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Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Slow day at the office. I’m having fun learning more about this topic as I go, but it’d be nice if I could pull more than the dregs of the board who don’t even read stuff into these conversations. I miss Corsi and Peter.
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As one of the dregs of the board I admit I didn’t read the origins of this debate, just waded into the middle of endless pages of pros and cons of expanding voting. Your points in favour of the review seemed to be just a list of all the reasons to expand voting, not a discussion of whether it should be reviewed. I would have thought if you wanted to debate the review it would be about what fundamental issue or opportunity are they trying to address, why now, and importantly, what are the criteria for deciding this question.
If council wants to explore it so be it, but I don’t see it as a pressing issue. I’m also not sure what there is to explore because frankly, basing it on citizenship is not a decision derived from logic or economics or class - it’s based on the idea that citizenship confers certain rights and the right to vote is one of them.
For every PR who contributes economically to the community I’ll give you an international student, TFW, or Canadian who doesn’t to any significant degree. (And don’t read xenophobia into that sentence, they’re just ready examples of more transient residents)
Some PRs may be more politically and community-engaged than average but if the issue is lack of political engagement and low turnout it seems like motivating the voting populace is the way to go, not just expanding it.
As far as fairness and diversity go, almost anyone can become a citizen and are welcome here whether they do or not.
Regarding citizen’s voting rights, I don’t think any citizen should be barred from voting, except perhaps if they have been convicted of treason. I feel like even the most vile criminals are paying their debt through punishment but that doesn’t make them effectively non-citizens. I can’t see any punishment or deterrence factor in that.
But I’m back to arguing my view of the citizenship requirement. Backing up, what is council trying to address, why now, and what should the criteria be. I can’t think of objective criteria for such a review because I don’t think there really are any.