Should non-citizens have right to vote?

Re Let non-citizens vote, Editorial May 19 The Star was right in 2005. It was — and still is — a “well-intentioned proposal that would dilute the privilege of citizenship.” Mayor John Tory is right not to yield to naiveté.

I say this as the descendant of immigrants who weathered the prejudiced past of Canadian immigration policy. My Chinese father was regarded as part of the “yellow peril.” Even with my experience, I would never advocate relaxing municipal voting requirements. A three-year wait for citizenship is hardly an eternity — it used to be five.

Capable, articulate visible minorities would be better off if municipal term limits were implemented. With a huge talent pool in the GTA, that is laudable, more effective and likely to get public support.

Simply paying taxes is a specious argument because everyone pays for services received. Despite the fact that other countries allow municipal non-citizen voting, people are still immigrating to Canada. It appears that municipal voting rights is not a sufficient incentive.

Also, since municipalities are “creatures of the province,” how long would it take before it is argued that non-citizens should also vote in provincial elections?

Canadian citizenship is one of the most cherished trophies in the world. Some in the contemporary global village will do almost anything to get it.

You were right in 2005 — John Tory is right now. Gordon J. Chong, former Toronto councillor and Canadian Court of Citizenship judge, Toronto I strongly disagree with letting non-citizens vote in municipal elections. Canada’s citizenship requirements are extremely lenient (three years’ residency, some command of one of our official languages).

It takes at least that much time and commitment to form an educated opinion, even about issues as mundane as condo development, transit and garbage collection.

If a permanent resident has an interest in engaging in meaningful civic discussion on these matters, citizenship should be a prerequisite.

Canada is incredibly generous and open toward newcomers. Voting is a privilege and a responsibility, earned through citizenship. If this ill-considered proposal to extend the vote to people too limited in their commitment to assume the responsibility of citizenship goes through, then I, as an immigrant, and as a citizen, would cease voting. Brigitte Nowak, Toronto Letting non-citizens vote might not be such a good idea. First, rather than using the federal or provincial voters lists, Toronto would now have to have a different voters list with the extra people. Who will pay for the extra cost and how accurate will that list be?

Secondly, non-citizens (including foreign students and temporary workers) will likely have lower turnout than citizens, so the numbers for turnout will look even worse.

And in addition to voting, are we talking about letting non-citizens be elected? This might be OK if the right were only extended to landed immigrants, but what about temporary workers or even illegal immigrants want to run for council?

If we want greater diversity (including more women) on council, then the real issue is the huge advantage enjoyed by incumbents. Term limits won’t fix this, and even a ranked ballot won’t do much to help unless the underlying advantages of incumbents are reduced (if most voters know who the incumbent councillor is, but nothing about the challengers, then ranking is pointless).

We need reforms, but poorly thought out reforms can be worse than the status quo. Brian Graff, Toronto The Star cannot blow hot and cold at the same time. To say citizenship should not be a prerequisite to vote in municipal elections but voting in federal and provincial elections “would still be something special” and require citizenship is ludicrous.

What is so “special” about it? Is it intended to be some carrot to promote people becoming citizens? If we granted voting rights in all elections to permanent residents there would be little incentive to become a citizen since, other than the right to vote, run for elected office or obtain a Canadian passport, permanent residents have, for all practical purposes — work, education and health care — the same rights as Canadian citizens. Greg Sheehan, Mississauga