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Comment by hungryhobbit | Hacker News Reader

But who cares? Musk says a lot of stupid shit, as do lots of rich people ... none of it is news-worthy.

Musk has helped AfD get elected in Germany and he has supported the far right in the UK as well. He has an affect unfortunately.

In the U.S., a few hundred million can sway an election and let Musk evade billions in taxes, not to mention granting him a direct channel to elected officials, as he has with the Trump administration.

This is why money needs to be kept out of politics. Canada has contribution and campaign spending limits that have accomplished a lot towards that end. However, there are still PAC's and other avenues for money to influence Canadian politics. Money never stops looking for a path to power, and vice-versa, so we must be vigilant and willing to continually evolve our laws to keep people like Musk on the outside looking in. We should be following all the money spent in Quebec's election to see how much can be traced to foreign influence, just as we need to follow all the money that's gone into the separatist camp in Alberta.

It's our country, not his, and it's not for sale.

P.S. Somebody should ask him what he thinks of California, Michigan, or Texas separating from the U.S.. Maybe that would be good for his predatory schemes?

Rightly or wrongly, it's legally as much his country as it is yours (if you're a Canadian citizen) or mine.

He may technically hold Canadian citizenship, but it's not his country in all the ways that count. He doesn't spend any time here. He doesn't care to. Let's not be pedants. A Tim Horton's TFW who is struggling to learn English/French and cope with winter may not have citizenship, but can be far more Canadian than Musk will ever be.

I would rather not open up the discussion of two-tiered citizenship again, even if it protects people whose opinions I find very distasteful or harmful. We had that debate in 2015 for people accused of things arguably worse than this.

Again, I'm not talking about legal status. What is the spirit in which Musk is doing this. Do you actually believe he has honest concern for the people of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Quebec? That he only wants what's best for us?

He's parroting Trump (and reinforcing him). He's seeking attention from the MAGA crowd, and doing anything to punish and break Canada is what's currently in with them. This is more aimed at boosting Trump in the mid-terms than it is at helping Canada.

Not in my country.

Some of us in the world find this "legal corruption" hard to fathom: https://www.abc.net.au/news/1072377822

I may be able to comment if your link worked. But I assume it's a reference to Section 44 of the Australian Constitution?

I agree with that policy. Should I ever run for office, I would actively renounce my other citizenship(s). It wouldn't apply to Musk though, because his escapades are not as an elected official.

Sorry, a copy and paste error:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/107237782

But no, nothing to do with the constitution. The link is to a commentary from a recent Australian ambassador to the United States. He was also our Treasurer, from the conservative side.

The headline says: "US corruption allowed to flourish in Washington during Trump's second term", but thats click bait for the Australian's who dislike Trump (most of us). Hockey's concerns go well beyond the current adminstration:

> "There's just too much of a blurred line between the financial interests of various administrators, including the Congress and the private sector."

It's wrongly, and he subverted representation for the vast majority of people who don't think like him by buying influence, not always in legal ways.

Promoting neofascists in Germany is something he's probably not in legal trouble for only because of his money and influence.

All of that is likely 100% true. But it's also completely irrelevant to this topic, which is that he is a Canadian citizen speaking on Canadian politics (badly.)

Canada has no rules on multiple citizenship, including as an elected representative. Carney did the right thing and renounced his other citizenships when becoming PM, but it has been contentious with other politicians such as former opposition leader Andrew Scheer (US) and Conrad Black (who founded the company which owns the newspaper this story was published in - he renounced Canadian citizenship to accept a British peerage.) I would welcome an Australian-style ban on multiple citizens holding office.

But revoking citizenship or silencing someone despite their efforts clearly being harmful to the nation is something that Canada has rejected even to our own detriment.

Musk is the richest man in the world and is using his substantial power, both via direct monetary influence and his control of a major communications platform, to push his odious agenda.

He is having material harmful effects on the world.

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