Opinion Editorial
London Free Press
Jan 17 2006

Trosow’s opinion should be heard

Two London politicians who reject Imagine London founder Sam Trosow’s right to be pro-active in redrawing ward boundaries, because he is not yet a Canadian citizen, are being both unfair and short-sighted.

“He’s not a Canadian and he’s trying to run the city of London,” said Coun. Bernie MacDonald.

“You have to show commitment to this country before you start changing it,” added Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell.

Trosow came to London in 2001 to teach at UWO, became a permanent resident in 2004, has applied for tenure at Western and plans to apply for Canadian citizenship as soon as he’s permitted. Surely, that should be more than enough to have his voice heard on civic issues. He’s hardly a fly-by-nighter without commitment to this city.

It’s also short-sighted to arbitrarily narrow the field of ideas, particularly when well-qualified people would be excluded.

Besides their teaching duties, Western faculty bring expertise in a wide range of fields to London. Not all of them are Canadians, but the issue of citizenship should not silence informed debate.