A proposal by Montreal officials to allow non-citizens to vote in municipal elections could endanger the foundations of the nation state, a historian says. Montreal’s committee on social development and diversity urged the city in an April 19 report (pdf) to grant voting rights to over 100,000 non-citizens, saying that the move would improve immigrant integration and motivate a racially diverse group of people to participate in politics at the municipal level. “Granting voting rights to permanent residents is one of the ways to foster political participation and ensure better representation of the various groups that form society,” the report said. The committee, made up of mostly elected officials, wants Montreal to affirm its willingness to grant those rights to permanent residents who have lived “for at least 12 months on the territory of the city of Montreal” and to urge governments at provincial and federal levels to change laws, allowing …