According to Mr. Lawrence Martin, the next generation of Canadian leaders simply don’t care. (If there’s an inspiration deficit in our politics, blame it on the young) He claims, and rightly, that Canadian youth are more interested in voting for Americian/Canadian Idol than we are in voting in elections that influence the future of our country.
But “blame it on the young”? What sort of answer is that? The question you should be asking, Mr. Martin, is WHY young Canadians are so disillusioned by our politics and politicians that we chose to ignore or disengage from these debates, discussions or elections. Why is it that youth, more than any other demographic, are voting for the Green Party of Canada (which incidentally, might tell you something more than just we are tired of the liberal and conservative bikering and promises)?
And naturally, the question to follow are how do you engage Canada’s youth in meaningful debate and discussion? It’s not likely to be another campaign encouraging youth to vote. It’s going to be something like The First Drop encouraging discussion and engagement amongst young Canadians on issues that matter to us, or TED talks that inspire and call us to action. It’s movies like Good Night and Good Luck that show us fighting for a political cause and justice is possible.
I’d like to feature Amanda Henry’s response to Lawrence Martin’s article on youth participation in politics:
Ok Mr. Martin, I’ll bite
Globe & Mail columnist Lawrence Martin decided that taking pot shots at young people would be a good way to kick off the week. Specifically, at our apparently generational penchants for apathy, laziness, and voting for the “lowly” Green Party of Canada.
When we were discussing our initial thoughts on this article here at TFD, mine ran something along the lines of ” A detailed description of a nuclear bomb exploding in my skull would be a suitable allegory” for my feelings on Mr. Martin’s conclusion (”blame it on the young”).
With a good night’s sleep to think it over, I started thinking that was maybe a bit of an over-reaction (after all, nukes are no laughing matter). But I’m still more than a little bit annoyed at Mr. Martin’s tone, so I decided to do something shocking. I decided to rouse myself from my lazy, self-absorbed, apathetic stupor long enough to respond… also known as “taking the bait.”
Yes, it’s true that voter turnout amongst young people is spiralling downward and that more people vote for most reality TV shows than in most elections. It’s true that many young people take a decidedly negative view towards the efficacy of democratic politics if they bother to have a view at all, and it’s also true that this attitude is to their detriment in terms of the policy decisions are being made.
But voter apathy = smug complacency is a deceptively straightforward equation. It is a narrow view of youth participation in civic society and paints an extremely superficial picture of what it is about politics that has young people so turned off.
As voter turnout has plummeted over the last decade or so, other indicators of civic engagement have not followed suit. By way of an example, youth volunteerism has actually been on the rise. According to Volunteer Canada, people between the ages of 15 and 24 volunteer more than any other age group – 58% of people in this age group do at least some volunteering. And they volunteer for all kinds of things. Greenpeace’s Alberta wing has been running a highly visible campaign largely with the help of youth volunteers (agree or disagree, it’s engagement).
And it’s not that youth aren’t paying attention. While it’s difficult to compete with the viewership of the Idol franchises, there are little flashes of activity everywhere that show that not all youth are completely zoned out. The 2009 Global Youth Assembly saw well over 500 delegates from 34 countries (including Canada) converge to dialogue about all kinds of global social and political issues. At their last national conference Engineers Without Borders Canada brought together about 500 young people to learn about and discuss major social issues like global poverty reduction, fair trade and Canadian foreign policy, trade and aid.
Not to mention the dozens of blogs out there penned by young people about… you guessed it – politics and social issues. While I’m only really familiar with the Alberta scene, I’ll just mention daveberta.ca (and especially this post by guest contributor and fellow young person), the recent notmyairport.ca campaign in Edmonton, CalgaryGrit,and Edmonton City Councilor Don Iveson as examples of young people who are paying attention. And rest assured – there are others.
Mr. Martin is right about one thing: there is a profound disconnect between young people and “old-style politics and old-style politicians.” But he is dead wrong to suggest solutions that are cosmetic. Finding a sense of humour hidden in Jack Layton’s moustache or a tie that gives Stephen Harper magical charismatic powers is not the quick fix we are looking for.
The point is, young people are more inspired than we get credit for. We’re just beyond frustrated with how the game is played right now and until we see real hope for real change, a resonant vision for a better Canada, or some spark of possibility that we actually can be the change that we seek within formal political institutions, we will continue to invest our civic energy well away from the sphere of formal partisan politics. Which is too bad, because there is one other thing that Mr. Martin is right about: convincing young people to step into the political arena is the likeliest way to rid this country of its very real inspiration deficit.
-A
