I do not know if James could help us out with this.
My understanding is that the right to vote is directly linked to one's citizenship. A person who has been living in the Bahamas for 15 years and who has retained his or her right to vote might very well have become very disinterested in politics but, technically, if he or she has remained a Canadian citizen, he or she has the right to vote.
With this provision, the voting rights of people who have remained Canadian citizens would be revoked for other reasons. Conversely, we do not want non-citizens to be entitled to vote. We are asking that Neo-Canadians and newcomers supply us with proof of citizenship if they wish to vote. And inversely, we do not want Canadian citizens who no longer reside in Canada to lose their right to vote.
There is another question that comes to mind. Where does this five year rule come from? Why five years? One of my brothers married an American and lives in Denver, Colorado. If he has been gone for four years and eight months, he would have the right to vote. But if he has been gone for five years and two months, then he no longer has the right to vote. Did this rule fall from the sky or out of a tree?