In Alberta, individuals can obtain a learner’s permit at 14, in Nunavut, 15. The rest of the provinces and territories allow youth to begin driving a motor vehicle at age 16, yet, these young drivers are not allowed to vote in municipal, provincial, or federal elections. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May argued for the voting age to be lowered if their parties would’ve been elected. The two leading parties based on Monday’s election, the Liberals and Conservatives, have not pushed for such a change.
Argentina, Austria, Brazil, and Ecuador all have reduced their voting age to 16. Some argue that by following in these country’s footsteps, Canada would eventually have a larger voter turnout because those who vote from an early age are more likely to continue to vote throughout their life, and those that don’t vote at an early age are not likely to.
As we can see, climate change has become an increasingly important issue in Canada. Young people are the ones who will experience the effects of climate change the most, so they should have a say in how the government will approach the issue. The older voters are the ones who most likely won’t be around if and when the sea level rises higher and the Amazon vanishes; therefore, it makes sense that youth get a say in their future.
At the age of 14, people are legally able to work a job and pay taxes in British Columbia, with their parent’s permission. Even though not many get a job that young, many teenagers do at some point in their high school years. This means that there’s a whole group who are working and paying taxes, but they’re not able to vote in how the government spends that tax money.
If the voting age would be lowered to 16, high school social studies classes that discuss Canadian government wouldn’t be filled with hypothetical discussions, but rather discussions that concern matters that the students are affected by and can have a say in. By having these discussions at school, students who had originally not planned on voting may change their mind because of what they learned in class.
In Nunavut, youth have become vocal about the lack of public services, like medical, education, and mental health services, in the Inuit languages, Inuinnaqtun and Inuktitut. These are various aspects of life that directly affect the youth in the North, but they do not have a vote in the matter.
If candidates had to also engage with youth for their vote on top of the older population, the political parties would be forced to make concrete plans for a better future for Canada to persuade the younger voters, because they will most likely be the ones primarily focused on the future.
The results from Monday’s election might have been incredibly different if people aged 16 and 17 were able to vote. We will see if our government will make voting age reduction a priority, but unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they will.
