Canadians heading south to help defeat Trump

[Donald Trump gestures as he speaks during the first presidential debate on Monday in Hempstead, N.Y. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson]

You need to have American citizenship to vote in the upcoming U.S. election, but that isn’t stopping a small-but-concerned group of Canadians from putting in some work to make sure Donald Trump loses on Nov. 8.

Canadians Rallying Against Trump is a Vancouver volunteer-based group advocating for the defeat of the Republican candidate and supporting Democrat Hillary Clinton for U.S. president.

“Someone as unstable as Donald Trump should not have 1,500 active nuclear missiles at his fingertips. Someone who thinks global warming is ‘a hoax’ should not be negotiating climate change agreements,” group co-founder Glyn Lewis says in a news release this week. “As good neighbours, and global citizens, we can’t sit idle.”

The group aims to connect concerned Canadians with the Clinton campaign not just in moral support of her efforts but also as volunteers actively working on her election efforts.

“Some of us are heading down to key battleground states to help reach out to voters. Others will be making phone calls using online tools,” Lewis says in the release. “Every American we reach, and encourage to vote, will make a difference.”

Lewis and about 10 other people recruited through the Facebook group plan to go to Philadelphia on Oct. 19 to volunteer, the Vancouver Sun reports.

Many of the group members were involved in the 2007-08 Obama for America campaign and an earlier group called Canadians for Obama.

Foreign nationals cannot contribute financially to an American political campaign but there is no restriction on volunteering in presidential elections, according to the U.S. Federal Election Commission.