Northern Ontario expats living overseas have their say in the federal election

Some of the voters who will help decide who represents northern Ontario in the House of Commons haven't lived in the region or the country for years. 

This is the second federal election where Canadians living abroad are allowed to vote.

"I'm really excited. I believe every vote counts," says Marlyn Kasten, who mailed in her ballot for Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing from North Carolina last week.

"I don't know if the riding I vote in is going to change, but at least I'll have my little vote there."

Kasten moved to the United States some 40 years ago, but has been back and forth a few times. She plans to move to Sault Ste. Marie next year to be closer to her family, but her last Canadian address was in her hometown of Echo Bay, so her vote will be counted in Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing. 

"I didn't like the idea I couldn't vote. I was kind of cut off from the democratic process," says Kasten, who became an American citizen last year and admires the "simplicity" of the Canadian ballot, compared with the long sheet she had to fill out in the U.S. 

"Even if I'm away from Canada, I feel I should still have a say in what happens there. Because I am Canadian," says Carmen Pekkarinen, who has lived in Finland for 23 years.

The 48-year-old was born in Sudbury, but grew up in Elliot Lake, so her vote will also be counted in the riding of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing.

"I don't think that their votes will swing any riding in any direction," Pekkarinen says of the expat voters.

"Me casting my vote in Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing is not going to tip the scale in any direction."

Frank Bach moved away from his hometown of Sudbury seven years ago and has been back this summer for a visit with his 10-month-old daughter.

He voted in the 2019 federal election from his new home in Los Angeles, but found it strange he got a choice in who the member of parliament is for "a place I absolutely do not live in."

"That felt kind of off to me, but I guess that's how the system is set up," says the 34-year-old. 

"I think you're going to see it become a real issue over the next 20 years or so, especially with remote work and decentralization of a lot of things and people.

"We've got some things to figure out."

Terry Collinge says most of the Canadians living in China on the social media groups he belongs to are planning to vote in this election.

But the 42-year-old, originally from Sudbury, thinks he is going to sit this one out. 

"Honestly, this time, I don't think I will. Due to the fact that I don't see a viable, worthwhile candidate to take the helm," he says.

Collinge says he's disappointed to see that Canada is even holding an election during the pandemic, which started in the Chinese city of Wuhan in the winter of 2019, where he was living at the time.  

Elections Canada doesn't specifically count how many expat voters cast a ballot in each riding.

It lumps them in with members of the Canadian military— who are able to vote in their home ridings if they are stationed overseas or somewhere else in Canada— and inmates who vote from prison. 

In the 2019 election, there were 823 votes in that category counted in the seven ridings of northeastern Ontario.

By comparison, there were 11,340 in the northeast who voted by special or mail-in ballot, a number expected to go up this election because of COVID-19.