Maneet Nagra wanted to vote in the Ontario election last Thursday and even received a voter card in the mail. All he had to do was go to the polls with an ID and mark X.
One big problem is holding her back: she is a permanent resident and therefore has no right to vote.
“I took the card and thought I could vote. I was kind of excited. And then I looked for her and it turned out I couldn’t, “Nagra told CBC Toronto.
Nagra, now 20, was born in the United States during a family vacation. She returned to Brampton as a baby and has since called the city home; go to school here, pay taxes here and one day, she hopes, she will vote here.
At present, voting – at the municipal, provincial and federal levels – remains a right granted only to Canadian citizens.
But Nagra’s situation again raises questions about why permanent residents can’t vote, especially after an election in which early figures show Ontario has the lowest turnout since the Confederacy.
“If they allow permanent residents to vote, it will encourage a whole new group of people to vote. And then they won’t have these problems when they don’t get enough people to vote,” she said.
Permanent residents “not tourists”
Ontario, Canada’s largest province, has a huge permanent population.
According to Canadian statistics, Ontario accepted 198,435 permanent residents in 2021 and more than 50,000 in the first quarter of this year alone.
“These are not tourists. They don’t just stop for fun. These are people who live here. Their children go to school here,” said Dave Meslin, creative director of Unlock Democracy Canada.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford, who arrives to vote on election day, has the power to allow permanent residents to vote. So far, his government has not acted on this authority at either the provincial or municipal level. (Nathan Dennett / Canadian Press)
“I think the question is: why don’t you let them vote?” The idea of democracy is that people should have some control over their lives, their neighborhoods and the places where they live. “
The government of Prime Minister Doug Ford has the power to change the system for both provincial and municipal elections, the last of which will take place in October.
CBC Toronto asked the government if it would consider changing the rules, but received no answer. This story will be updated when the government makes a statement.
Last Friday, Ford, hours after winning a government with a larger majority than he entered the campaign, told reporters he was not considering electoral reforms, although he did not comment directly on whether permanent residents should have the right to vote or not.
Allowing non-citizens to vote is not a new idea.
In fact, New Brunswick is ready to allow permanent residents you have a chance to vote in the next municipal elections, which are currently scheduled for 2026.
Mayer Semyatitsky, an honorary professor of politics at the Metropolitan University of Toronto, said there are more than 50 countries in the world that give the right to vote to those who are not yet citizens.
“So this is not … a really radical or wild proposal,” Semyatitsky said.
He says he believes governments have not shown more flexibility in rethinking voting rights because they fear rejection from people who may not like the idea of extending those rights to non-citizens.
Ontario elections say data entry problem has led Nagra to receive a voter card
CBC News asked the Ontario Election why Nagra was sent by mail with a ballot when she was not eligible to vote.
In a statement, the agency said that “updates on voter lists are carried out continuously, using information from federal, provincial and municipal sources, or through direct updates from voters in elections or through electronic registration.”
It went on to say, “If someone who is not eligible to vote is on the voter list, it sometimes means that at some point someone filled out an inaccurate form and sent it to one of our data partners.” .
Siemiatyck said he believes the Nagra problem may be caused by the fact that the Ontario election is no longer going door-to-door to build its voter lists and instead rely on various data sources.
Nagra claims that she has never declared herself a citizen and said that she still does not know how she got on the list. She plans to contact Elections Ontario to return her voter information card.
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