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OUR VIEW: Foreigners need to butt out of our elections

Canadians don’t need outsiders to tell us who to vote for
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THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang

Perhaps it’s decidedly un-Canadian to be so recklessly impolite but nevertheless, we have to say, those outside of our citizenry would have done right to mind their own business during this past federal election campaign.

Who they said they’d vote for – despite, of course, not having the ability, right or duty to vote in Canada’s federal election – is not the issue here.

It’s their meddling that is.

During the election campaign, Martin Luther King Jr.’s son declared that if he were Canadian, he’d vote Liberal in the federal election.

Thing is, he’s not Canadian. He should have kept his opinion to himself.

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Former U.S. president Barack Obama also weighed in during the campaign, endorsing Justin Trudeau via Twitter with “the world needs his progressive leadership now, and I hope our neighbors to the north support him for another term.”

Obama, too, should have minded his own business.

Of course, he’s entitled to his opinion. But his is no inconsequential opinion – it’s that of a former leader of the so-called free world, and as such carries substantive weight.

It’s ironic the United States has been freaking out over the spectre of Russia meddling in their federal elections. And yet, these American big-weights figure it’s somehow OK for them to pontificate on how we Canadians should vote.

Canada is not a troubled country, at least nowhere close to the degree that the U.S. is.

Let’s hope this type of meddling in our politics, from our neighbours to the south, is merely a one-off.

Now-Leader