By Meagan Kelly
This summer, 15,000 Canadians boarded overcrowded boats in Lebanon with their ticket to safety in hand: their Canadian passports.
The rescue effort for the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict cost Canadian taxpayers about $80 million.
If that number does not sting enough, 7,000 of those rescued have picked up and gone right back to Lebanon, after Canada emptied its pockets to get them out.
Our government made a noble gesture, but the price tag for the rescue effort is a perfect example of how dual citizenship, although it has the right intentions, is unfair to taxpaying Canadians.
Dual citizens with Canadian passports are able to live abroad for years at a time and avoid taxes, but are able to use the services of the Canadian government when they come back, and in some cases, even when they are living overseas. It is as if they never left.
This is a problem citizenship and immigration minister, Monte Solberg, expressed concerns over when he addressed a House of Commons committee on immigration this month.
“Canadians want to know that citizenship means something, that we are not just a port in the storm,” he said. He also revealed his department is reviewing policies on dual citizenship.
Dual citizenship has existed in Canada since 1977, meaning Canadians can hold two passports to help them travel and live with ease in both countries.
Statistics Canada says about 557,000 immigrants living in the country held dual citizenship in 2001. In this case, dual citizenship also allows them to more fully integrate into society while at the same time preserve their cultural identity.
However, when Canadians with two passports pack their bags and move to another country for an extended stay, the idea of dual citizenship falls apart.
An estimated 2.7 million Canadians reside overseas, a huge number who are not paying taxes. Yet, if and when they come back to Canada, their use of social programs like healthcare and unemployment insurance would be drawing from the country’s bank account.
As a possible solution, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay, told a Senate committee earlier this month that the government is thinking of proposing that dual citizens must pay taxes when they are living overseas.
Surely some people would whine about having to pay taxes for a country they aren’t living in or that we are putting a price tag on Canadian citizenship. But let’s face it. We all hate giving our hard earned dollars to the government, but regardless of whether you live on Canadian soil or not, if you hold a Canadian passport, you have certain duties and responsibilities if you want to be citizen of this country.