In case you're wondering, conservatives are trying to keep people from voting in the True North, too.
The Tory government of Stephen Harper in Canada says Donald Sutherland can't vote. And Sutherland is mighty annoyed about it.
"In 1978," the actor wrote in a Globe & Mail op-ed, "the government made me an Officer of the Order of Canada. The Governor-General gave me the Governor-General’s Award awhile back. I am on your Walk of Fame in Toronto. My sense of humor is Canadian. But I can’t vote. Did you know that? If you don’t live here all the time, you can’t vote."
That's because Sutherland's been living and working abroad (okay, in the US) for more than five years. So even though he still holds his Canadian passport, and has refused to take out American citizenship, Stephen Harper doesn't want him casting a ballot.
We cats are mystified. Why wouldn't a democratic government want to encourage — and make it easy for — all its citizens to vote?
And why, especially, disenfranchise a celebrity as big as Sutherland — an actor who, after multiple versions of "Pride and Prejudice," made us laugh like never before when he played Mr. Bennet in 2005?
"Is it because they’re afraid we’ll vote to return to a government that will once again represent the values that the rest of the world looked up to us for?" Sutherland asked. "Maybe."
We cats say there's no maybe about it. And we HISS.
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