I am proud of the youth active in the Young Greens. For that matter I am proud of youth engaged in any political party and in work in social movements --- whether Amnesty International, Engineers without Borders, Oxfam, Greenpeace, Sierra Youth Coalition, World Vision, Otesha, the list is long.
We clearly need more youth engagement. Young people are increasingly not voting. The youth-run group “Apathy is Boring” has been trying to increase voter turn out among youth. It is not easy.
Reduced voter turn out is a national crisis, with only 58% of Canadians voting in 2008. And many of those not voting are under 30. Every political party should be reaching out to encourage youth participation.
Young people have the most to lose from bad policies. The climate crisis threatens the next generation and their children directly, and potentially catastrophically. The staggering fiscal deficit threatens them as well.
Obscenity is a subjective concept. Our culture is steeped in the F-word. John Baird used it on Toronto. (He did apologize). Trudeau may have said it, but it came out “fuddle duddle.” The Young Greens have used a version with asterisk inserted to make a point. To get more youth engaged. And what they are saying is fundamentally true. How many of us in the boomer generation can honestly dispute the fact that our generation has done an unacceptable amount of damage to this planet?
How should youth respond? Go to the mall? Do drugs? Party til the whole mess goes away? Or get active and engaged and call for meaningful engagement in the political process?
I am proud of them for choosing the latter.
I am a parent and a grandparent. I do not take their slogan personally. The real obscenity is that so many in leadership are prepared to ignore the climate crisis, and ignore the compelling warnings of science that this crisis threatens our very civilization.
As leader, I will not ask Young Greens to apologize or stand down. They are engaged. They developed the website and slogan to make a point.
They have my full support.