More than a million Canadian expatriates are out of luck if they had plans to vote in their home country’s general election on 19 October, thanks to an appeals court ruling.



An Ontario Appeals Court ruling issued on Monday overturned an earlier victory for two Canadian expatriates who challenged a law barring citizens who have lived outside the country for over five years from voting in Canadian federal elections.



That 2014 victory temporarily restored right to cast a ballot to the roughly 1.4 million Canadians of voting age who have lived abroad for five or more years.



Gillian Frank and Jamie Duong, both currently living in the US, brought the challenge to the election law after learning they were ineligible to vote in the 2011 general election.



In Monday’s split decision, the province’s top court argued that the five-year limit under Canadian law was reasonable and that allowing all expatriates to vote would erode the “social contract” between the resident voter and Parliament.

“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,” argued Chief Justice George Strathy for the majority.

Strathy added that residents – citizens or not – pay full Canadian taxes and are required to obey domestic Canadian laws, and therefore bear both greater responsibilities and privileges than non-residents.

Of Frank and Duong and their long-term US residency, he added: “Their tax dollars are directed to the support of US policies, programs and institutions, not Canadian ones. They may well have an interest in Canadian politics, but their taxes go to Washington, not Ottawa.”

Of the estimated 2.8 million Canadians living abroad, only 6,000 actually cast a ballot in the last general election.

Public servants and members of the military posted overseas, and Canadian citizens who have lived abroad for less than five years, retain the right to vote in federal elections.

Other countries, including the UK, Australia and New Zealand, also place varying voting rights limits on long-term expatriates.

The lawyers representing Frank and Duong said they intend to seek leave to appeal against Monday’s ruling to the supreme court of Canada.