Expat Canadians deserve the right to vote in Federal Elections

10 years ago Featured

Having lived abroad for over 5 years but with project to come back i feel that i have a right to vote to make sure that my country is still my country when i get back. We need to make this terrible decision an electoral point!

The right to vote is THE essential characteristic of citizenship in a democracy. It is acceptable that non-citizens who are residents can avail themselves of the health system and other benefits of residency that non-resident citizens may not, but if citizenship is to mean anything, it must mean the right to vote.

As a Canadian living in the USA, I believe deserve a voice and a vote in the Canadian federal election.

I am an expat Canadian who lives in the US because I am married to an American citizen. I lived 49 years in Canada and have now lived 11 years in the US. I did not leave Canada to stop being a Canadian. Canada is and always will be my true home. I have maintained all of my contacts; my friends and family live in Canada; even my burial plot is in Canada - but I am now disenfranchised and have been told I am 'disinterested in what happens there because I do not currently live there', so should not have a say in how she is governed. I strenuously disagree and request that my constitutional right to vote be returned to me and other Canadians living abroad.

Thx Harper and Conservatives! Doing everything they can to try and stay in office. But this move just smacks of desperation!

Being a citizen of a democratic country, surely voting should be a right not a privilege.

Living abroad for 8 years, and I want the ability to make my vote count!

Just one in a string of undemocratic policies passed by the present Canadian government ie. the government stolen by Steven Harper. Every citizen should have the right to vote until they renounce their citizenship. Especially in a world that has become more globalized, this law is going in the wrong direction and saying it's not fair for Canadians who live in Canada is a sham of an excuse! It's probably more likely it's due to the fear that Canadians living abroad are more likely progressive and less likely to vote for neo-conservative Steven Harper. What a joke the government in Canada has become...!

I love my country and want to vote as is the right of every Canadian citizen at or abroad

Every Canadian has the right to vote whether they live in or outside of this great country we all call Canada.

Let us vote! We're the ambassadors of Canada, shutting us out is criminal

I am a canadian expatriate and am absolutely appauled by where this government is headed! How dare they take away my right to vote.

Living in Copenhagen, wanting to vote!

How is it that criminals in Canada are allowed to vote (since 2002), yet law abiding, expatriate Canadians who still very much care about their country, and what happens to it, are not? Voting is a right given by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 3 under "Democratic Rights: Every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein." I am a Canadian citizen by birth and hold a Canadian passport. I should have the right to vote, regardless of where I reside in the world. The Charter makes no reference to residence - only citizenship.

I am a staunchly proud Canadian and this attack on my right as a Canadian citizen makes me sick.

Please don't take away our right to vote if we are able?!

I didn't leave my country because I dislike it, I left it to represent it!

My voice and my vote is and always will be Canadian.

Any arguments aside, this ruling is an outright violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and the basic fundamentals of a democracy. Citizenship entails much more than residency. This ruling is an insult to everything Canada stands for.

I'm an expat Canadian living in the U.S. I visit my home country multiple times a year, I'm paying off Canadian student loans with a Canadian bank account, and I'm trying hard to secure a job there in my field. I am Canadian, and I deserve to be able to exercise my democratic right.