Disenfranchised Canadian expats

CANADIAN  expats around the world are protesting a law recently introduced by the ruling Conservative Party government  which bans long-term Canadian expats from casting a ballot on October 19.

Among them are hockey legend Wayne Gretzky,  and Oscar winning acting icon Donald Sutherland.

Besides Sutherland and Gretzky, disenfranchised expats with strong ties to Canada include such well-known figures as Neil Young, Celine Dion, William Shatner or even Sidney Crosby, another NHL superstar who lives in the U.S.

Conservative leader Stephen Harper, whose party  will  likely be replaced in a three horse race, was unapologetic about the law, which has effectively disenfranchised about 1.4 million Canadians who have lived abroad for more than five years and sparked anger among many of them.

Local Canadian  expats will be gathering at the Blarney Stone pub on Oct 10 when the Happy Hour” will be extended throughout the evening as results roll in from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corp). There wil be Canadian dishes including “poutine” added to the menu.

While Harper may not have heard from the Great One about losing his right to vote, other Canadians have been far more vocal, including Sutherland, who denounced the law in a recent opinion piece.

“I’m an expatriate and the Harper government won’t let expatriates participate in Canadian elections,” Sutherland wrote in the Globe and Mail.

Two other expats have begun a crowdfunding effort to allow them to ask the Supreme Court to take up the case after Ontario’s top court upheld the law as constitutional.

The first signature he got, he said, came from a fellow passenger on the flight to Calgary – a self-described Conservative.

The NDP, Liberals and Greens all say they believe the expats should be allowed to vote.

U.S. expats retain the right to vote throughout their life.