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On May 2nd, 2011, Canada is going to have it’s fourth election in seven years. According to polls, Stephen Harper is in the lead for votes, and not much has changed in terms of big moves for any of the parties. There is currently a ‘vote mob’ rising in Canada, with young people pressuring others to take a political stand and get involved in the vote. Elections Canada reported that only 37% of eligible youth voters participated in the last election.
It’s really important that young adults vote. The apathy we have as a generation towards voting is really quite concerning if you think that in years to come there will be no older adults to vote for us to make the important decisions about who runs this democratic country. Will we vote them? Or continue to not care? We sure find lots to complain about in terms of unfairness in our country and how it is run, but we lose the right to complain when we don’t try to do something about it by voting. It’s so important to make yourself aware of the politics now and start to engage in the responsibility of voting. We claim to be Canadians, and to hold ownership of this country with our status, but if its our Canada, we have the right to have a say in how its run! In some countries the people value their right to vote so much more, while we often just take it for granted.
A lot of young people I’ve talked to give the excuse that they don’t really know anything about politics, and it isn’t interesting to them. Fair enough, but that doesn’t really mean they shouldn’t be responsible for informing themselves and having a say. A quick way to see where you stand on some important topics is by completing the CBC Vote Compass survey. It’s also super easy to check out the party websites and read their platforms online. Considering the amount of time we young people typically spend on the computers, it shouldn’t be a stretch. Voting doesn’t mean you have to have a glaring, big sign on your front yard and go around harassing people about voting a certain way.
The parties are becoming more aware of the need to entice the youth vote. It could really change the game, if a potential rise of young people began to participate in politics. Leaders are trying to get the attention of youths by having Facebook and Twitter accounts, trying to address their needs (Iggy and his promise of support for post-secondary students), and by encouraging more online voter tools and online voting. I really believe however, that politics should be taught more in high schools. At the time of the last election I wasn’t old enough to vote but some of my peers were. Our history teacher took a few classes to give us a crash course on Canadian politics because he believed it was very important to educate us and hopefully encourage us to vote. If more youths were engaged through education, they may feel like their vote counts and they really can have a say and make a change. Our politics may not be as sensationalized as they are in the US, but we should still get excited about them because they are ours!
