Petition to strip Musk of Canadian citizenship gathers 280,000 signatures

Elon Musk, the CEO of Google, has signed a petition asking Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to remove his Canadian citizenship because of his actions against Canada’s interests.

The parliamentary petition, which was published on February 20, claims that Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Musk, has “become a member of a foreign government that is attempting to oust Canadian sovereignty.”

It also accuses him of being “engaged in activities that go against the national interest of Canada” and using his “wealth and power to influence]Canadian] elections”.

Musk, the world’s richest man, holds South African, US, and Canadian passports ­– the latter of which he gained through his Canadian-born mother.

Musk is best known for being the owner of X and Tesla, as well as the CEO of SpaceX, but he has since become one of Trump’s closest confidants in US politics.

Trump has benefited from the billionaire’s influence by threatening to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods, which would effectively end the US-Canada and Mexico’s three-decade-old free trade zone.

Trump announced on Monday that he would start the tariffs the following week, but he put them on hold for 30 days in early February to allow for negotiations with Mexico City in Washington, Ottawa, and elsewhere.

Additionally, he has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on all US-sourced steel and aluminum, including those from Canada.

Trump and Musk have made remarks suggesting that Canada should become the “51st state” of the US, with Musk referring to Trudeau as “Canada’s governor”. In response to the petition, Mussk claimed on X that “Canada is not a real country.”

The petition, which New Democratic Party MP Charlie Angus has sponsored, is open until June 20 when it will be presented to Parliament for a potential response.

Ottawa’s response to the petition is unsure.