Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel Garner says it’s time for Canada to end automatic citizenship for children born to temporary or undocumented residents, arguing the country’s current policy is being exploited and erodes the meaning of citizenship.In a detailed statement, Rempel Garner said a decade of Liberal “post-national” immigration policies has flooded Canada’s system, leading to housing, healthcare, and job shortages while undermining shared Canadian values. She said Liberals have turned citizenship into a “hollow concept,” promoting the idea that there’s no common national identity while bringing in record numbers of newcomers.“Being a Canadian citizen should mean something,” Rempel Garner said. “That meaning should come from genuine ties to our nation—not from simply being born on Canadian soil.”.The Conservatives proposed an amendment to Bill C-3, which would have restricted automatic citizenship for children born to parents who are neither citizens nor permanent residents.The amendment failed, but Rempel Garner said it marked the beginning of a larger push to restore the integrity of Canadian citizenship.Canada currently grants citizenship to anyone born on its soil — a policy known as jus soli — even if their parents are in the country temporarily or illegally.Rempel Garner said this system is being abused through “birth tourism” and social media campaigns promoting it.She pointed out that birth tourism rates have climbed 590% since Stephen Harper’s government left office, and claimed hospitals charging temporary residents to give birth suggest the problem is widespread..Other countries, including the UK, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand, now require at least one parent to be a citizen or permanent resident for a child to qualify.Rempel Garner said Canada’s current approach encourages “organized birth tourism and immigration fraud,” worsens asylum backlogs, and undermines confidence in the immigration system.She also criticized the Liberal government’s Bill C-3, which expands citizenship by descent to unlimited generations abroad without language or residency requirements, calling it “further erosion of what it means to be Canadian.”“After a decade of Liberal mass immigration policies that let too many people in too fast, tinkering around the edges of a broken system won’t cut it,” she said.“Restrictions must be placed on birthright citizenship, levels must be lowered, and the overall system must be boldly reformed.”
