Tuesday, December 23, 2025
ADVT 
National

Andrew Scheer not voting in U.S. election

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 28 Oct, 2020 10:17 PM
  • Andrew Scheer not voting in U.S. election

Former Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, whose dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship became an issue in last year's federal election, won't be casting a ballot in the upcoming American vote.

Scheer had been in the process of renouncing his U.S. citizenship ahead of the 2019 fall campaign.

But he ended that process after his party failed to form government and he subsequently stepped down as leader.

In the 2016 presidential election, there were approximately 620,000 Americans in Canada who were eligible to cast ballots, though only around 32,000 did.

Scheer was not one of them then either; he said last year he has never voted in U.S. elections.

A spokesperson was asked Wednesday whether he intends to vote this time and the answer was no.

Scheer received American citizenship through his father, a fact that did not become broadly known until last fall's federal election because, he said at the time, no one asked him.

The issue dogged him during the campaign in part because he had previously spoken out against high office holders hanging onto dual citizenships, without disclosing he was among them.

Though he won the leadership of the Conservative party in 2017, he didn't begin to take steps to renounce his American citizenship until just before the 2019 general election.

The decision to renounce was linked to the fact that he had a shot at becoming prime minister, he said at the time.

But the Conservatives failed to defeat the Liberals and Scheer announced in December he was stepping down as party leader, pending the selection of his replacement.

"Given the fact that I won't be prime minister, I discontinued the process," he said in May.

Current Conservative Leader Erin O'Toole is not a citizen of any other country, a spokesperson said Wednesday.

MORE National ARTICLES

Overdose fight: B.C. nurses to give out safer drugs

Overdose fight: B.C. nurses to give out safer drugs
More than 5,000 people have fatally overdosed in B.C. since the province declared a public health emergency in 2016, but fatalities were declining before COVID-19.

Overdose fight: B.C. nurses to give out safer drugs

Pressure Sri Lanka on human rights: activists

Pressure Sri Lanka on human rights: activists
A civil war gripped the country between 1983 and 2009, with insurgents who sought a separate Tamil state battling a central government dominated by Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese.

Pressure Sri Lanka on human rights: activists

Burnaby RCMP need the public's help in locating missing 26 year old man

Burnaby RCMP need the public's help in locating missing 26 year old man
Nathan is described as 5 feet 8 inches tall, with a slender build, black hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing grey sweat pants and black shoes, carrying a purple and pink backpack.

Burnaby RCMP need the public's help in locating missing 26 year old man

B.C. human rights office urges data collection

B.C. human rights office urges data collection
Kasari Govender says use of data about ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation is minimal in B.C., leading to policies that fail to address discrimination, including how people of colour may be disproportionately affected by the pandemic.

B.C. human rights office urges data collection

B.C. to add team-based primary care networks

B.C. to add team-based primary care networks
The networks connect care providers including doctors and nurse practitioners in a particular area with an aim to provide faster service.

B.C. to add team-based primary care networks

Daughter pays tribute to father who died of COVID-19

Daughter pays tribute to father who died of COVID-19
The memorial features a poster of physiotherapist Garry Monckton, who died April 2 at Haro Park Centre Society.

Daughter pays tribute to father who died of COVID-19