A petition to the federal government to revoke Elon Musk’s Canadian citizenship is steadily growing thousands of signatures from scorned Canadians. But how likely is it to be enforced?
The online petition, which opened to the public on Feb. 20., sits at more than 300,000 signatures from Canadians, including more than 115,000 Ontarians. Created by British Columbia author Qualia Reed and sponsored by MP Charlie Angus, it accuses Musk of engaging in activities that go against the national interest of Canada, as well as becoming a member of a foreign government that is attempting to erase Canadian sovereignty.
“We, the undersigned, citizens of Canada, call upon the Prime Minister to revoke Elon Musk’s dual citizenship status, and revoke his Canadian passport effective immediately,” the petition reads.
Musk, the CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and owner of X (formerly known as Twitter), responded to a post about the petition saying that “Canada is not a real country.” That post has since been deleted.
Canadians have become increasingly discontent with Musk, given his role as a senior advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump. The growing support reflects a significant shift in public sentiment, with many feeling disillusioned by Musk’s behaviour and decisions that they view as a betrayal of his Canadian roots.
Musk was born in Pretoria, South Africa, but holds Canadian citizenship through his mother, who is a native of Saskatchewan.
Despite Musk’s connections to the country, his recent actions, including standing beside the president who has constantly unleashed threats against Canada, have led many to raise alarms on his values to the North.
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However, a political science professor at the University of Toronto doubts that anything will actually come out of the online petition.
“I don’t think the prime minister, or any prime minister, will act on this petition,” Phil Triadafilopoulos told Now Toronto on Tuesday.
Triadafilopoulos explained that stripping citizenship is a severe measure typically reserved for proven treason against the nation, and said he believes the reasons for the petition will have no real consequences.
“These are claims that can be contested and certainly do not rise to the level of treason, or something that we normally preserve for the revocation of citizenship.”
Triadafilopoulos also highlighted the dangers of revocation without a just reason, which can set a bad precedent for future cases.
“You don’t revoke citizenship casually… you open the door for this happening in the future, and as political orientations of governments change, you may get petitions from other people saying, ‘well, this person should be stripped of their citizenship because of their position on whatever topic of the day it is,’” he said.
“We don’t strip Canadians of their citizenship based on a petition. We only do this if they have been convicted of some very serious offences.”
