The Tubster wants to be Canadian again.
Someone help me get up from the floor. I can't stop laughing.
Black wants citizenship back
Could allow transfer to Canada if he's convicted in U.S.
Renounced country in 2001 to join British House of Lords
Nov. 25, 2005. 04:09 AM
RICK WESTHEAD
BUSINESS REPORTER
Conrad Black has asked the federal government to give him back his Canadian citizenship, four years after he called it an "impediment" and renounced it to become a member of Britain's House of Lords.
Black is accused by the U.S. government of being involved in an $83.8 million (U.S.) fraud at his former publishing company, Hollinger International Inc. He faces the prospect of as many as 40 years in prison if he's convicted on all eight counts of fraud, although he has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing. None of the charges against him have been proven in court.
At a brief appearance last night at a Toronto book launch, Black told reporters "there's no truth or substance whatsoever to those charges." He predicted "a complete vindication of the defendants, and exposure of their persecutors."
As things now stand, if Black were convicted and receives a prison sentence, his decision to renounce his citizenship would likely scuttle any chance for him to request a transfer to a Canadian jail. Only Canadian citizens can seek a transfer here from a jail elsewhere.
Black, 61, recently hired Toronto law firm Green and Spiegel, which specializes in immigration cases, to help his criminal lawyer, Edward Greenspan, craft his request to the federal citizenship department, sources told the Star.
Black, who in a speech four years ago called his Canadian citizenship an "impediment to my progress in another, more amenable jurisdiction (Britain)," now contends the government should grant his request because his parents were born in Canada.
Greenspan yesterday declined to comment. Peter Green, a partner with Green and Spiegel who is handling Black's case, couldn't be reached.
Four years ago, Black announced he would renounce his citizenship after losing a legal battle with then-prime minister Jean Chrétien.
At the time, William Hague, leader of Britain's Conservative party, said: "Canada's loss will be Britain's gain."
On the day before he was to be appointed to the House of Lords, Black was informed that Chrétien had invoked a 1919 precedent to block the peerage.
The so-called Nickle Resolution was a request from the Canadian government that King George not confer titles on Canadian citizens.
Black challenged Chrétien's decision in court, arguing that Chrétien was singling him out because the National Post, which Black has since sold, was critical of Chrétien's Liberals. The Ontario Court of Appeal subsequently ruled that Chrétien had the right to block Black's peerage, setting the stage for Black to abandon his citizenship.
Black's request of Ottawa is especially curious considering some of his well-publicized criticism of his native country. In November 2001, in his first major speech in Vancouver after he officially became Lord Black of Crossharbour, he called Canada a "one-party federal state with no deliverance in sight," and added, "Most Canadians remain resolutely oblivious to their country's objective decline."
Black attacked Canada's universal health-care system, and "soft-left" policies that he said were driving as many as 100,000 skilled workers a year to the United States. "The head of the Canadian government says they will be replaced by Haitian taxi drivers. They will not," he said at the time.
"To someone just arrived from Haiti or Romania, Canada is a far more satisfying place to be a citizen than it was to me," Black said in his speech.
"Renouncing my citizenship was the last and most consistent act of dissent I could pose against a public policy which I believe is depriving Canada of its right and duty to be one of the world's great countries."
It's unclear how long it might take for the federal government to rule on Black's request.
He is expected to appear next Wednesday in a Chicago court to answer the fraud charges.
Someone help me get up from the floor. I can't stop laughing.
Black wants citizenship back
Could allow transfer to Canada if he's convicted in U.S.
Renounced country in 2001 to join British House of Lords
Nov. 25, 2005. 04:09 AM
RICK WESTHEAD
BUSINESS REPORTER
Conrad Black has asked the federal government to give him back his Canadian citizenship, four years after he called it an "impediment" and renounced it to become a member of Britain's House of Lords.
Black is accused by the U.S. government of being involved in an $83.8 million (U.S.) fraud at his former publishing company, Hollinger International Inc. He faces the prospect of as many as 40 years in prison if he's convicted on all eight counts of fraud, although he has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing. None of the charges against him have been proven in court.
At a brief appearance last night at a Toronto book launch, Black told reporters "there's no truth or substance whatsoever to those charges." He predicted "a complete vindication of the defendants, and exposure of their persecutors."
As things now stand, if Black were convicted and receives a prison sentence, his decision to renounce his citizenship would likely scuttle any chance for him to request a transfer to a Canadian jail. Only Canadian citizens can seek a transfer here from a jail elsewhere.
Black, 61, recently hired Toronto law firm Green and Spiegel, which specializes in immigration cases, to help his criminal lawyer, Edward Greenspan, craft his request to the federal citizenship department, sources told the Star.
Black, who in a speech four years ago called his Canadian citizenship an "impediment to my progress in another, more amenable jurisdiction (Britain)," now contends the government should grant his request because his parents were born in Canada.
Greenspan yesterday declined to comment. Peter Green, a partner with Green and Spiegel who is handling Black's case, couldn't be reached.
Four years ago, Black announced he would renounce his citizenship after losing a legal battle with then-prime minister Jean Chrétien.
At the time, William Hague, leader of Britain's Conservative party, said: "Canada's loss will be Britain's gain."
On the day before he was to be appointed to the House of Lords, Black was informed that Chrétien had invoked a 1919 precedent to block the peerage.
The so-called Nickle Resolution was a request from the Canadian government that King George not confer titles on Canadian citizens.
Black challenged Chrétien's decision in court, arguing that Chrétien was singling him out because the National Post, which Black has since sold, was critical of Chrétien's Liberals. The Ontario Court of Appeal subsequently ruled that Chrétien had the right to block Black's peerage, setting the stage for Black to abandon his citizenship.
Black's request of Ottawa is especially curious considering some of his well-publicized criticism of his native country. In November 2001, in his first major speech in Vancouver after he officially became Lord Black of Crossharbour, he called Canada a "one-party federal state with no deliverance in sight," and added, "Most Canadians remain resolutely oblivious to their country's objective decline."
Black attacked Canada's universal health-care system, and "soft-left" policies that he said were driving as many as 100,000 skilled workers a year to the United States. "The head of the Canadian government says they will be replaced by Haitian taxi drivers. They will not," he said at the time.
"To someone just arrived from Haiti or Romania, Canada is a far more satisfying place to be a citizen than it was to me," Black said in his speech.
"Renouncing my citizenship was the last and most consistent act of dissent I could pose against a public policy which I believe is depriving Canada of its right and duty to be one of the world's great countries."
It's unclear how long it might take for the federal government to rule on Black's request.
He is expected to appear next Wednesday in a Chicago court to answer the fraud charges.
