Community News
Democracy matters: empowering teenagers to participate in the electoral process
BY PAUL JONOR
As Canadians head to the polls on October 21st, there are many issues, concerns and questions about what is at stake as they vote in the federal election. There have been many discussions, debates, dialogues and town hall meetings about topics related to immigration, foreign aid, health care, environment, housing, gun control, abortion, mental health strategies, climate change and housing. Whichever party gets elected they will be able to make significant decisions that will affect the social, financial, economic and political outcome of Canadian teenagers who are in secondary school now, and those who have started university. They are an important voting bloc that has the power to ensure that their collective voices be heard by all Canadians. The exercise of their democratic right will no doubt tell the politicians that they are serious.
An awareness of how the Canadian democratic system works is essential in order to ensure that informed and active individuals can make free and fair decisions by exercising their right to vote. Knowing the rights and responsibilities of voting is necessary to being able to fully participate in the political process with a solid foundation based on knowledge, information and accurate and up to date data. As a voter, one must be weary of federal leaders vying for political attention by spewing out untold promises that clearly have financial costs to them in order to gain the crucial votes. It is important to know the platforms and policies of each of the major parties: Liberals, led by the incumbent Justin Trudeau, Conservatives under Andrew Scheer, NDP led by Jagmeet Singh, Green Party under Elizabeth May, People’s Party by Maxime Bernier and Bloc Quebecois in Quebec which is led by Yves-Francois Blanchet.
It is important that teenagers be aware that once they turn 18 years old and are a Canadian citizen, they are eligible to vote. In this regard, it is important to be aware of each party’s platform. Environmental issues (specifically climate change) have become a major issue that each party has been forced to address in their platform. The Liberals (who have been in power since 2015) have embraced environmentalism. They promised to protect 25% of Canada’s land and oceans by 2025. They instituted the carbon tax (or price per pollution), which has been opposed strongly by western provinces and have helped right-wing victories. If re-elected the Liberals have pledged to eliminate net-carbon emissions from Canada by 2050.
The Conservatives are more in favour of building pipelines across Canada and maintaining our dependency on fossil fuels and are supportive of tax cut measures. They have not released their political platforms yet.
Jagmeet Singh as the first minority to lead a political party is supportive of actions on climate change and having a national pharmacare program.
Elizabeth May has maintained an eco-agenda, and her party’s views are very explicit and has promised free tuition and basic income.
Maxime Bernier ‘s platform has been characterized as being right wing because of his extreme views on anti-immigration, rejection of urgency of climate change action and call for an end to “Official Multiculturalism” which has been a hallmark of Canada.
As Canadians head to the polls in the 41st General Election to exercise their democratic right, it is important that they cast their votes based on their knowledge of each party’s political views, perspectives, stances and platforms. Being knowledgeable is an important step in one’s political education; it allows a person to make clear, conscious and wise decisions with respect to voting for a candidate. This is the reward that is the right and responsibility of being a Canadian citizen. This is an important civic duty for teenagers.
Information about the main political parties can be found at the following websites: Liberals at www.liberal.ca, NDP at www.ndp.ca, Conservatives at conservative.ca , Green Party at www.greenparty.ca. Advance polls will be available at 115 university and college campuses in Canada where you can register and vote ahead of time by special ballot. Advance polling days are from 9 am to 9 pm from October 11th -14th. In order to vote, it is important that students 18 or older confirm their place of residence to ensure they are registered at that address and government-issued ID with photo, name and address. Further information is at elections.ca