Loyalty is what makes good citizens

HE IS JUST 30 YEARS OLD AND IT WON’T BE LONG BEFORE HE IS BACK WALKING THE STREETS.

The plot by the al-Qaida-inspired Toronto 18 to detonate truck bombs, storm the CBC and the Canadian Parliament, and then behead then-prime minister Stephen Harper was foiled 10 years ago.

As the trial judge said, the potential for loss of life on a scale never seen before in Canada was “spine-chilling.”

Right-thinking Canadians everywhere will then be relieved to learn that the man who masterminded these terror attacks, and was subsequently given a life sentence, is the main beneficiary of the Liberal government’s citizenship act reforms.

Zakaria Amara had his Canadian citizenship stripped under a bill brought in by the Conservative government in 2015.

Under the legislation just introduced by the Liberals, he will have that Canadian citizenship reinstated.

The Conservative Strengthening Canadian Citizenship Act ensured dual citizens convicted of terrorism, high treason or spying could have their citizenship revoked.

As former Conservative minister Jason Kenney said at the time: “If you take up arms against your country or plan to do so, and you are convicted in a Canadian court, or an equivalent foreign court, through your violent disloyalty, you are forfeiting your own citizenship.”

Those of you who don’t grieve for fallen leaves probably think that entirely fair.

But we are clearly less benevolent, or perhaps less cynical, than the Liberal government, which plans to overturn the Conservative legislation with a new bill, tabled Thursday.

It’s true, as Immigration Minister John McCallum pointed out, that this fulfils an election pledge, made to drive a wedge between the Tories and the ethnic communities that supported them in three elections.

The Conservatives signed their own death warrant by tightening up the family reunification criteria, raising the income threshold necessary for new immigrants to bring in parents and grandparents.

The Liberals campaigned hard on easing those restrictions and on their intention to revoke the Conservative citizenship bill, exploiting fears in ethnic communities that they could be stripped of their citizenship and deported if convicted of a crime. As McCallum said Thursday, the Liberals played on the fact it could be a “slippery slope,” with the criteria shifting from terrorism to lesser crimes.

Trudeau travelled around the country, claiming opposition to the Conservative legislation was a point of principle.

“A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian,” he said — a manta repeated by McCallum a handful of times.

But it’s not merely an abstract point of principle — it is a matter of practical policy.

Amara has Jordanian citizenship and the expectation was that when he completed his life sentence in a Quebec institution, he would be deported to the land of his birth.

That will not happen now. He was sentenced to life in 2010 and is eligible for parole this year. He is just 30 years old and it won’t be long before he is back walking the streets.

The ludicrous nature of this decision was highlighted when McCallum was asked by Canadian Press reporter Stephanie Levitz why citizenship should not be stripped from a terrorist but should be from someone convicted of citizenship fraud.

The minister wandered off his talking points and suggested the case of a Nazi war criminal misrepresenting himself as a Roman Catholic priest on arriving in Canada is worthy of revocation but the case of a terrorist like Amara is “different.”

The new bill has a number of other provisions, not all of which are as risible as the terror amendment. There are obvious sops by the Liberals to the communities that helped win them the election — immigrants can achieve citizenship more quickly — in three years, rather than four; the age range for citizenship applicants having adequate French or English has reverted to between 18 and 54, from the 14-64 years introduced by the Conservatives.

There are even some sensible measures. Canada is in a battle to attract foreign talent and it makes sense to allow students to count half of their time studying in Canada as a contribution toward the citizenship physical presence requirement. As McCallum said: “It makes no sense for Canada to punch them on the nose.”

There is also an amendment to ensure that people serving conditional sentences in the community are not allowed to use that time toward the physical presence requirement for citizenship, bringing the law into line with people on probation, parole or in prison.

But neither improvement obscures the central failing of this bill. Dual nationals can now be convicted of terrorism, high treason or spying and retain their Canadian citizenship.

You can be supportive of civility, tolerance and inclusion and still believe this move is dangerous and misguided.

Loyalty is the measure of good citizenship.

When you betray that trust, you should forfeit the rights, privileges and duties of being a member of Canadian society.