On this same thing, doesn't that obviate the highfalutin rhetoric of the government about how Canadians were being deprived of their right to vote by the previous government when it turns out that Canadian citizens, under this legislation, are also deprived of their right to vote because of the mere fact that they never resided in Canada? I know several people who are in this ostensibly horrendous situation, who were apparently neglected by a government that expressed its moral horror at the fact that folks who had been away for more than five years had been left out.
Could you tell me what the moral distinction is between these two classes of Canadian citizens and how it's backed up by the Charter of Rights? Was it a request in the charter review of the legislation that was done by the Department of Justice?