Youth voting

Here’s an antidote to election fatigue. I have not edited this letter. (I did remove the name of the young man at his request before sharing his letter.) I find it inspiring that a 15 year old would reflect so deeply on the nature of democracy.

Dear Ms. May,

Hello! I am a fifteen year-old high school student from Vernon, British Columbia located in the Okanagan Valley. You graciously signed a copy of your excellent book “Losing Confidence” for me in a small bookstore while assisting Jane Sterk and Huguette Allen in their Provincial campaign prior to the 2009 British Columbia elections. You also left me your e-mail address, for which I am very grateful. Afterwards, I listened to your thoughtful and engaging speech about your book later in the evening. My deepest apologies for such a late response to your chapter titled, “What if There Was An Election and No One Came?”

Immediately before attending your book signing, I had just come back from an education project at an elementary school, where we introduced grade six students to greenhouse gas emissions and the important of trees on earth. We also played “CO2” tag, a game where a plant’s gas exchange is introduced to younger students.

To my deepest regrets, the book seemed to slip my mind for far too long, as our school environmental education club (www.kalteamgreen.info) had a surprisingly successful ice cream fundraiser, in which we raised $200 in just three days. Just five days after this, my grandmother took me to Ottawa for my birthday. She knows that I’ve always wanted to learn more about our government and out nation. It was a truly fascinating journey and one that I hope to repeat in the near future.

Since I have seen you, much seems to have happened. I talked to five members of my family about the Single-Transferable Vote for the referendum, but saw STV clearly defeated on election night, to my disappointment. I have also seen our foreign relations worsen along with our nation’s struggling employment insurance program.

After a very busy summer, I decided that I finally must read through the chapter based much on interest in politics and youth voting. I am very excited to be responding to the chapter as I promised to you, Ms. Sterk and Ms. Allen during your stop in Vernon.

As a young person, your statement about parents and families not having enough time together due to hectic schedules seems to make sense. Because of this, like you have said, we do not have time for miniature political debates around the dinner table anymore. In fact, in my family, I have to really work at saying something in order to provoke a discussion about Canada’s politics. However, I do not think that these discussions would cause my peers to become more interested in the workings of our government. Unfortunately, I think that this may simply cause them to leave the table. What needs to happen, in my opinion, is that they need to feel comfortable about speaking freely about government and leaders everywhere, not just at home. Your writings later in the chapter speak of high school clubs, and how no political affiliation is allowed in high school. I agree that this needs to change. In addition, merely speaking of support for a party might land a student in a spot of trouble. This makes things, to say the least, “uncomfortable,” or “awkward.” As a result, students do not want to participate or go near any sort of these activities. This will undoubtedly follow them into their adulthood years. If Canadians at large encourage young people to express what they want from them government, they will feel comfortable with the topic. Canada’s youth need to know what their political opinions are both valuable and accepted. I think that they will be intrigued to learn more about politics if it is in their “comfort zone”, driven by the young mind’s natural drive for change.

On the note of education, the book mentions “civic illiteracy,” which I personally find an excellent expression. I think that if a few changes are made to our education system, that expression will never have to be used in Canada in the future. From my own personal experience, the average student will learn most, if not all, of his/her civic knowledge from school. Although our current high school Canadian curriculum is quite decent, I believe that there are some major gaps. We are often fed non-biased, textbook information. We understand that Sir John A. Macdonald built the Canadian Pacific Railway to connect our country, and that William Lyon Mackenzie King was Canada’s longest-serving Prime Minister. Students in my grade may also know that Joe Clark was the youngest Prime Minister, Kim Campbell has been the only female one, and that Tommy Douglas proposed universal health care. Perhaps, however, if students knew the answers questions such as: “Why was Sir John A. Macdonald kicked out by a Liberal and then re-elected?” then students would be more interested. Maybe if students knew that William Lyon Mackenzie King had his term interrupted by a Conservative-Led coalition, perhaps they could understand that the 2008 Parliamentary Crisis wasn’t a coup d’état. If teachers are willing to dig into more controversial material such as some Progressive Conservative beliefs that caused the fall of Joe Clark’s minority government or Kim Campbell’s incredible social program mess left by Prime Minister Mulroney with resulting very short term in office, then pupils could understand the “whys” of Canadian politics. After learning about Tommy Douglas’s principles and the socialist ideals of the New Democratic Party and other beliefs found inside the political parties of Canada, students may finally be able to understand the background of our nation’s government. Then, perhaps after changes like the above are implemented in the education system, students may embrace our parliamentary system. Understanding “why” would be a significant step towards civic literacy.

Midway through the chapter, you have written a very powerful quote: “But how are young citizens supposed to become excited and engaged citizens?” I think that there is a solution to this problem. We need to make students feel comfortable around politics. It is my belief that if young people are not in an environment where political opinions are avoided and discouraged, they will keep that mindset throughout their lives. Also, if more time is spent at school on finding the underlying reasons behind Canadian politics, youth people will understand and realize that through our government, we can change our nation for the better. Although this will take more time, it may have an even greater impact than current high school curricula in Canada. Young citizens should not be afraid to read and share a party’s election platform. We can change Canada and the World for the better! But only if someone gives us the opportunity to understand and embrace.

I hope that you enjoyed my (rather long) response, or were able to see my point of view. In addition, I would like to congratulate you on your relocation to my home province of Super, Natural British Columbia. I know that you will find success here and make an impact on Canadian politics. Should there be an election in the fall, (as you predicted in the spring) I will be carefully watching the Saanich Riding and cheering for you!

Sincerely,

Okanagan-Shuswap Riding, Vernon, B.C.