovereignty fake and aiding a country that has literally threatened us with war to annex us, needs to give their head a shake.
Even though I signed, I knew this petition was a bit of a meme. That said people can call for anything, legal or not, if an MP is willing to sponsor it. Legal citizens cannot and shouldn’t have their citizenship revoked but this is a legitimate expression of discontent towards Musk’s frankly anti-Canadian actions.
I can’t help but feel like there’s a way to express discontent that doesn’t also encourage the weaponization of citizenship to circumvent the legal system.
Tbh, this is why I didn’t entertain the idea of signing it. It’s a bad precedent if nothing else.
Now, what are the treason laws in Canada?
Treason
(2) Every one commits treason who, in Canada,
(a) uses force or violence for the purpose of overthrowing the government of Canada or a province;
(b) without lawful authority, communicates or makes available to an agent of a state other than Canada, military or scientific information or any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document of a military or scientific character that he knows or ought to know may be used by that state for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or defence of Canada;
( c) conspires with any person to commit high treason or to do anything mentioned in paragraph (a);
(d) forms an intention to do anything that is high treason or that is mentioned in paragraph (a) and manifests that intention by an overt act; or
(e) conspires with any person to do anything mentioned in paragraph (b) or forms an intention to do anything mentioned in paragraph (b) and manifests that intention by an overt act.
Basically, the US government would atually have to use force to overthrow the government, and we would have to be able to prove in court that Elon participated in those actions.
Sedition maybe?
Sedition
59 (1) Seditious words are words that express a seditious intention.
(2) A seditious libel is a libel that expresses a seditious intention.
(3) A seditious conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to carry out a seditious intention.
(4) Without limiting the generality of the meaning of the expression seditious intention, every one shall be presumed to have a seditious intention who
(a) teaches or advocates, or
(b) publishes or circulates any writing that advocates,
the use, without the authority of law, of force as a means of accomplishing a governmental change within Canada.Emphasis mine.
“Force” is a broad term, and doesn’t necessarily imply violence. Trump has indicated he would use economic force on Canada to get us to capitulate. Musk is working with Trump very closely, and said Trudeau wasn’t “governor” anymore.
At this time, it would probably be easier to make that charge stick. I don’t know if “force” has a concrete legal definition.
Immigration lawyer Gabriela Ramo says that under Canadian law, someone’s citizenship can only be revoked if it can be proven that they committed fraud or misrepresentation to obtain it.
“Before they could move to do this, they would need to introduce legislation, there would have to be amendments to the current Citizenship Act,” said Ramo, former chair of the Canadian Bar Association’s immigration section. “There’s no provision that would allow them to pursue revocation of citizenship of a Canadian birth, by virtue of his birth to a Canadian mother.”
Good. Very disappointed with Charlie Angus. Stunts like this are harmful to our governance. (Obligatory: Elon sucks.)
