Can Canadians vote from abroad?
Conservatives in Canada have the same problem as in the US, demographic and social changes are not working to their advantage.
Our last Conservative Prime Minister (Harper) began enforcing an older law that banned Canadians who had been overseas 5+ years from voting. The Liberal government that came in shortly after (Trudeau) has overturned the law. I voted NDP in that election because the MP in my riding who was most likely to beat the Conservative candidate was NDP. Strategic voting.
So, now, overseas Canadians can vote again. But briefly (think gerrymandering) this was an issue.
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Since 2016- before that you could only vote if you;d been out of the country less than five years, but a Supreme Court ruling held that all Canadians had the right to vote no matter how long they had been absent (didnât know Harper tried to reverse that).
I donât vote because Iâm pretty detached from Canadian affairs, so it doesnât seem fair for me to interfere.
I was travelling through Malaysia in November 1988, and the local media was full of ads from various US civic groups, including the embassy, urging Americans to vote in the presidential elections (Bush-Dukakis). Since Canada was having a federal election about the same time (Nov. 21), I was inspired by these ads to do my patriotic duty, and rocked up to the High Commission in Kuala Lumpur to vote (been out of Canada less than five years at the time). After a pause, the official came back to me, and said it would take a while to set it up, as I was the first person who had come in to vote.
I see the law was that said you have to be outside the country less than five years was passed in 1993, but not strictly enforced until Harper tried it in 2011.
The Liberals passed the law allowing voting in 2018, and the Supreme Court guaranteed it in 2019. You have to provide proof of citizenship and a previous address show which riding (constituency) your vote goes in.
Leaves me wondering about UK, Australia, NZ. And of course the USA-do Americans have to give an address so they know what state to assign their votes to?
This would make me and many other young people single issue voters. Of course, most young people donât vote soâŚ
This will probably shore them up in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where, electorally, they donât need shoring. I suppose the question (as always) is how it will play out in southern Ontario.
The pseudo trials of the long-detained Michaels are moving forward in the PRC.
Whatâs it like to go through this process? In a candid interview, these two Canadian missionaries relate their experiences as survivors of Beijingâs hostage diplomacy:
Guy
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Poorly in Ontario which is why they should have chosen MacKay (and Bernier years ago). If they hope to gain power and defeat Golden Boy, they need the soccer mom vote in Toronto (who seem to like Justinâs hair).
Will play well in Alberta although I am not sure your stereotype of the Albertan is correct (akin to your recent BC election analysis). 
While perhaps the average Albertan is a little more skeptical of climate change, the pro-pipeline but generally more environmentally-friendly left-leaning NDP currently have double digit leads in opinion polls province-wide over non-Alberta-native Premier Kenney of the United Conservatives. As someone whose family lived in Alberta going back a very, very long time (and who traditionally were left leaning with me apostating somewhat) 
, it is the blue-blood Red Tories of the Province that have been about responsible development (e.g., Lougheed). Part of ranchers, etc., current displeasure with Kenney (and what I would call of the outsider Conservative nouveau arrivistes that have accompanied him) is because he has been pushing coal exploration, in a heavy handed manner, that went against very sensible limited-exploration statutes from the 1970s Lougheed era. So Alberta is hardly the reactionary province on resource development, even to this day. Slightly more nuanced than your stereotype implies.
So pro-pipeline, but not necessarily pro-coal or pro- intensive resource extraction (outside of oil sands), tolerant (Calgary elected a Shia mayor when Toronto elected Rob Ford ) and perhaps too open to outsiders born in other Provinces such as Kenney coming to lead it in too Conservative a way.
Notley is a moderate socialist, but she is a hell of a lot more Albertan (going back a long time with her daddy giving his life to public service) than Kenney.
Canada started this with arresting Meng. Not condoning what Beijing did, but Canada arrested their national with uber-connections at higher levels. Some tit-for-tat response was going to happen, and Canada perhaps didnât properly think about the consequences. 
Hostage diplomacy is the wrong word here.
Great attitude! People with âconnectionsâ should not be subject to rule of law. Love it! And if they are, then authoritarian states should then have free rein to seize and detain foreign nationals from the country enforcing the rule of law.
How would you feel if you were grabbed in this mannerâor if one of your family members were grabbed in this manner? Would you say they got what they deserved?
Thankfully Canada and other states have started to get better organized:
Guy
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Kind of a simplistic interpretation. They detained her in Canada because of American warrants over evading Iranian sanctions. The rule of law in such areas can be uber-political donât you think, especially during a time when the US were hardening their position with Iran (which I agreed with BTW but not without consequences nontheless)?
I am just puzzled that the Canadians did not see such retaliations coming. Remember, Trudeau admires this form of government (albeit before becoming PM) but then feigns outrage when his secondary-power country gets in the arena with the big boys and gets bruised? To me, it is indicative of the naivity of white-picket-fence Lester Pearson type of Canadiana diplomacy that the Fed Libs seem to love.
The Liberal leader was asked which nation he admired most. He responded: âThereâs a level of admiration I actually have for China. Their basic dictatorship is actually allowing them to turn their economy around on a dime.â
Justin Trudeauâs âfoolishâ China remarks spark anger | CBC News
Things will get interesting when Canada starts detaining Americans because of Chinese warrants for evading Taiwan sanctions.
Under Canadaâs One China policy, Canada does not recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state and does not maintain official, government-to-government relations with Taipei.
She is facing allegations of not being truthful to US authorities about her companiesâ financial dealings (i.e. financial fraud).
Let me guess your responseârich corporate executives should not be treated so harshly! Itâs only money and not being truthful to banks!
In the meantime, the two Michaels remain in Chinese jails. And according to the interview linked above, one of the former detainees thinks theyâll stay there post pseudo trial until the Meng case is settled.
Guy
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Maybe. I was born in Edmonton and raised for a time in Grande Prairie. I worked in the oil patch out of Calgary (but all over the prairies and the territories) in my twenties and thirties, and hard-core anti-environmentalist was the default setting.
OTOH itâs been forty years since I lived there, and thereâs been a surge of growth in Calgary and Edmonton, which lean more to NDP, but Iâll believe they can win (barring splits in the conservative vote like last time) when I see it.
Iâm reminded of the uproar over Albertaâs own k.d. lang- when she came out as lesbian, Albertans shrugged their shoulders and said âBig dealâ, but when she came out as vegetarianâŚ
She is a vegetarian[31] and an animal rights activist. Her âMeat Stinksâ campaign in the 1990s created much controversy, particularly in her hometown, in the middle of Albertaâs cattle ranching industryâshe was banned from more than 30 Alberta radio stations. A sign in Consort, Alberta, stating âHome of k.d. langâ was burned to the ground.
30 years for meâalthough still go back to visit friends and extended family. But having lived/worked on Vancouver Island (where most of family now lives), received international educations in Australia and the UK etc., and having spent decades as an expat in various countries, I have no desire to return to the harsh winters, cookie-cutter houses, urban sprawl, and materialist lifestyle so indicative of the place. Going back would be like a Greenwich Village chap returning to Topeka.
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Your simplistic replies remind me of slogans shouted by farmers during DPP rallies.
On banking/US, I am all for even-handedness. While being pro harshening sanctions to Iran, this seems like a selective interpretation with the sole purpose of annoying Beijing.
And your seemingly unquestioned support for giving a free pass to the âuber connectedâ (I think this is your term) reminds me why I disagree with just about everything you write. So I guess that makes us even. 
Guy
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Canada steps up its multilateral approach in China:
Guy
I vote. Except that time the fucking torries took away my right to vote. they aint getting any respect any time soon, trust that. And i hate the liberal party. Now im.forced ndp, but yuck. So i vote green cause there needs to be at least a whisper in parlaiment about our entire environment and how it sustains everything we do.
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