On his campaign website, Liberal MLA Mike de Jong has called for lowering the voting age to 16, and has invited B.C. teens to tell him what they’d do if they were premier.
“Year after year voter turn-out has declined and among young people, participation is even worse,” said de Jong. “Young people can drive at 16, they can enter the military and be raised to adult court, we give them these responsibilities so why not take the next logical step and let them be full participants.”
“Political parties already allow 14 year olds to vote in leadership contests so voting for government at 16 is not that big a leap,” added de Jong. “If we want to engage young people, what better way than to allow students in their graduating year to become full participants in the electoral process.”
To engage young people to think about the future of BC de Jong announced a video contest. The contest is for youth to produce a short video on what they would do as Premier of B.C. or on what matters most to them today. Two prizes of a $500 Canada Savings Bond will be awarded to the contest winners in each age category.
Entries will be uploaded to a new web site www.beheardbc.com.
Crawford Kilian is a contributing editor of The Tyee.
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Jeffrey J.
2 years ago
Is This Guy for Real?
Sounds like a desperate sales pitch.
We are now witnessing the effects of MLA's long trained to do as they're told by their dad, er, I mean boss, Gordon Campbell. Virtually no ability to lead or act independently.
Unfortunately, this trend, while worse with Harper and Campbell, can be seen mirrored in all political parties.
After the end of WWII there was significant analysis of how brittle and mechanistic the German war machine had become as a result of a highly dictatorial, top-down authoritarian regime.
And we know what happens to those who don't learn from history.
Great coverage.
BC Blue
2 years ago
Desperate to be noticed
Can't drink, buy cigarettes, enter into a contract, drive alone but de Jong and Clark think a 16 year old should be voting
The Blackbird
2 years ago
Easy win for Liberal-minded parents
All they'll have to do is threaten to not buy their soon to be grads Beemers when they start college if they don't get off YouTube for a minute and vote. Might twist their arms if you let them iPhone in the car on the way to the polls. Even then, will they be sure their offspring will place an "x" in the right box, or an "x" instead of a checkmark or filling in the box or circling the box?
The Blackbird
2 years ago
Young Liberals, it's fine ...
to use any of the methods I've listed above when visiting the polls regardless of that boring stuff to read before placing a smily face in the box beside the person your dad told you to vote for. My favourite is folding the ballot into a paper airplane and aiming for the box. Don't forget the rules say if you do it that way and miss, you can't try again but that only means your vote will be counted twice for effort. If you want extra bonus voting points, bring a bic lighter and set the ballot on fire. Satan like's that one and will make sure your dad's friends win. Like, it's bad enough you have to even think about voting in the first place. Yawwwwwners! :-P
DJT
2 years ago
Unbelievable...
All you'd have to do is add the question "Who do you think has the coolest hair"? to the top of the ballot and you'd be all set....
puppyg
2 years ago
Creative! A new demographic
Creative! A new demographic to be mined for votes... the kiddies!
"Year after year voter turn-out has declined and among young people, participation is even worse..."
Maybe a twenty-year-old will feel more inclined to vote if he knows his kid sisters have the right also... but I think not.
What issue is Mr. de Jong trying to address with this proposal? As a way of engaging young people in the political process, it looks like a stinker.
Skywalker
2 years ago
Does Dejong really think...
...16 year olds will vote adn if they vote will they even know who/what they are voting for?
alive
2 years ago
It will backfire, liberals!
Sure 16 year olds can get a learners permit to drive, but there are restrictions!
Suppose we decide that with proper education they should get the vote, then remember that the school teachers will be the ones to do the teaching.
The same teachers who have been haunted by the liberal government for years.
So, maybe this proposal can backfire?
DPL
2 years ago
The quick survey in a school
The quick survey in a school which was seen on TV last evening ( Channel 12 Victoria)showing that the kids have a pretty sensible grasp on the reasons they don't feel they should be voting. It isn't the kids, Mike, it's you trolling for some Liberal votes that is confused
The Blackbird
2 years ago
Flashforward
In 2030, a group calling itself Children of BC Liberals Anonymous will file a class action lawsuit against the Province of British Columbia for infringing on their right to not vote by bribery.
I should state that I'm in favour of lowering the voting age. I remember being sixteen and aware of corruption in government and wanting to vote against the exposed. I only hope we don't see political rallies on school grounds.
freebear
2 years ago
So now they want
to make false promises to 16 year olds!
At what percentage turnout would an elected government be ashamed to accept power?
The electoral process is moving to paralysis!
Ramona777
2 years ago
Skywalker said:
"...16 year olds will vote adn if they vote will they even know who/what they are voting for?"
What about all of 20, 30, 40 etc.-year-olds who vote and don't even know what they're voting for?
Which begs the question: what does a person need to possess in order to vote? Intelligence? Well, that eliminates half of the voting population right there.
David C.
2 years ago
If young people can be...
...be prosecuted as an adult, can join the military and be killed for the state's foreign policy goals, then they should have a say in who determines these policies. Yes, the voting age should be lowered. But that in itself won't solve the ever declining participation rates.
Maybe on of the reasons that young people aren't voting is due to the Kleptokratic impulses of the governments that their parents and grandparents generations have elected. If there was a greatest generation, baby boomers (who are the "kids these days" parents) have to be the most selfish generation in the history of the planet.
seth
2 years ago
Fascist anathema
A great idea - Lucille Ball used to say that politics was everybody second job. What better place to start than reinstating civics courses to teach kids about government/politics - helping them through the voting decision process.
Unfortunately, this is anathema to the fascists that run our current governments and the MSM. The Howe street boys would shut this one down real fast. We can't have lefty school marm's teaching kids about civic responsibility and voting choices now can we.
Better they learn nothing, refuse to participate or get their political education from Bill Good or BCTV news and become good little fascists and sheepils..
Dan the socialist
2 years ago
It should of been 16 years
It should of been 16 years ago and I think it should be 13 or 14 myself.
Dan the socialist
2 years ago
They vote at 16 in
They vote at 16 in Brasil.
Can't drink, buy cigarettes, enter into a contract, drive alone but de Jong and Clark think a 16 year old should be voting
=======
So? In most of the world they can. North America is just a puritan state.
xandradhc
2 years ago
Thank-you De Jong, it's long overdue.
I absolutely support this move, regardless of my feelings about the party of the MLA in question.
I remember clearly being 16 and having Christy Clark come visit my high school in a working class town, telling us that the then-recent tuition hikes were actually a good thing, creating more spots in universities that most of us would never be able to afford. Being unable to respond to this type of bs at the voting booth, when most of us were well aware of what was really going on, was maddening.
Many 16 year olds are well informed and engaged politically already. Issues such as a fair minimum wage, child poverty, tuition rates, the environment, and many others also affect young people in a unique and significant way.
Yes, some will be uninformed, and some will be uninterested. But this is true across all ages.
I hope that this will be an issue to find cross-party backing, and that my party of choice (the NDP) will support it wholeheartedly.
motorcycleguy
2 years ago
ET Tonight and the military
I believe one has to be age 17 minimum and have parental consent to join the military. Does this mean parental consent on how to vote as well? There is no doubt a large portion of Grade 11 and 12 students can give our present elected officials a tough time in a debate.
If this is to happen, the CRTC must not allow the Province,Global, CTV etc use the term "News"...our "journalists" have become nothing more that aspiring Entertainment Tonight hosts (that must be why the "News" has its time slot, to keep viewers tuned in to the entertainment programming between 5:00 and 7:30). "News" connotes truthfulness. So does parental input. Our young people need to be fully aware of this potential for unfair swaying of their opinions. They must be equally exposed to alternate sources of information and ideas in a formal school setting. They are a captive audience both at home and in school, the potential is high for influence by left leaning teachers and right leaning corporate sponsors of school activities.
Until one has had this exposure to good information and been working a couple of years....wathcing one's own tax dollars being spent....it becomes tricky to balance a respect for their intelligence with comfort in a well thought out vote.
The Liberals (as a party) for sure aren't smart enough to impart this balance. Neither are the NDP (as a party).
Very interesting and valid topic, but should not be at the risk of sidetracking issues like BC Rail and draining of alpine lakes for export of power by private corporations.
I remember my Grade 9 project to take home clippings from different newspapers on the same topic and evaluate the slant. I got a real earful from my dad when I pointed out to him that what he said might be wrong as neither paper agreed with his point of view. After all, I read it in the paper, it must be true.
snert
2 years ago
Novice Permits
Send 'em through the same voter learning process as required for young drivers.
reallife
2 years ago
Really dumb idea
The politicians must know that not many 16 year olds have a grasp of what it takes to run a government. However, we have Clark and de Jong coming up with this dumb suggestion and when Leonard Krog was asked about lowering the voting age, he sounded supportive.
democracyseeker
2 years ago
I’m a boomer and I think
I’m a boomer and I think young people (16+) should be able to vote. Why not! They’re going to be paying our bills that will come due down the road. Maybe they would like a little input into what they're going to be paying for!
This age group more than any other, sees that our flawed voting system is broken and, until we fix it, we will continue to flounder from one unaccountable government to another, because that’s what our system does. If they’re going to change the voting age......maybe we should also engage in electoral reform?