Conservative Talking Points: Plain Bigotry

Shortly after Stephane Dion was chosen to lead the Liberal Party of Canada, we found ourselves being assaulted by conservative commentators bleating about the fact that Dion has dual Canadian/French citizenship because his mother was born in France.

Today, we find Dion talking about renouncing his French citizenship.

That the Conservatives would demand such a thing is beyond disgusting. Using what seems to be current Conservative thinking, a sizable number of Canadians should not be eligible for government office - because their ancestry isn't sufficiently Canadian.

This is just plain WRONG. Canada is a nation of immigrants - more so today than ever before in many respects. My own ancestry traces across the Atlantic with one of my parents - does that make me any less Canadian? No - absolutely not!

This is nothing more than ethnic bigotry coming to the surface, and it is truly vile to witness.

[Update 10/12/06]
Wait for a short while, and we find Stephen Harper opening his mouth and issuing what is possibly the most blatantly racist comment I've seen from a Federal leader in years.

According to Stephen:

Stephen Harper took a thinly disguised jab at Stéphane Dion, subtly suggesting Friday the new Liberal leader might want to surrender his French citizenship.

The prime minister noted Gov.-Gen. Michaëlle Jean gave up her French citizenship shortly after being named to the vice-regal post.

“As you know the Governor General was faced with a similar decision and I certainly supported her decision when she gave up her (French) citizenship,” Mr. Harper said when asked about the matter.

“Obviously, I think everyone has a right to select options under the law, they have to use their own political judgment.”

Really, Stephen. I thought the Conservative tirades against Mme Jean were offensive at the time - speaking to a "two classes" of Canadian. Apparently there are those who do not hold dual citizenship, and those who do - the latter somehow being a "lesser Canadian" for some unknown reason. How is this different that complaining about someone's ethnicity? It's not - it is nothing more than thinly veiled racism.

Early comments on the subject came from commentators like Ezra Levant (and are only as meaningful as the source), when the same comments are echoed by our country's Prime Minister, it's time to take a close look at just what kind of seething bigotry lurks within his government.

[/Update]