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TORONTO — Allowing Canadians who have lived abroad for more than five years to vote in federal elections would be unfair to those who live in Canada, Ontario’s top court ruled Monday.

In a split decision, the Court of Appeal overturned a ruling that had restored the right of more than one million long-term expats to vote.

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Canada’s “social contract” entails citizens submitting to laws because they had a voice in making them through voting, the ruling states.

“Permitting all non-resident citizens to vote would allow them to participate in making laws that affect Canadian residents on a daily basis but have little to no practical consequence for their own daily lives,” Justice George Strathy wrote for the majority court.

This caused the debate to be cast as whether non-resident citizens were worthy of the vote. As a result, he overlooked Canada’s democratic tradition and the importance of the social contract between Canada’s electorate and Parliament

“This would erode the social contract and undermine the legitimacy of the laws.”

Strathy said the relevant part of the Canada Elections Act aimed to strengthen the country’s system of government. While it infringed on the rights of the expats, he said, the infringement is reasonable and can be justified in a free and democratic society.