National election will be held on Oct. 19
If you haven't lived in Canada for 5 years, but you're a citizen, should you be permitted to vote?
By Mark
Schadenberg
There should be a
healthy debate in Canada this summer – a discussion about which
Canadians should have the right to vote when the Federal Election
arrives in October.
If you live full-time
in another country, should you be permitted the opportunity to vote
in Canada? If you don't have a residence in one of our Territories or
Provinces, which riding would you vote in, if permission was granted?
Legendary actor Donald
Sutherland is already igniting this debate by offering his opinion.
Sutherland is upset that a now-enforced Canadian law says he can not
vote in the autumn even if he is still a holder of Canadian
citizenship.
It's a residency rule
and how long a person has not actually lived in Canada. More than
five years away from the land of poutine, beavers, toques and
curling, and you are ineligible to vote in any form.
The national election
is slated for Oct. 19, so there's not much time to shuffle the
system so all Canadians over the 18 can vote. In this era of the
internet, there are likely many Canadians living abroad that know
more about what is happening within our Confederation than people
that live in our own community 365 days of the year.
Sutherland will tell
you he owns a home in Canada. Read his 'Letter', which not only
confirms his citizenship, but also asks why he is ineligible to vote
in Canada. The full letter is linked below, but includes these
quotes:
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
My
name is Donald Sutherland. My wife’s name is Francine Racette. We
are Canadians. We each hold one passport. A Canadian passport. That’s
it. They ask me at the border why I don’t take American
citizenship. I could still be Canadian, they say. You could have dual
citizenship. But I say no, I’m not dual anything. I’m Canadian.
There’s a maple leaf in my underwear somewhere . . .
In
1978, that’s nearly 40 years ago, the Canadian government made me
an Officer of the Order of Canada. The Governor-General gave me the
Governor-General’s Award a while back. I am on your Walk of Fame in
Toronto. My sense of humour is Canadian. But I can’t vote .
. .
Did you
know that? If you don’t live here all the time you can’t vote.
Americans who live abroad can vote. They can vote because they’re
citizens! Citizens! But I can’t. Because why? Because I’m not a
citizen? Because what happens to Canada doesn’t matter to me? Ask
any journalist that’s ever interviewed me what nationality I
proudly proclaim to have. Ask them. They’ll tell you. I am a
Canadian. But I’m an expatriate and the Harper government won’t
let expatriates participate in Canadian elections . . .
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
OFF TOPIC FOR A MINUTE
As someone who does
follow federal politics, I find it also absurd that since there is a
fixed date for a fall visit to the polls, why is there any debate
about whether or not Stephen Harper is required to call the
Governor-General to formally disband the current collection of
Parliamentarians maintaining an office in Ottawa.
By watching TV
commercials, you would guess the campaign is already underway.
The election campaign
could officially begin this weekend.
The way Harper is
spending money from coast to coast, announcing projects and funding,
you would think his spending spree is part of the vote blue brigade.
BACK ON TOPIC
Sutherland, 80, is
miffed that the Ontario Court of Appeal has essentially agreed that
Canadians who are expats for more than five years can not vote in
October.
Elections Canada is
essentially only now (since 2012) enforcing a Canadian law passed
(Enacted) back in 1993.
A pair of Canadian
citizens living in the U.S., Jamie Duong and Gillian Frank, need to
be applauded as they were the first two to launch this constitutional
challenge pointing out the fundamentals about the right to vote by a
citizen of Canada. Frank, by the way, is a professor at Princeton
University in New Jersey. Both Frank and Duong were not permitted to
vote in the last national election, and that's when they began their
movement to re-establish their right to legally vote through Section
3 of the Charter Of Rights & Freedoms (see below).
A Superior Court
Justice agreed with the pair.
However earlier this
month, the Court of Appeal then made its ruling in a 2-1 vote,
agreeing with Elections Canada and disagreeing with the
constitutional challenge result.
Here's direct wording
from the CBC story below:
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
"Permitting
all non-resident citizens to vote would allow them to participate in
making laws that affect Canadian residents on a daily basis but have
little to no practical consequence for their own daily lives,"
Justice George Strathy wrote for the majority court.
"This
would erode the social contract and undermine the legitimacy of the
laws."
()()()()()()()()()()()()()()
Everyone
and anyone would agree that it's an interesting debate.
I
believe all Canadians should vote and all Canadians should want to
vote no matter where they live. Lots of Canadians live in places far
away such as Australia, New Zealand and hundreds in the United Arab
Emirates. The next questions then get posed:
Should
Canadians be required to vote in person (or by mail or email or
proxy)?
If
they must vote in person, how far in advance of an election can they
cast a ballot?
What
riding would someone vote in who hasn't really lived in Canada for
several years?
Do
you have to own property in Canada to vote here? Would that be fair
to someone who is a 24-year-old student?
Should
all residents of Canada for five years (landed immigrants, but not
yet citizens) receive a ballot?
CBC Story
The
right to vote is not just a desire for actors, singers, and other
entertainers, as the CBC stories note it is estimated there are over
1 million expats who discontinued residing (predominantly) in Canada
more than five years ago.
Sutherland,
meanwhile, will certainly be in Ontario during the Toronto
International Film Festival in September as his latest picture
Forsaken, which also features his son Kiefer, will be among the gala
presentations.
Donald
Sutherland is from Saint John, New Brunswick, has won two Golden
Globes and even a Teen Choice Award as best villain in Hunger Games.
Donald's credited roles number about 150 and include Space Cowboys,
The Italian Job, Cold Mountain, Bethune, Ordinary People, MASH, The
Dirty Dozen, along with the more recent TV show Crossing Lines.
I
applaud Duong, Frank and Sutherland for their positions in this
debate. All Canadian citizens should have the right to vote.
LINKS:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/no-voting-rights-for-long-term-canadian-expats-appeal-court-rules/article25590714/
http://www.570news.com/2015/07/28/longer-federal-election-campaign-will-cost-taxpayers-millions-more/
2014 stories:
Mark
Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior
Real Estate Specialist (SRES designation)
Royal
LePage Triland Realty
757
Dundas St, Woodstock
www.wesellwoodstock.com
(519)
537-1553, cell or text
Email:
mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter:
markroyallepage
Facebook:
Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
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