While I am not surprised, I am also no impressed that Harper is in office in Canada. Here we go, back to the days of Mulroney lapdogging to America. And just when America’s doing so well on the world stage.
Sigh. At least it’s a minority government. They won’t be able to crucify gays in the street and give the death penalty for people with recriminalized pot. Not till they get a majority government, anyway.
And before you ask, no, I did not vote. I would have to lie — to claim I had an intention to return to Canada soon — in order to exercise that right, and I am approaching the point where I’ve been a non-resident so long I’m not allowed to do so, or so I was made to understand. I would have probably preferred the NDP, but I understand there were really no good options. But still, Harper? Good grief, will we never learn?
The Canadian government cuts off your voting rights if you haven’t been a resident in a while? Ouch.
This is what I was told.
I was told specifically that you must claim an intention to be returning soon. I was working camp and had no chance to call the Embassy, and in any case heard about it too late to register, so I didn’t check into it, but a Canadian co-worker who’d looked into it said 5 years out of country and you can no longer vote; and that an intention to return soon means you’re once again subject to Canadian taxes. Which is very ouch.
In any case, this election was going to go that way anyway — the Liberals messed around too much with money to be voted in again. But it is still saddening to see these freaks in office.
Actually, the States has a similar policy when it comes to local elections–that is, I can only vote in federal elections, not local elections, because I’ve been away for so long. Which makes sense, if you think about it, since I don’t really care about local elections anymore anyway. But to not allow people to vote in federal elections… that seems pretty harsh. How long have you been gone?
I’ve been gone since the end of 2001. Which doesn’t quite add up to five years. If I’d known about the election sooner, and had more time, I suppose I could have voted. However, my little vote for NDP would very likely have made no difference even on the local scale.
And sadly, to be frank, I don’t follow Canadian politics enough to make an informed decision about who would be worse, the Conservatives or the Liberals. It’s like deciding between cholera and typhoid.