Former Opposition Chief Whip and parliamentarian Gail Teixeira has officially renounced her Canadian citizenship, paving the way for the veteran politician’s return to the National Assembly and her Party’s candidate list.
Teixeira made this revelation on Monday, on the sidelines of the first day of the National Toshaos Conference at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
When asked, she informed INews that her documents were in fact finalised a couple months ago.
“I received my renunciation since June 26, 2019. My Canadian citizenship was renounced by the Canadian authorities. I was the first of the whole group. Everyone said they were going to, they were going to, but I was done,” she said.
Asked about a return to Parliament, where she has served for decades, Teixeira confirmed that she was thus cleared to return on the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) candidate list from whence potential Members of Parliament (MPs) are drawn.
In April of this year, Opposition Leader and PPP General Secretary Bharrat Jagdeo had committed to ensuring that future electoral lists submitted by his party to stand for Parliament would be free of dual citizens.
Jagdeo was at the time appearing on the “Jumpstart” radio programme on Monday morning, when he laid down his Party’s position on dual citizenship. He noted the effect a ruling on the no-confidence case in his Party’s favour at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) would have on the whole issue.
Teixeira was among seven Members of Parliament (three Opposition and four Government), who had to resign from the National Assembly and as Ministers, because of their dual citizenship status, after a ruling confirmed that dual citizens could not hold those positions.
The ruling in question was delivered by acting Chief Justice Roxane George, who in January upheld the passage of the no-confidence motion against the Government, ruling that it was validly passed with the 33 majority.
At the time, the Government not only argued that 34 was the majority of 65, but it also argued that former Alliance For Change (AFC) MP Charrandas Persaud, as a dual citizen, should not have been in the National Assembly in the first place.
