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Municipal elections, David Miller, utter nonsense

Don't give immigrants the right to vote

By arthur Weinreb

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

On November 13, Ontarians go to the polls to vote in municipal elections. although it has not become a major campaign issue, there have been calls that landed immigrants or permanent residents of Canada should be given the right to vote in these elections. The matter was raised by a professor at Ryerson University and Toronto Sun columnist and immigrant, Innocent Madawo. Incumbent Toronto mayor David Miller then jumped on the bandwagon and said that he was in favour of giving non-citizen immigrants the municipal vote. according to Miller, "It's not like a national election; you're not determining issues of what this country should and shouldn't do. You're determining issues that directly affect people's lives."

What complete and utter nonsense. apparently to Miller, Toronto is Toronto and it is really of no consequence that the city happens to be part of Canada instead of North Korea or China. Toronto apparently has nothing to do with Canada other than when it comes to begging for money from another government.

Miller does, however make another point that is appealing, at least on a simplistic level; those who own property in the city but don't live here have the right to vote while immigrants who work, live and pay ridiculously high taxes to the city do not. This argument again ignores the reality that those who live in Ontario municipalities also live in Canada.

It's hard to understand why those who advocate voting rights for non-citizens don't go all the way and propose giving illegal immigrants the right to vote too. all the arguments that are made in favour of giving the vote to permanent residents are equally applicable to illegal immigrants. Illegals who own property and who have been working for 10 years surely have as much right to vote as permanent residents who have lived here for a year. Illegal immigrants may not pay income taxes but they pay sales tax, GST and ludicrous property taxes if they own their own homes in cities like Toronto.

The only justification for differentiating the voting rights of permanent residents and illegal immigrants is their status in the country; the very thing that differentiates citizens from immigrants.

Those who are advocating voting rights for immigrants cannot look to the Charter of Rights for help. The Charter itself differentiates between citizens and non citizens. For example, section 6 states that while citizens and permanent residents have the right to live and work in any province of Canada, only citizens have the right to enter, remain or leave Canada. The Charter also guarantees Canadian citizens the right to vote in federal elections; a right that is not granted to immigrants.

People like Innocent Madawo, who came to this country as a refugee from Zimbabwe come across as having a lot of nerve demanding the right to vote (although in fairness to the columnist, he is stating his opinion, not making a demand). Being accepted as a refugee in Canada or being allowed to enter Canada as a permanent resident after applying from abroad is the hard part; once a person is in Canada, it is fairly easy to become a citizen. In order to apply for citizenship, a person must be physically present in Canada for three of the four years prior to making the application. Those who are here without status before becoming permanent residents are credited with half a day for every day that they are here before becoming landed. and the requirements to granted citizenship are not onerous.

We have all heard stories about long term permanent residents who are convicted of serious criminal offences and face deportation. They could have avoided this outcome by having become citizens of Canada years ago but either couldn't be bothered or felt that they were really citizens of the country that they end up fighting deportation to. and we remember the war in the Middle East where thousands of Canadian citizens of convenience used their passports as a free ticket out of war torn Lebanon only to return there after the hostilities ended. To many, including those who view themselves as citizens of the world rather than Canadians, being a Canadian citizen doesn't mean very much. We don't need to see the concept of citizenship watered down any more by granting immigrants the right to vote in municipal or any other elections.

The issue seems academic; the decision as to who can vote in municipal elections rests with the province and Premier Dalton McGuinty has said that the right to vote is a right that comes with citizenship.

and if immigrants don't like it, they'll just have to hang around long enough to gain Canadian citizenship.


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