Alberta municipal leaders push advocacy for voting rights of permanent residents Achi-News

A Calgary city councilor’s plea to get permanent residents the right to vote in municipal elections, an idea long rejected by Premier Danielle Smith as unconstitutional, has been defeated.

Account. Courtney Walcott presented his case to fellow municipal officials from across the province this week during the annual Alberta Municipalities conference.

In an emotional and lengthy debate, mayors and councilors from large and small municipalities begged each other to reconsider who exactly they represent in office.

A majority was needed to pass Walcott’s decision but he only got about 42 percent support in the end — 46 votes short.

If the votes were in its favour, Alberta Municipalities, the organization representing villages, towns and cities across the province, would have adopted the proposal and lobbied the provincial government to make the necessary changes to the Authorities Elections Act Local.

Those with permanent resident status hold many of the same privileges as Canadian citizens – individuals can work, own property, pay taxes and more – but cannot vote in elections or obtain a Canadian passport.

The debate on Walcott’s proposal on Thursday was the longest of all 21 resolutions to be debated as officials from more than a dozen municipalities weighed in.

Concerns were expressed about “watering down” the privileges of citizenship, a passport was used as a controversial prop and tears were shed.

Barrhead, Alta., town councilor Rod Klumph argued that giving permanent residents the ability to vote in municipal elections would “diminish the right of Canadians to govern themselves.”

“The people who get permanent residency also keep their citizenship in the country they left, and that’s what worries me,” he said.

Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, also a former Member of Parliament, disagreed with the implication that permanent residents are not engaged or loyal to Canada.

“It took me about 10 years to gain citizenship due to various reasons … but I have been loyal to this country since the day I landed here,” said Sohi.

“I volunteered for politicians. I gave donations to politicians. I went door to door to convince Canadian citizens to vote for a politician. But as a permanent resident for 10 years while I was doing that, I couldn’t get my right to vote.”

Sam Munckhof-Swain, a councilor in Beaumont, Alta., echoed Sohi, saying his path to citizenship was also long.

“That took years, and all that time I paid taxes in my municipality, and I never got a chance to vote for the people I wanted to make my community better,” said Munckhof-Swain.

“It doesn’t take anything away from you. It gives people more rights and makes our communities more welcoming.”

When it was his turn to speak, Penhold, Alta. Town councilor Cam Galisky held up a Canadian passport and said it was one of two “sacred” privileges of being a citizen.

“The most sacred and the most fought for was the right for the citizens to control their own destiny through their own votes,” Galisky said.

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“This will diminish that sacred right.”

Edmonton city councilor Aaron Paquette, who is Métis, said through tears that indigenous people have long been denied the right to vote in Canadian elections, and he did not want to see history continue to repeat itself by denying the same right to permanent residents.

“It wasn’t until the 1960s that Indigenous Canadians were finally given the full right to vote without having to give up our identity,” said Paquette. “There were people at that time who felt that giving indigenous people the right to vote would dilute or dilute that sacred responsibility.

“They were wrong, and they couldn’t have been more wrong.”

Other personal connections with the issue were shared during the debate to argue for and against the decision,

Charis Aguirre, mayor of Clyde, Alta., said she is married to a permanent resident, but is against the proposal.

Airdrie, Alta., councilor Heather Spearman referred to her stepmother, and said that since her stepmother’s tax money is just as valuable as a Canadian citizen, she should have the right to vote on how it is spent.

The debate was, to some extent, already a moot point.

In the spring, Smith rejected the idea shortly after Calgary city council approved the resolution for consideration at the Alberta Conference of Municipalities.

He said on social media at the time that while non-Canadian citizens are welcome to work and live in Alberta, only citizens should have the right to vote.

“That’s how it works,” he said.

Walcott said on Thursday that he knew his decision would lead to an encouraging discussion.

“I knew the discussion would be about citizenship (and) on a larger scale, but I was hoping the tone of local government would win out,” he said.

“We are not talking about provincial governments. We are not talking about the federal government. We’re talking about your neighbors. “

& copy 2024 The Canadian Press