Canadian Citizen, but can I leave Canada with a foreign passport?

Question

I am Canadian citizen with an Austrian passport as well. I wish to leave Pearson Airport using only my Austrian passport to live in EU. (I am in Canada a Canadian) Would this be acceptable?

Answer 1

The government of Canada won't check your passport upon departure, so this is not a problem.

Your airline will check your passport, but they just want you to hold a valid passport; they won't care what country it's from.

You will, of course, want to have your Canadian passport with you for your return to Canada.

Answer 2

I have dual citizenship in the U.S. & Canada, and I live in the U.S. Since I have relatives on both sides of the border, I have flown and driven across the border more times than I can count, presenting my U.S. passport when entering the United States and my Canadian passport when I have entered Canada. I have never once run into a problem with this. Since Canada does not have exit controls, I doubt that replacing "US" with "Austria" above will yield any problems.

Entering Canada, I always present my Canadian passport. This means that there's usually a part of the conversation with the border guard that goes like this:

Canadian border guard: Where do you live?

Me: Connecticut.

CBG: What's your legal status in the US?

Me: I'm a dual citizen. Do you need to see my U.S. Passport?

CBG: No.

This is the sum total of the explanations I've ever had to give about having multiple citizenships and passports. (But then, I'm a upper-middle-class white male; YMMV if you're from a group that gets treated with more suspicion.)