From: brewnoser2@gmail.com   
      
   Canadian Press | Sep 28, 2015   
      
   Expat who lives in Seattle and can't vote, takes on Harper in Calgary Heritage   
      
   TORONTO - A Canadian citizen has become a protest candidate in the riding held   
   by Conservative Leader Stephen Harper even though he is barred from voting   
   because he has lived outside Canada for too long.   
      
   Nicolas Duchastel de Montrouge is now one of seven people taking on Harper in   
   Calgary Heritage after spending more than a week collecting the requisite 100   
   signatures from riding residents.   
      
   "It was hard but we made it happen," Duchastel de Montrouge said Monday from   
   suburban Seattle where he lives.  "I am the only candidate I think that   
   resides outside Canada."   
      
   Duchastel de Montrouge's registration as an Independent comes as two other   
   long-term expats prepared to ask the Supreme Court of Canada to restore their   
   right to vote from abroad.   
      
   In their application for leave to appeal expected to be filed Tuesday, Gill   
   Frank and Jamie Duong are asking the top court to decide whether stripping the   
   vote from Canadians who have lived abroad for more than five years violates   
   their charter rights.   
      
   "This case impacts the voting rights of over a million Canadian citizens," the   
   application says.  "Moreover, it engages fundamental issues concerning the   
   meaning of citizenship and democracy in Canada."   
      
   The case bubbled onto the election trail recently when Harper stumped with   
   former hockey great, Wayne Gretzky, who has long lived in the U.S. and could   
   not vote under the law.  [And couldn't even be bothered to pick up his 'Order   
   of Canada' award given    
   him in 2009].   
      
   In fighting Frank and Duong, the government initially asserted that allowing   
   long-term expats to vote would be unfair to resident Canadians who have to   
   live with the consequences of the balloting.   
      
   An Ontario Superior Court rejected that argument last year, saying the   
   five-year limit was arbitrary and had no bearing on an expat's connection to   
   Canada.   
      
   The government then argued on appeal that non-resident citizens were no longer   
   bound by the Canadian "social contract."  In July, the Ontario Court of Appeal   
   -- in a split decision -- agreed.   
      
   However, the dissenting justice said the law reduced non-residents to   
   "second-class citizens" because of where they live.   
      
   In the leave application, Toronto lawyer Shaun O'Brien argues every Canadian   
   citizen has a right to vote regardless of residency, and any notion of a   
   "social contract" has no bearing.   
      
   "This court has said clearly and emphatically that social philosophy cannot be   
   used to shield the deprivation of fundamental democratic rights from   
   scrutiny," the application states.   
      
   The document notes that prisoners, regardless of crime, can vote.   
      
   Frank and Duong, who live in the U.S. for work purposes, "care deeply" about   
   Canada and hope to return, their application says.   
      
   "I hope that the Supreme Court will hear our case and recognize that all   
   Canadian citizens, regardless of residence, have the right to vote," Frank   
   said in an email.   
      
   The impugned sections of the Canada Elections Act became law in 1993.    
   However, the clock would reset if an expat returned even for a short visit.    
   It was only under the Harper-led government that Elections Canada began   
   enforcing the rule, catching many    
   expats by surprise when they tried to vote by mail in 2011.   
      
   The leave application notes anomalies in the elections act related to expats:   
   They can vote if they show up in their old ridings at an advance poll or on   
   election day.   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   Another is that they can run as candidates in any riding they choose, as   
   Duchastel de Montrouge is doing.^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
      
   "I am truly sorry to the people of Calgary who might be surprised that someone   
   who has never set foot in their city can be a candidate, but that is exactly   
   to the point," Duchastel de Montrouge says on his website.   
      
   "Why can't I vote in my own country? This is wrong!"   
      
   http://images2.dailykos.com/i/user/123/stephen-harper-not-to-vote.jpg   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)