OTTAWA — Conrad Black’s reported return to Canada sparked a heated exchange in the House of Commons today. The Globe and Mail is reporting Citizenship and Immigration has granted a one-year temporary resident permit to the disgraced media baron.
Citing sources, the newspaper says the permit is valid from early this month, when Black is freed from jail in Florida, until May 2013. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney told NDP Leader Tom Mulcair that privacy rules prevented him from answering questions about reports of Black’s return to Canada.
Black was born in Montreal, but gave up his Canadian citizenship in 2001 after being offered a peerage in Britain’s House of Lords, something then-prime minister Jean Chretien forbade him from doing while he held a Canadian passport.
Black is due for release Friday from a U.S. prison after serving a reduced sentence for fraud.