Expatriate Voting: Québec a écarté une limite de dix ans

2026/04/16 Leave a comment

Thanks to Anne Meggs for flagging. Same as previous federal policy before Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional. Small number of expatriate votes in 2022 election, less than 2,000. Similar to federal expat votes, about 2,500 in 2021 (increased to over 8,000 in 2025):

Adopté et sanctionné au début du mois, le projet de loi 18 allonge de deux à cinq ans la période durant laquelle un électeur temporairement absent du Québec peut voter par correspondance.

Le but étant d’arrimer cette période à la durée maximale d’une législature, permettant ainsi à cet électeur d’exercer son droit de vote à au moins une élection générale suivant son départ.

Dans son mémoire, le ministre responsable des Institutions démocratiques mentionne qu’une limite plus longue, pouvant aller jusqu’à dix ans, a été envisagée, sans toutefois avoir été retenue.

« Il aurait été possible d’envisager une limite temporelle plus longue, par exemple de dix ans afin de viser deux législatures », indique Jean-François Roberge.

« Néanmoins, une limite temporelle de cinq ans a été jugée plus cohérente avec l’intention du législateur ayant introduit la limite de deux ans », explique-t-il.

Le ministre rappelle que le vote par correspondance pour les électeurs hors Québec a été introduit à la Loi électorale en 1989.

« À ce moment, cette possibilité était offerte à toute personne possédant la qualité d’électeur et se trouvant à l’extérieur du Québec depuis moins de dix ans. En 1992, cette durée a été réduite à deux ans, accompagnée d’une exigence domiciliaire minimale de douze mois avant le départ », dit-il.

« Ces modifications visaient à circonscrire le droit de vote par correspondance aux électeurs ayant un lien réel, actuel et significatif avec le Québec, dans une optique de préservation de l’intégrité du processus électoral et de limitation de l’influence de personnes durablement absentes sur les décisions collectives », souligne le ministre.

« Les motivations ayant guidé cette réforme demeurent pertinentes aujourd’hui. La limite de cinq ans permet de prolonger raisonnablement l’accès au vote hors Québec, tout en assurant que les électeurs concernés maintiennent un lien significatif avec le Québec. »

Hausse d’inscription

Jean-François Roberge indique également au Conseil des ministres, dans son mémoire, que la nouvelle limite de cinq ans pourrait faire augmenter le nombre d’électeurs inscrits au vote hors Québec lors des prochaines élections générales, qui s’élevait à 3 482 en 2022.

« Cette hausse resterait toutefois plus modérée qu’en l’absence de toute limite temporelle. La mesure vise ainsi à favoriser la participation électorale tout en maintenant une balise qui assure un lien réel, actuel et significatif entre l’électeur et le Québec », précise-t-il.

Confusion?

Il mentionne aussi que cette modification, à quelques mois des élections prévues en octobre, pourrait entraîner une « certaine confusion » quant aux règles en vigueur.

« Toutefois, puisqu’il s’agit d’un ajustement ciblé touchant une seule modalité de vote, Élections Québec disposera d’une période suffisante pour informer adéquatement les électeurs concernés, avant la tenue du scrutin », dit-il.

Source: Expatriate Voting: Québec a écarté une limite de dix ans (paywall)

Adopted and sanctioned at the beginning of the month, Bill 18 extends from two to five years the period during which a voter temporarily absent from Quebec can vote by mail.

The goal is to tie this period to the maximum duration of a legislature, thus allowing this voter to exercise his right to vote at least one general election following his departure.

In his brief, the Minister responsible for democratic institutions mentions that a longer limit, up to ten years, was envisaged, but was not retained.

“It would have been possible to consider a longer time limit, for example ten years, in order to aim for two legislatures,” says Jean-François Roberge.

“Nevertheless, a five-year time limit was considered more consistent with the intention of the legislator who introduced the two-year limit,” he explains.

The Minister recalls that postal voting for voters outside Quebec was introduced into the Electoral Act in 1989.

“At that time, this possibility was offered to anyone with the status of voter and who had been outside Quebec for less than ten years. In 1992, this period was reduced to two years, accompanied by a minimum home requirement of twelve months before departure, “he says.

“These changes were intended to limit the right to vote by correspondence to voters with a real, current and significant link with Quebec, with a view to preserving the integrity of the electoral process and limiting the influence of permanently absent people on collective decisions,” said the minister.

“The motivations that guided this reform remain relevant today. The five-year limit makes it possible to reasonably extend access to voting outside Quebec, while ensuring that the voters concerned maintain a significant link with Quebec. ”

Registration increase

Jean-François Roberge also indicates to the Council of Ministers, in his brief, that the new five-year limit could increase the number of voters registered for voting outside Quebec in the next general elections, which amounted to 3,482 in 2022.

“However, this increase would remain more moderate than in the absence of any time limit. The measure thus aims to promote voter participation while maintaining a beacon that ensures a real, current and significant link between the voter and Quebec,” he says.

Confusion?

He also mentions that this change, a few months before the elections scheduled for October, could lead to “some confusion” as to the rules in force.

“However, since this is a targeted adjustment affecting a single voting modality, Elections Québec will have sufficient time to adequately inform the voters concerned, before the vote is held,” he says.

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Québec peut-il priver les expatriés de leur droit de vote après deux ans d’exil ? 

2025/05/27 Leave a comment

Another case to watch. But Gelinas-Faucher is now back in Canada, working in New Brunswick, presumably eligible to vote in his province of residence. So implicitly, he is also arguing that other Canadians should be able to maintain their province of origin vote even when they have moved to another province.

I never supported unlimited voting rights for Canadian expats in any case as they would be largely not subject to Canadian laws nor paying Canadian income tax, and the former 5-year cut-off was reasonable. That being said, the actual number of Canadians living abroad who are interested in exercising this right is relatively small, about 120,000 in 2025, compared to an estimated 3 million expatriates. Actual votes cast numbers should be released shortly.

Nuts:

Le Québec a-t-il le droit de retirer à ses citoyens le droit de vote s’ils sont à l’extérieur de la province depuis plus de deux ans ?

Après trois ans d’attente, la Cour supérieure du Québec entendra finalement la semaine prochaine la demande en pourvoi judiciaire de l’avocat Bruno Gélinas-Faucher qui cherche à faire déclarer inconstitutionnel l’article 282 de la Loi électorale du Québec.

Cet article retire le droit de vote des citoyens québécois après deux ans d’exil de la province, sauf dans deux cas d’exception, soit les personnes qui travaillent pour le gouvernement du Québec ou du Canada à l’extérieur de la province et leurs conjoints ou celles qui œuvrent pour un organisme international financé par Ottawa ou Québec et leurs conjoints également.

Dans les faits, les personnes qui quittent le Québec peuvent voter par correspondance durant deux ans, mais par la suite, si elles veulent exercer ce droit, elles doivent revenir au Québec physiquement, un obstacle de taille, surtout pour les étudiants.

Inconstitutionnel au fédéral

En 2019, Bruno Gélinas-Faucher étudiait le droit international à l’université Cambridge, en Angleterre, et il s’y trouvait depuis plus de deux ans lorsqu’est survenue l’élection partielle dans Jean-Talon, en décembre 2019. Or, onze mois plus tôt, en janvier de la même année, l’arrêt Frank de la Cour suprême avait invalidé la provision de la loi canadienne qui, elle, retirait le droit de vote après plus de cinq ans à l’extérieur du pays. Il s’agissait, selon le plus haut tribunal, d’une atteinte inconstitutionnelle à l’article 3 de la Charte canadienne des droits qui stipule que « tout citoyen canadien a le droit de vote et est éligible aux élections législatives fédérales ou provinciales ».

« Au début de 2019, la Cour rend ce jugement-là, raconte Me Gélinas-Faucher. Je ne suis pas forcément un constitutionnaliste, mais je me tiens au courant des jugements de la Cour qui ont un impact sur moi. Et j’arrive pour voter aux élections provinciales au Québec et là, on me dit non, désolé, ça fait plus de deux ans que vous êtes à l’étranger. Et là, moi, je me dis, ben voyons donc, la Cour suprême vient de dire que cinq ans, c’était une limite inconstitutionnelle. Ça me semble tout à fait illogique et tout aussi inconstitutionnel. Mais je n’ai pas pu voter à l’élection partielle dans Jean-Talon qui était (la circonscription) où j’étais domicilié et c’est ce qui m’a amené à lancer ce recours-là. »

Incohérence et discrimination

Québec a décidé de contester ce recours et la cause sera entendue par le tribunal du 2 au 6 juin, à Montréal.

Au-delà de l’atteinte au droit de vote protégé par la Charte, Me Gélinas-Faucher avance l’argument de l’incohérence. « Le gouvernement du Québec a des programmes sociaux et des dispositions qui font en sorte qu’il garde un lien et qui démontre qu’il veut garder un lien, particulièrement avec ses étudiants », affirme-t-il.

Il fait valoir qu’alors qu’il était étudiant à Cambridge, il recevait des prêts étudiants du gouvernement du Québec et qu’il était toujours couvert par la Régie de l’assurance-maladie du Québec. « La RAMQ a une exception pour les étudiants qui sont à l’étranger dans le cadre de leurs études. Alors moi, je continuais d’être couvert par la RAMQ, je recevais un prêt du gouvernement du Québec dans le cas du programme d’aide financière aux études, mais je perdais mon droit de vote. Ça me semble tout à fait incohérent. Et c’est ce qu’on met de l’avant, là, pour montrer que ce n’est pas une limite raisonnable parce qu’elle est arbitraire et incohérente. »

Aussi, dit-il, le fait que les personnes travaillant hors Québec pour le gouvernement provincial ou fédéral ou pour un organisme international conservent, elles, le droit de voter par correspondance est ni plus ni moins que de la discrimination. « C’est aussi un argument qu’on fait valoir. Il n’y a aucune base pour différencier ces gens-là. Par exemple, si je prends la deuxième catégorie, des gens qui sont affectés pour une organisation internationale à laquelle le Canada contribue financièrement. Une personne qui travaille par exemple pour l’UNESCO en République centrafricaine pendant 20 ans n’a pas plus de lien avec le Québec qu’un étudiant qui est temporairement à l’étranger pour ses études, même si ça fait plus de deux ans. »

L’exemple de Terrebonne

Maintenant que la Cour supérieure se saisira finalement du dossier, l’avocat espère avoir gain de cause avant l’automne 2026, moment où doivent avoir lieu les prochaines élections provinciales au Québec. C’est que Me Gélinas-Faucher occupe présentement un poste de professeur adjoint à l’université du Nouveau-Brunswick, à Fredericton, et si rien ne change, il n’aura toujours pas le droit de voter.

Il rappelle, pour les besoins de la cause, qu’aussi loin soit-il, chaque vote compte. « C’est dans l’air du temps, disons, les questions électorales, avec Terrebonne et tout ça », laisse-t-il tomber en référence à l’élection fédérale où le résultat final a donné cette circonscription à la candidate libérale Tatiana Auguste par une voix devant sa rivale bloquiste Nathalie Sinclair-Desgagné, alors qu’au moins un vote bloquiste confirmé par correspondance n’a pas été comptabilisé. Ce résultat est d’ailleurs contesté devant les tribunaux par le Bloc québécois qui invoquera sans doute lui aussi, pour d’autres raisons, l’article 3 de la Charte garantissant le droit de vote de tout citoyen.

Source: Québec peut-il priver les expatriés de leur droit de vote après deux ans d’exil ?

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Thousands of Canadians in Hong Kong can vote. So we polled them

2019/10/05 Leave a comment

Meaningless clickbait polling given methodology. Only reliable data in article is the number of expats who have registered to vote:

Within the context of political unrest in the city and new rules for expat voting for this election, new polling by Mainstreet Research for iPolitics suggests Conservative support is strong among Canadians living in Hong Kong.

In a first for the polling firm, Mainstreet surveyed Canadians who live abroad on which federal party they would vote for in this election.

The English-language poll was conducted between Sept. 23 and Oct. 1 using the method of “river sampling,” which draws on respondents to take a survey based on advertisements placed online. It received responses from 640 Canadian citizens, 18 years of age or older, living in Hong Kong.

Among leaning and decided voters in the poll, 57 per cent of respondents said they support Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives. Justin Trudeau’s Liberals received the support of 23 per cent of respondents while Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party was backed by 10.8 per cent.

Jagmeet Singh’s NDP received six per cent support, while three per cent of respondents said they backed Elizabeth May’s Greens.

Mainstreet cautioned that no margin of error can be associated with non-probability sampling, where individuals in a population are not given an equal chance of being selected to participate in the poll. The survey is nevertheless intended to represent the adult population of Canadians residing in Hong Kong.

Elections Canada’s figures show 2,015 Canadians have registered to vote in Hong Kong as of Sept. 29.

Roughly 300,000 Canadians reside in the city — making it the site of Canada’s second largest diaspora after the United States, according to figures reported by the Toronto Star.

Many Canadians in Hong Kong have family roots in the city. There is also a strong number of Canadians working for multinational businesses in the Asian financial hub.

Quito Maggi, president and CEO of Mainstreet, said his interest in polling Hong Kong stemmed from efforts by a pro-Conservative group in the city to register voters. He said online river sampling allowed Mainstreet to target the region.

“While I have no way of knowing if the sample is representative, it’s still very interesting as a measurement,” Maggi said.

iPolitics spoke to organizers of the group, called Canadian Conservatives in Hong Kong, who said the political situation and how federal parties are reacting is a top-of-mind issue for Canadians in the city.

Hong Kong has seen months of pro-democracy demonstrations that have posed a serious challenge to its pro-Beijing government and China’s tightening grip on the semi-autonomous city’s affairs. These gatherings have often seen violence. On Tuesday, a teenage protester was shot in the chest by police — the first such use of live ammunition on a demonstrator.

The organizers of the Conservative group, which isn’t affiliated with the federal party, said votes from abroad can be influential if they are tallied in battleground ridings.

A Supreme Court ruling in January struck down a law banning expats who have not lived in Canada for more than five years from voting, effectively guaranteeing Canadians residing abroad voting rights.

In total, 38,401 Canadians abroad have signed up to vote in the federal election as of Sept. 29, exceeding the prediction of 30,000 made by the agency.

Source: Thousands of Canadians in Hong Kong can vote. So we polled them

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Amid Hong Kong’s unrest, a pro-Conservative group seeks to rally expat voters

2019/10/05 Leave a comment

More on CPC outreach in Hong Kong:

Amid political turbulence rocking Hong Kong, a pro-Conservative group is seeking to get out the expat vote in the city where an estimated 300,000 Canadians reside.

The recently-formed Canadian Conservatives in Hong Kong held two voter registration events at a bar in the city on Sept. 7 and 8, including on a day when pro-democracy protests shut down nearby streets. The group had also done online outreach in both English and Cantonese and drawn on the support of volunteers.

Organizers of the group, Canadians Brett Stephenson and Barrett Bingley, also enlisted the help of former foreign affairs minister John Baird for their two events as its special guest. The gatherings were advertised on the Conservative Party’s website but the group is unaffiliated.

For months, Hong Kong has seen large demonstrations that have posed a challenge to mainland China’s tightening grip on the semi-autonomous city. On Tuesday, during protests coinciding with China’s National Day, a teenage protester was shot in the chest by police.

Bingley, a senior director at The Economist Group by day, said political unrest in the city, as well as new liberalized voting rules for expats, are drawing their attention toward Canadian politics.

“It has to do with the election coming while there is this massive unrest happening in Hong Kong and people are looking to find a leader and a party who is going to stand up for them,” Bingley said in a phone interview last week.

“This year is not only when Canadians abroad are able to vote. There is a great desire by Hong Kong people to vote in the Canadian election this time.”

Amid that heightened interest, Bingley said their room-packed events were able to help register about 250 people. It was not only Conservatives attending but other Canadians wanting to vote. The Canadian Club in Hong Kong also hosted its own voter sign-up event on Sept. 20, with more than 200 people gathering.

The Supreme Court ruled in January that Canadians who have lived abroad for more than five years can vote.

Elections Canada’s figures show 1,588 Canadian voters have registered in Hong Kong as of Sept. 22. Voter registration abroad has now exceeded 31,000.

Canadians in Hong Kong consists of many Cantonese speakers with family in the city, as well as those working for multinational businesses.

Stephenson, a director at the Asia Business Trade Association working on Asia-Pacific trade, said Canadians who attended the events brought up issues including foreign policy, immigration and business concerns.

But the top issue was Hong Kong’s political situation and how federal parties will approach it.

Canadian Conservatives in Hong Kong’s logo. Photo courtesy of the group.

Stephenson believes the Tories are more inclined to support Hong Kong and the protection of the ‘one country, two systems’ model envisioned in the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration. That treaty spelled out, upon return to China’s rule in 1997, civil freedoms and a degree political independence for the city — something protesters say Beijing has moved to erode.

Stephenson said Scheer is the only federal leader to have “spoken up very forcefully” for Hong Kong. He pointed to an August tweet where Scheer said “now is the time for everyone committed to democracy, freedom, human rights and the rule of law to stand with the people of Hong Kong.”

On the contrary, Stephenson said he has only seen “timid” responses from Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“I think a lot of Hong Kongers don’t feel Canada under the Liberals have stepped up and said anything that would help them in this struggle,” he said.

The Hong Kong protests occur as Canada-China relations remain sour over the detention of two Canadians in China widely seen as punishment for the Vancouver arrest of a Huawei executive in December.

In August, Freeland issued a joint statement with her EU counterpart urging restraint amid “a rising number of unacceptable violent incidents.” That statement prompted China’s embassy in Ottawa to issue a response accusing her of “meddling in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs.”

But so far during the campaign, Hong Kong’s unrest and other foreign policy issues have received scant attention from all party leaders.

Stephenson said parties’ attention toward expat votes could increase if they observe any influence on key swing ridings, particularly in the Greater Toronto Area and Metro Vancouver.

That sentiment was echoed by Baird, now a consultant with much of his work centred in Asia. Bingley said the former Harper minister, who was in town the weekend of their events, had told the audience their votes especially matter if they are being tallied in battleground ridings.

Interest abroad may mean more groups like theirs spring up, but Bingley said their creation is barely novel. Existing already are expat organizations that support the U.S. Republicans, the Australian Liberal Party and U.K. Conservatives.

“What we’re doing is very much within the mainstream of centre-right parties,” he said.

“It’s just that because Canadians couldn’t really vote from abroad up until the Supreme Court changed the rules. There was no infrastructure to do this. So it feels strange to Canadians and yet is actually not strange at all.”

From his observation, there are no Liberal or NDP groups in the city.

The group will have to be mindful of Elections Canada’s third-party rules, which require Canadians spending more than $500 on regulated activities during the campaign to register with it. Agency spokesperson Natasha Gauthier said whether voter registration events are considered a third-party activity depends on the facts and context of each situation.

Conservative spokesperson Simon Jefferies told iPolitics that the group isn’t affiliated with the party but nevertheless agreed to host a webpage for its event.

Bingley said Canadians in Hong Kong live the impact of the world’s geopolitical challenges that aren’t being discussed enough in this election.

“They need to be addressed by leaders, and one of the biggest is the rise of China.”

Source: Amid Hong Kong’s unrest, a pro-Conservative group seeks to rally expat voters

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Feds want expat voting rights case adjourned due to proposed legislation

2016/12/21 Leave a comment

The proposed legislation of C-33 extends voting rights indefinitely, no matter how short the period of living in Canada. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the current five-year maximum absence rule, which was being appealed, with the Government now requesting adjournment given C-33. The appellants are arguing that the case should be heard. To watch.

Given that I do not favour the government’s proposed approach, I think it would be helpful for the Supreme Court to pronounce, as I am not convince by the public rationale nor some of the legal filings made by the appelants:

Proposed legislation granting long-term Canadian expats the right to vote will render a court fight over the issue moot, the federal government argues in new filings.

As a result, the government is calling for a year-long adjournment of a Supreme Court of Canada hearing – set for February – in which two expats were expected to challenge parts of the Canada Elections Act that have disenfranchised them.

“If Bill C-33 is enacted in its current form, the appellants will have the right to vote in future elections,” the government says in its motion to the chief justice. “An adjournment of the appeal is warranted to allow Parliament to debate and consider the bill.”

At issue in the legal battle is a ban on Canadians’ voting in federal elections if they have lived abroad more than five years. Ontario’s top court has upheld the restriction as constitutional, prompting the pending the Supreme Court challenge.

The government says putting the case on hold until the top court’s 2018 winter session would respect Parliament’s role in deciding important public policy issues. It would also be in keeping with not wasting court resources by spending time deciding on an issue that will likely have been resolved and would therefore be “moot,” the government says.

The two plaintiffs, however, argue that Canada’s highest court should reject the government’s adjournment request.

They argue expats won’t be able to vote in at least three byelections scheduled for before the legislation becomes law. They also say it’s not certain the bill – introduced in November – will in fact pass, and that the decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal upholding the voting restrictions was wrong and needs to be dealt with.

The key underlying point, the expats argue, is that the Supreme Court should affirm their right to vote is guaranteed by the Constitution and should not be subject to government whim.

“The appellants are highly vulnerable to any change in policy on protecting the right to vote of non-resident Canadians by future governments,” they say in their court filings. “Review by this court remains necessary, and delay is unwarranted.”

Gillian Frank, one of the two plaintiffs who live in the United States, said he was thrilled the Liberal government introduced Bill C-33, saying it would make Canadian democracy “more robust and inclusive” if passed.

At the same time, he said, the government’s adjournment request is premature and goes against the “democratic spirit” of their promises. In any event, he said, the Ontario Court of Appeal decision cannot be allowed to stand.

“Any government could remove our right to vote in the future,” Frank said in an email Monday. “The Liberals should support Canadians abroad at the (Supreme Court) and help us in our efforts to obtain a decision that will permanently protect our right to vote.”

The federal government has long argued the restriction on expat voting – enacted in 1993 but only enforced under the former Conservative government of Stephen Harper – was a reasonable and legitimate policy decision that in no way violates the Constitution.

Ontario’s Court of Appeal upheld that view in July last year, overturning a 2014 ruling that had declared the legislation unconstitutional.

Source: Feds want expat voting rights case adjourned due to proposed legislation – The Globe and Mail

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