Thursday, November 27, 2014 - By now everybody knows that, effective midday Saturday, November 22, 2014, visa-free entry to Canada by Kittitians and Nevisians was stopped by the Government of Canada.
As a result, our citizens, unless they have passports of other countries whose citizens presently enjoy that visa-free access, will require visas to enter Canada. This will have a time, money and convenience cost, and it also exposes our citizens to the risk of refusal, none of which was the case one second before midday last Saturday.
Further, I’ve been given some information which I hope is not true. It is that applications from St. Kitts & Nevis citizens will be processed under an alleged designation known as ‘Code 1’ which, I’m told, is a diplomatic way of saying that the applications will be comprehensively scrutinized, background checks, and all.
There’s no doubt that Canada’s action to end the visa-waiver arrangement was drastic. And some persons may think that the action was also sudden. But it really wasn’t sudden.
Because for years Canada (not to mention other countries) has had concerns with the manner in which our Citizenship by Investment Program had been administered. Let me be clear: as far as I’m aware, Canada has never had, and has never voiced, concerns about the existence of the program. Rather, its concerns have all been related to deficiencies and abuses in the Program, and to the implications for the national security and other interests of Canada as a result of those deficiencies and abuses.
It must never be forgotten that the primary obligation of any responsible government is to protect its people and its national interests. If Denzil Douglas doesn’t know this, or doesn’t care about this, certainly Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper both knows and cares. And while Denzil Douglas is willing to throw his people under the bus, Stephen Harper isn’t. Indeed, the people of Canada would never allow him to do that.
So if, after exercising the patience of Job, if after years of concerns, and if after repeated communication of those concerns, Canada felt that insufficient, or no, remedial steps were being taken by the Douglas Administration, then last Saturday’s action by the Government of Canada can by no stretch of imagination be regarded as sudden.
For the purposes of discussion, let’s reverse the situation. Canadians don’t require visas to enter St. Kitts & Nevis. Suppose our Government discovered that suspicious persons bearing Canadian passports, being on banned lists for money laundering and terrorism, or facing massive fraud and other charges, were entering St. Kitts & Nevis. Shouldn’t our Government take swift, decisive, remedial action to protect our interests and our national interests?
And what would you, as citizens of St. Kitts & Nevis, do if our Government failed to take such action?
I refer you for perhaps the 100th time to the July 13, 2013, Patrice Nisbett Cabinet submission on the Iranian, Alireza Moghadam (the US$1 million Diplomatic Passport Man), and related issues.
The submission was full of and ominous and self-indicting information on the Douglas Administration. Here are a few examples:
(i)Nisbett stated that the Moghadam matter “may have served as a catalyst and may be the precursor to further actions by the Canadian authorities”;
(ii)He also stated that “given the sensitivity of this matter, particularly its implications for the continuation of the visa free status which the Federation enjoys with Canada, it is imperative that Honourable Colleagues address the issues comprehensively”; and
(iii) “The majority of concerns raised are not new, but require further consideration so that the appropriate policy, administrative, and legislative changes are effected in the shortest possible time”
Canada had to act!
So are the Canadians the culprits, or are Douglas and his gang the culprits? I think that the answer is clear.
Douglas’ incompetence, his stubbornness, and his relations with certain people and interests in and from Iran, Kurdistan, Syria, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Russia, Albania, and elsewhere, may have become more important to him than his obligations to the people of St. Kitts & Nevis, and to his obligations to Canada and other friendly countries and the international community.
He and his gang have caused this big loss to the people. St. Kitts & Nevis now projects an image as a rogue nation.
Nevertheless, there are some persons who, in their bid to defend Douglas, have adopted the absurd and senseless argument that it’s Canada’s fault.
They’re saying that Canada has a Citizenship by Investment Program which is not doing as well as ours, and they believe that our Program is as threat to theirs, so they want to punish.
They’re saying that “Canada grudge St. Kitts & Nevis”.
Why would Douglas’ appointed political spinners be given such a stupid argument to carry? Who can they fool with that? Are they that desperate? Oh Lord, man!
Canada, is 6 million square miles. It’s the second largest country on the planet, and one of the richest, one of the best governed, and most stable, and most appreciated and respected nations of the world.
They grudge us ?! Foolishness!!
Canada’s Economic Citizenship Program is geared towards business people, who must invest a minimum Can$800,000.00. It offers Permanent Residency within sixteen months, then citizenship three years later.
Clearly, their product is different from ours. So we are not in competition with them. And if they wanted the business that we’ve gotten, they would’ve designed their program similarly.
Further, they benefit from our program because a number of people who receive our passports end up investing massive amounts of money in Canada, buying goods and services, buying homes and other real estate, and investing in business.
In addition, with a good and sustainable Economic Citizenship Program in St. Kitts & Nevis, Canadian goods and services are provided with additional market and sale opportunities in our Federation.
Still further, if such a program provides a stronger platform for future economic and social development in our Federation, then some pressure is eased up on Canada, a traditional donor and friend to our causes.
And in such an exciting, growth-driven, new and fair economy, empowered Kittitians and Nevisians can look outward for entrepreneurial opportunities in Canada, and in the process extend their operational bases, and become truly international entrepreneurs.
So the bottom line here is that a good Economic Citizenship Program in St. Kitts & Nevis can be a source of great benefit to Canada, as well as to ourselves, and in a number of wonderful ways. A great opportunity to further strengthen the centuries-old economic, social and cultural bonds between the two countries and their citizens.
But all of this has been jeopardized and compromised because of Denzil Douglas. Not because big, powerful, caring and good-friend and benefactor Canada “grudge St. Kitts & Nevis” but because she was left with no choice.
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