Expat voting ban legit, Liberal government argues despite promised change
TORONTO — Allowing long-term Canadian expats to vote in federal elections is not a Constitutional requirement but a policy decision that Parliament has the right to make, the government plans to tell the country’s top court.
Elected officials implemented the voting ban for those out of the country for more than five years as a matter of fairness, and the decades-old law is perfectly legitimate, the Liberal government argues in new filings with the Supreme Court of Canada.
At the same time, the Liberal government indicates in the documents — as it has done several times during and since last year’s election — that it plans changes to the law.
“Parliament’s 1993 choice…had the pressing purpose of maintaining the fairness of the democratic system and was a proportional limit,” the government says in its factum.