When Conrad Black believed the world was his oyster -- with an international newspaper empire, billions in his many bank accounts, and a bride whose intellect and self-admitted extravagance knows no bounds -- he turned his back on Canada for an ermine robe and a seat in the British House of Lords.
He is no Canadian patriot.
He gave up his birthright, relinquished his Canadian passport, and sneered his way past lesser mortals as he donned the title of Lord Black of Crossharbour.
And now -- now that he is out on bail -- his lawyers tell Chicago District Court Judge Amy St. Eve he wants to someday come back to Canada.
Sorry, Lord Black, but you are now a foreigner to us -- with a criminal record, two years in prison under your belt, numerous civil suits ongoing, and purportedly in hock to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service for $70 million.
Enjoy your home in Florida while you can, and give our regards to the lovely and talented Barbara Amiel, your spouse and the Toronto Sun's former op-ed editor.
She can come "home" any time she wants.
But not you, sir.
We noticed how it was Roger Hertog, an American philanthropist, who posted the $2-million bail that got Black out of prison, and not one of his rich Canadian "friends" who might look upon $2 million as pocket change.
Black, no doubt, will see this as yet another desertion by fair-weather friends instead of accepting the fact that he is now a pariah in the Canadian psyche.
You can do a lot of wrong and be forgiven in this country, but turning your back on your Canadian citizenship for a British peerage, and then do so not with sadness but with disdain, is not so forgivable.
In the end, Conrad Black may never go back to prison, and may one day be exonerated of all charges.
If he is eventually cleared of the remaining fraud conviction, his guilt for obstruction of justice will no longer have credence and will ultimately be tossed.
But one thing will not change, and that's the fact he turned his back on this country.
He therefore renounced us all.