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Santa Claus has been issued a Canadian passport

Alright, Government of Canada. We get it: You really, really want Santa to be Canadian.

In a publicity event surely dreamed up by an excitable pre-teen, the Department of Citizenship and Immigration has issued a Canadian passport to Santa and Mrs. Claus.

The pair was the 2,999,999th and 3,000,000th people to receive an ePassport – an electronic chip-encoded passport upgrade introduced last year.

"Santa and Mrs. Claus live in North Pole, Canada, with their many helpers. Like so many Canadian citizens who enjoy extensive travel around the world, the Claus’ were thrilled to receive their ePassports — which are among the world’s most accepted and secure travel documents," an announcement reads.

A quote attributed to Santa states, "After a long and joyous night of delivering Christmas gifts, Mrs. Claus and I are looking forward to our hassle-free vacation in Florida! Ho! Ho! Ho!"

[ More Brew: Let’s get serious about the ‘Santa Claus is Canadian’ debate ]

So, yeah, this is a ridiculous bid to bring attention to Canada's ePassport program, which we gather is going swimmingly. But it is also part of a bizarre and extensive campaign to paint Santa as a Canadian.

Canada recently submitted a bid to claim territory in the resource-rich Arctic Circle as its own, and said they planned on eventually expanding their application to include the North Pole. Since Santa and his wife (and all those elves) are "known" permanent residents of the North Pole, claiming his nationality as Canadian would be wonderful PR for the campaign.

Earlier this month Conservative MP Paul Calandra accused Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau of denying Santa's Canadian status over his desire to have scientists weigh in on whether the North Pole is actually on Canada's continental shelf. Trudeau later said that "everyone knows Santa is Canadian."

[ More Brew: Mayor Rob Ford supporters heckle Santa Claus ]

In a recent column, I suggested the next step in Canada's confounding Santa citizenship campaign was to hold a "poorly-conceived Santa photo-op at a Canada Day citizenship ceremony." This is worse.

Citizenship and Immigration Minister Chris Alexander must be shaking his head. Or should be. According to a release, "Santa Claus keeps his ePassport protected by storing it in a compartment in his belt, keeping it safe from ashes, soot and snow."

Santa also confirmed that Alexander was on the "nice" list. Also, "The ePassport is considered the gold standard of travel documents and is used by elves and humans worldwide."

This seems to confirm that Santa's elves are also Canadian, which may be a win for the elves. Now they can contact the Ministry of Labour and ensure the conditions of Santa's Workshop are up to Canadian standards.

Expect a press release on that issue in the coming days.