CTV News “Andrew Scheer has dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship, party confirms”
TORONTO — Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer has dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship but is in the process of renouncing his American citizenship, a spokesperson has confirmed to CTV News.
The Globe and Mail first reported on Scheer’s dual citizenship Thursday.
Once Mr. Scheer became leader of the Conservative Party of Canada, he decided he would renounce his U.S. citizenship before the election,” the leader’s spokesperson Brock Harrison told CTV News in an email.
“In August, he informed the United States government that he was renouncing his citizenship. He has submitted his paperwork and is currently waiting for confirmation from the embassy that he is no longer a dual-citizen.”
Harrison said Scheer and his sisters received U.S. passports as children through one of their parents. He said Scheer has not renewed his American passport as an adult, and has not voted in any U.S. elections.
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Thanks to Calgary411 for posting this on the Media thread. There’s been a lot of discussion on this, so I’ve created a separate post for it and moved the comments here.
Not re FATCA, but does reference the privacy and financial information of Canadians:
Thread of questions and Trudeau’s responses here;
https://openparliament.ca/debates/2018/11/7/andrew-scheer-1/
I find the CON and GLIB comments ironic given the conduct of both the CONS and GLIBS re the FATCA IGA – which empowers the Canadian government to extract and remit Canadian’s financial and personal data OUTSIDE of Canada to a foreign nation whose Patriot Act, Homeland Security and other laws overrride any Canadian laws re privacy, accountability once the data crosses into the US.
And as far as we know, the Privacy Commissioner has had nothing further to say about the privacy concerns raised intially re the IGA and FATCA.
AS said he didn’t divulge his US citizenship because no one asked him about it. Heather Mallick asks a few questions:
“Why do you admit that you filed mandatory U.S. tax returns and then refuse to say if you actually paid taxes? In other words, did you send part of your generous government salary to the country that negotiated unfairly and is doing such damage to us in trade? It may be irrational but it sticks in the Canadian craw.”
“What can President Trump do to you that he couldn’t do to a Canadian plain and simple?” (I would have liked it more if she’d asked “…that he could do to someone ONLY Canadian”.
More questions here:
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2019/10/07/what-else-has-us-citizen-scheer-not-told-us.html
The news cycle has moved on. I expect this is the last we’ll hear of Scheer’s citizenship.
We’ll see. There’s a leadership debate tonight. If there’s no mention of it then I suspect you are correct.
You are probably correct, but if Scheer is serious about becoming PM he should consider getting some better handlers. Competent people would have convinced him several years ago that he needed to renounce, this would all be a non-story, and it would never have caused all this awkwardness.
They even could have turned it into a positive: “Once he decided to enter politics, Andy officially renounced the US citizenship he inherited from his US father so as to leave no doubt in Canadians minds about divided loyalties”.
Interesting data point to add to this Scheer citizenship story and his claim of “No one ever asked”… I personally know someone who spoke at length with Mr. Scheer earlier this year in Fredericton about FATCA, US CBT, etc. after a speech he gave there. He spoke at great length about these topics, seemed extremely knowledgeable, and told this person that he fully sympathized and that FATCA was wrong and something needed to be done to better protect Canadians’ rights. He even spoke so long to this person that his handlers were uncomfortably trying to drag him away but he kept talking. Although he was never asked directly during this lengthly, detailed discussion if he was a US citizen (the person had no reason to suspect he was one), he also never mentioned it. Wouldn’t it be the obvious thing to disclose when questioned directly by a concerned Canadian about these issues, especially when you seem to know so much about it? Seems very clear that he was purposefully hiding that little fact which makes him a liar by omission, right?
AS’s dirty little secret, it seems.
What other dirty little secrets should we ask him about?
Interesting about the conversation. Perhaps his dirty little secret is just like it is for many tainted people – don’t ask, don’t tell. What will be even more interesting and more important to know is what he might say now that the cat is out of the bag. Was his sympathy sincere and will it stand up more than the liberals’ sympathy did? It’s important to keep up the questions and not let this disappear on the news cycle.
In any case, I’d rather not pile on the guy, I see it as something that could only help our cause, not hinder it.
How many here want their US citizenship known by the public at large?
@PierreD
Good point. Unlike most Canadian politicians Scheer and May are quite familiar with the issues.
@JapanT
Also a good point, but the expectation of privacy is much less when you are running for public office. Its guaranteed the opposition will dig up whatever embarrassing facts they can and spin them to their best advantage. Best to have it dealt with and not give the opposition a chance to blow it out of proportion.
@JapanT
If Mr. Scheer were just another private citizen then it might be in his best interests to keep such a secret to himself and certainly within his rights to do so. But if he is potentially about to become the PM of Canada, then it becomes a very public issue and one that goes right to the heart of Canadian sovereignty. The US-Canada relationship is very close in many areas, perhaps the closest between any two countries in the entire world, and, accordingly, and it is crucial that our PM is not someone with divided loyalties or potential weaknesses/pressure points that can be exploited by the Americans to control Canada. Because we are so close to them and they are so large and powerful, it actually becomes a crucial matter of sovereignty and national security and Canadians absolutely need to know whether their potential future PM might be vulnerable to control by a foreign power. When said potential PM obfuscates about such an important issue, then Canadians need to demand clear answers.
@Maz57 and Refugeefromamerica
Granted. If I were Canadian I would certainly want to know. Still, his caginess may not be nefarious. IF, as someone has reported, his dad did all the paperwork, registering for the draft, passports, etc, he may not have known or been fully aware of the responsibilities. Or he may have just thought he could rid himself of it easily only to learn of the now hefty price to renounce and thought, ‘WTF!?. I am not going to pay that amount to a country I have never associated with as my own.”, again thinking that if his financial and professional situation improves, all he’d have to do is purchase his freedom for a couple thousand dollars and be done with it only to learn more recently of the filing obligations.
I do not know the details of his situation but unwittingly having put my own children in a similar situation as his dad did to him, I am perhaps a bit more sympathetic.
At any rate, as he is awaiting his CLN, I am sure he’d like as little of his situation made public as possible lest the IRS make things more difficult for him.
I take it the issue of Scheer’s US citizenship did not come up during last night’s leaders’ debate? If so, we’ve likely heard the last of it.
@Japan T
” At any rate, as he is awaiting his CLN, I am sure he’d like as little of his situation made public as possible lest the IRS make things more difficult for him. ”
I’d agree to all of that ,except you are speaking about someone running for the leadership of a country and not any Joe Q Citzen. If the IRS intimidates him so much, then what can we expect from a possible future PM of Canada ? Another British yank like BJ perhaps?
As a private citizen, Canadians do not get a lot of back up from Canada in their dealings with the US, apparently. As PM?
I agree that I would not want a dual citizen PM but then that leads to questions about the wisdom of dual citizenship in and of itself.
Canadians with US citizenship don’t actually need to have dealings with the US, I find. One can visit without filing tax returns or using a US passport. One can do all the banking or investing one wants without any restrictions, and even without admitting to US citizenship. There really aren’t any situations where one needs “backup” from Canada, if one is smart about this.
@RH
Then why the need for the lawsuit?
Why the lawsuit ? Those with a born in the US of A label have their private financial records sent to the IRS . I would venture to say that the Scheer type of dual citzen far outnumbers the born- in -the -USA type and would be great source of revenue ,say a million such multiplied by $2350
and add the possible income tax benefits . Maybe Justine or Scheer would assist collecting such information by requiring banks to also request the birthplace of the clients’ parents .Why not? Just another line on the questionaire.
@RE,
Yes, I agree. Which is what I meant, in part, by Canadians not getting back up from the Canadian government. Unless, RH and others do not consider dual Canadian citizens, at least those born in the US, as Canadian citizens. Being “ smart about” should play no part in it all.
If Canada allows dual citizenship and it does, then in theory it must treat all Canadians the same regardless of whether they have dual citizenship of not. Clearly, some Canadians are not getting back up from their government. Incidentally, it is those who most need their government to back them up.
If I were in Scheer’s position, I hope to get rid of my USCship as quickly, inexpensively and quietly as possible. However, once free, I would be very vocal against the treatment I got from the US. In truth, if I could obtain Japanese citizenship, I hope for the same, to get it over with as quickly, inexpensively and quietly as possible and then be as loud as I could be in denouncing US policies towards it’s citizens abroad and all it claims as US persons.
But, all this may be mute. There may be other legitimate reasons to oppose the guy or even aspects of this issue that rightfully disqualify him in the minds of the voters. I for one can see possible causes for his statements and actions or lack thereof that may not be nefarious.
@Robert Ross
Canadians born in the US only have their financial info sent to the IRS if they voluntarily identify themselves as US persons. They are perfectly free to not do so if they would prefer to avoid FATCA reporting.
Hmm…so Scheer’s dual citizenship is a problem BUT Elizabeth May has dual citizenship, too. I can find no where on the Federal Registry that she renounced. I know she has claimed when asked about it in the past, that she took the oath of office in 1978, therefore she was no longer a citizen. However, I know many people who took the same oath. So either she did the paperwork and convinced them that it was her intention to relinquish when she swore the oath of office and the back dated a CLN or she was one of the very few people who understood that she had to do a letter in 1978, mail it to the US State Department relinquishing citizenship.
I’m with Elizabeth May on this one.
We have to go back and understand the rules at the time. In 1978, if an American chose to become a citizen of another country, she automatically lost her American citizenship.
There was no option to be a dual citizen. Moreover, there was no obligation to inform the State department or to get a CLN.
This changed as a result of a court case in 1980. Vance v. Terrazzas (Look it up )
The Supremes ruled that the US government could no longer presume that obtaining a second citizenship was evidence of intent to lose American citizenship. In spite of the ruling, State was quite reluctant to abide by it and resisted approval of dual citizenship. ( I know-we went through the process at the time) Now, of course, they have flipped 180 degrees.
Ms. May chose Canada before that. She gave up her US citizenship. She didn’t need to tell State. Why should she now belatedly have to go to the trouble and expense of obtaining a CLN?
I believe her claim is quite accurate.
May performed 2 “expatriating acts”. Naturalizing as a Canadian and being elected to public office. Scheer has only performed the latter. To the best of my knowledge, if there was intent to lose US citizenship, expatriation occurred and it doesn’t matter whether or not one actually obtains a CLN. (Unless, of course, somebody absolutely insists on seeing some sort of physical proof.)
It doesn’t bother me at all if they both save US$2350. If I were Scheer, I’d burn the passport, stop playing games with the IRS, and declare myself 100% Canadian.
it’s now a non-story of course, but nevertheless…
I rather doubt that Scheer had any intention to relinquish US citizenship when he performed the expatriating act of being elected to public office. I’m sure he didn’t give it any thought.
He really did not handle this whole situation very well but the news cycle has moved on, so likely no damage done.