The Conrad Black citizenship saga, that great Canadian soap opera, continues unabated, and feelings about preferential treatment have started to surface in public opinion and media commentary. Most people do not want Citizenship and Immigration Canada to grant him temporary entry, since he turned his back on Canada to accept British peerage. As things stand now, he has been convicted abroad of a serious criminal offence which makes him inadmissible to Canada, and he will need to obtain a Temporary Resident Permit to overcome his inadmissibility. While this is not impossible, I think it would be foolish for the Federal government to show misplaced "compassion" in this this case,. What would the government gain, other than a chance to exasperate the US criminal justice system and send the message that Canada is "soft" on criminals? We already have that image problem, why add to it with such a high profile case? Meanwhile, yesterday I received a call from a corporate client investing millions of dollars in a project, whose senior manager was refused entry to Canada because he had a D.U.I conviction in 1986 as a teenager, for which he paid a fine and got a license suspension for a few months....minor stuff that happened 20 years ago!!!!!! And they would to admit convicted felon who defrauded the shareholders for millions of dollars who renounced Canadian citizenship? Seems foolish...It is time to rethink our priorities. See CTV story below:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20070718/harper_on_black_070718/20070718?hub=CTVNewsAt11
No comments:
Post a Comment