American Arrives in Calgary for the First Time to Run Against Harper

A Canadian resident living in America for over a decade, Nicolas Duchastel de Montrouge, has revealed his plan to run against Stephen Harper in the upcoming federal election. Duchastel de Montrouge did not even visited Calgary until yesterday but he holds Canadian citizenship and arrived in the city Thursday for the leader’s debate. However, he still requires the mandatory 100 signatures from people living in the riding of Calgary Heritage in order to become a candidate.

In his remarks, Duchastel de Montrouge explained that “my goal is non-partisan, I have nothing against Stephen Harper. I really want to get attention to the fact that every single Canadian should have the right to vote, regardless of where they live.” He pointed out that almost 1.4 million other Canadian expats are not being allowed to vote by mail in the Oct. 19 federal election. The law, which states that Canadians who have lived abroad for more than five years can’t cast a ballot in any election, has been around for years but was not enforced until recently by the Harper government..

Although Duchastel de Montrouge has lived in the US for 15 years, he voted in several Canadian federal elections. He claims that “this concerns all Canadians because it concerns democracy. Right now, because of some bureaucratic change — remember there was no discussion in the House of Commons…there was no law voted. Someone just changed it.” Duchastel de Montrouge stated that “well, could they change it later so that people who don’t make enough money don’t get to vote? Or  [people who are] elderly or students? We have to be on guard for that.”