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My mother reacted as if I had just asked whether aliens had visited.

In fact, all I had done was ask her if she had ever voted in an election in Britain in the 50 years since she left.

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“Why would I?” she asked.

My mother left Britain for Canada in 1968 and other than short visits back to see her family, she’s lived in Canada ever since.

Britain doesn’t currently allow expats to vote but Canada just passed a law allowing that and I wanted to gauge her reaction.

She thinks it is silly. So do I.

Until Prime Minister Justin Trudeau passed Bill C-76 through Parliament, a Canadian citizen living in another country could not vote if they had lived outside of Canada for more than five years. There were certain exceptions for people posted overseas, but generally, if you were gone for more than five years, you could no longer vote.

Unless, of course, you came back to Canada.

Canadian citizens have always been able to come back to Canada and claim their right to vote in person and by residing here.