wild goose chase
Active Member
The last time we had a Canadian PM who was foreign-born was English-born John Turner in 1984. The other PMs born outside Canada had their birthplaces in the UK too.
Apart from the PMs in the past, I think as a whole, Canada has a closer representation of foreign-born % in political positions of various sorts than many western countries.
I don't know if average Canadians have any opinion on whether native-born Canadians seem more fit for office than foreign/overseas born. It shouldn't be an issue legally unlike the US due to their legal interpretation of "natural-born citizen" (whether it requires a birth physically within the country or someone born elsewhere who had citizenship at birth), and where birthplace is a huge deal (any "birtherism" controversies brought up were totally bogus but in any case from seeing that you can definitely sense the feeling many Americans have that foreign birth implies less loyalty to the country).
I would say that a foreign birthplace in and of itself is not an issue but probably length of time spent in another country as opposed to in Canada would be, especially if one had a large part of one's career outside the country. I remember when the Conservatives blasted Michael Ignatieff for his long time spent as an academic at Harvard as well as his time in the UK.
So overall, I would think a foreign birthplace and perhaps coming to Canada at a young age would not be really controversial but someone who has spent very little of his/her life in the country, including perhaps one's education, large parts of one's career, might have their experience questioned.
Apart from the PMs in the past, I think as a whole, Canada has a closer representation of foreign-born % in political positions of various sorts than many western countries.
I don't know if average Canadians have any opinion on whether native-born Canadians seem more fit for office than foreign/overseas born. It shouldn't be an issue legally unlike the US due to their legal interpretation of "natural-born citizen" (whether it requires a birth physically within the country or someone born elsewhere who had citizenship at birth), and where birthplace is a huge deal (any "birtherism" controversies brought up were totally bogus but in any case from seeing that you can definitely sense the feeling many Americans have that foreign birth implies less loyalty to the country).
I would say that a foreign birthplace in and of itself is not an issue but probably length of time spent in another country as opposed to in Canada would be, especially if one had a large part of one's career outside the country. I remember when the Conservatives blasted Michael Ignatieff for his long time spent as an academic at Harvard as well as his time in the UK.
So overall, I would think a foreign birthplace and perhaps coming to Canada at a young age would not be really controversial but someone who has spent very little of his/her life in the country, including perhaps one's education, large parts of one's career, might have their experience questioned.
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