The thorny question question of whether Canadians living permanently abroad have the right to vote has been settled at least for the time being. The Ontario Court of Appeal, the highest in the province, has decided that an absence of five years from the country disqualifies Canadian citizens from voting. In fact, the court requires Canadians to be permanent residents to vote. The long-standing issue originates in Canada’s aggressive immigration policy and the decision of some new Canadians to immediately leave the Canada with no plan to return. The issue has arisen more than once in recent years when Lebanese-Canadians, some 40,000 of whom live in the middle east, demanded the government fly them home when unrest occurred. This demand caused resentment. The court’s decision was a 2-1 split but the majority found that it was unfair to those who live in Canada to permit those who don’t to make decisions about Canadian laws. Canada’s “social contract” entails citizens submitting to laws because they had a voice in making them through voting, the ruling states. “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.” The case was brought by two Canadian citizens living in the United States — Montreal-born Jamie Duong and Toronto-born Gillian Frank. They argued they had only left for educational and employment opportunities and still had strong attachments to Canada and a stake in its future. Their status and background sets up the contrast between career-driven expats and those who leave Canada to “go home” in effect. Theirs it seems is an attachment to a different culture. A few Canadians leave the country to live in tax havens Colin Perkel, Canadian Press
