Continentalism Is Treason! (psst: Scheer is a secret Yankee)

Many decades ago, in the early 1970s, I was a member of The Canadian Liberation Movement. We were a ragtag group with a grab bag of policies, among them the opposition to Amerikan control of Canada. One of our major slogans was Continentalism Is Treason. In the following column Heather Mallick explains why Andrew Scheer isn't fit to be the Prime Minister of Canada.

Our current PM also isn't fit. JT singlehandedly cancelled his campaign promise to establish electoral reform. He'll  likely pay the price for that mistake in two weeks time - "hoist on his own petard". He also broke his sunny ways promise of environmental support by buying a frigging pipeline, and his credentials as a feminist went up in smoke when he admitted playing grabass with a female national
journalist. blackface/brownface. Recent court orders denying First Nations support.

The pollsters, pundits and media have been so wrong before in previous Canuck elections. Don't believe that voters HAVE to choose between these two malfeasants:

PLEASE PLEASE VOTE GREEN OR NDP!!!!!  These two schmucks are a dual embarrassment        

What else has U.S. citizen Scheer not told us?

The federal Conservative leader has not been truthful on many facts about this life. Withholding his U.S. citizenship is one more reason to doubt his word.

Opinion 08:26 AM by Heather Mallick Toronto Star

Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer is seen at a campaign stop on Sept. 24 in Cambridge, Ont. - Cole Burston , GETTY IMAGES

Why didn't Andrew Scheer, the Conservative Party leader running to be prime minister of Canada, tell voters he had dual American citizenship?
He says he was never asked. I see.

Several other questions were never asked until recently. Why did you lie when you said you worked for six months as a Regina insurance broker? (It styled him as normal, as if he'd a life before politics.)

Why did you lie when you said you had a degree from the University of Regina? (It styled him as a Westerner, where Conservatives are popular. His degree is from the University of Ottawa.)
If you have dual citizenship thanks to your U.S.-born father obtaining it for you, why didn't you drop it when you entered federal politics? Dual citizenship is a big deal for a PM. It's not like having dual feet.

When you say you decided to drop your U.S. citizenship in May 2017 when you became party leader, why did you only tell the Americans this August? Ah, I see. You say you were too busy.
If you are a Canadian and an American, why do you seem so American? So Republican? You dress like a Republican, talk like a Republican, and act like a Republican but journalists were too polite to ask if you were a duck/Republican. We are now racking our brains. Is your name really Andrew? You look so much like a Todd.

Why did you criticize former Gov. Gen. Michaëlle Jean for her dual citizenship with France and ask voters if they would regard it as worse if her other nation had been the U. S.? You respond that you have a right to ask questions on behalf of voters. But that does not answer the question.
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.

When you attack Prime Minister Trudeau and say you would have made a different trade deal with the U.S., would it have been a weaker one because you felt sympathy for your "other country?" Did it make you feel ambivalent about tactics and outcome?

Are you hedging your bets? Do you have a plan in your back pocket to ultimately move to the U.S. if you lose this election and others, and do a Stephen Harper, setting up shop as a lobbyist with the knowledge your former job gave you?

There was a minor lie, then another, and now this. You don't just pad your resumé, you wrap it in a quilt and add a Mylar blanket.

You say you oppose abortion but have no plan to reopen the abortion issue. If you lied about other things, why should we believe you on this? Did you repeatedly deplore Trudeau for being so candid, so available, so open — he was desperately sorry about that high school photo — because you knew it wouldn't work for you? Trudeau wasn't lying. You were.

There are a million Canadians with dual citizenship. My Canadian husband also has British citizenship. He is very British: calm, rational and soccer-mad. Are you very American? Do you root for the U.S. in Olympic tetherball? Do you dress like a child, as American adults do, in sneakers, cargo shorts and baseball caps?

What can President Trump do to you that he couldn't do to a Canadian plain and simple? Maybe you shouldn't visit him on your mutual turf.

It's not a good idea for Britons to have dual citizenship because if you sufficiently upset the government, they'll send you back to the country from which you originally fled. Canada is a rules-based country. We don't do that.
But times change. If you were sent to the U.S. would you really mind? What would you miss? What would you not miss? Did you vote in the last U.S. election? No? How do we know you're telling the truth?

Who are you, Mr. Scheer? Would you care to add to that? Now's the time.


Heather Mallick is a columnist based in Toronto covering current affairs. Follow her on Twitter: @HeatherMallick
Heather Mallick is a columnist based in Toronto covering current affairs. Follow her on Twitter: @HeatherMallick

by Heather Mallick

Heather Mallick is a Toronto Star columnist whose subjects range widely. She has published two non-fiction books--a diary and an essay collection-- and has worked for CBC.ca, the Globe and Mail and other media.
Email: hmallick@thestar.ca