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It seems Canada has a tremendous problem with youth and voting. There are somewhere near three million youth who are eligible to vote, and less than half do.
There's a lot of speculation as to why people our age don't vote when the time comes. The common reason people seem to land on is that we don't feel like the decisions our government makes affect us in any way. I've decided to compile a list of the current issues that do or will (in the not to distant future) affect us and some issues that could affect us should they actually come to head.
Canada's Involvement with the War on Iraq:
Had our involvement with the War on Iraq come down to a referendum, and our votes been the deciding factor in whether Canadian troops were sent to Iraq, youth voter turnout could become the difference between sending and not sending our troops off to war. How would this affect youth? I mean, you could just as easily choose not to enlist in the military right? But you have to sit back and think of how many youths have family in the military. By choosing not to vote, you could be sending your best friends father, uncle, cousin, aunt, or sister off to war.
And what if that issue were to come up in an election? What if a plank in the party platform of Mr. Stephen Harper or Mr. Paul Martin was to send Canadian troops to help Bush in his War on Iraq? Harper wants to increase military spending, what if he wanted to increase military activity as well? Your choice not to vote has just sent your brother, godmother, best friend, and next door neighbor off to war.
There were thousands of people protesting this war and the possibility of Canada's involvement in it, many of them were youth. How many of them (that can) do you think will show up to vote?
Abortion:
This issue can go two ways. Not voting could lead to abortions being made entirely illegal, or it could lead to them being entirely funded by our tax dollars. Neither of these outcomes sound very appealing do they? Should they be made entirely illegal, then those who have been raped, or victims of incest, will have to carry any resulting pregnancy to term. Should they be entirely funded by our taxes, and freely available, then any girl who decides condoms are no fun, and gets pregnant as a result could just walk into a clinic, have an abortion on us, and run off to do it again.
Gay Marriage:
This is a big issue in Canada right now. The choices we make this election could have a huge impact on it. There are thousands of homosexual youth. The choices we make today could decide whether they get to have something that homosexuals before them didn't have, the ability to marry their partners.
Conscription:
What if Canada lands in a situation where our candidates find themselves toying with the idea of reinstating conscription? Youth votes would sure as hell matter then! Mandatory military service for everyone ages 18 and over. The United States called it the Draft. I heard a bit of buzz concerning the issue when Bush first decided to go to war. Of course, it was just a bunch of students sitting around in a political science classroom, but what if it became a serious issue in Canada? What if it became part of a party's platform? Think about this, mandatory military service. And as whatever situation that brought it about grows worse, the people exempt from it grow less.
Other Issues
Here are some things that so obviously concern us and yet people still don't vote! Education should be the most obvious. With soaring tuition fees, a public school system that (in Nova Scotia at least) is not nearly as good as it should or could be, and frequent staff strikes at one major University in particular, you'd think that youth voters would be seriously examining what political parties are going to do about this, and vote for the guy they think will best work to improve it!
And what of health care? How many people in this country are honestly, seriously not affected by the governments decisions concerning health care? How many people in this country can safely say that they will never see the inside of a hospital? It doesn't matter whether as a patient, doctor, nurse, visitor or otherwise, how many can honestly say they will never see the inside of a hospital? Not too damned many.
And how many youth drive? I believe the parking lot at my high school was consistently full. I've nearly been hit by I don't know how many people my own age who really can't drive at all yet somehow landed a license. And how many issues are there concerning drivers? Hundreds? Thousands? Maybe I'm over exaggerating just a little, but honestly, it's not exactly a small number. Insurance rates, traffic laws, funding towards the maintenance of our roads and highways, I can probably go on. Most of these are dealt with mainly by Municipal and Provincial levels, but hey, you know what? We vote for them too! And funding does trickle down from the federal level, or at least we think it does.
Not voting could lead to someone you do not want leading your country doing exactly that. Complaining about your government is a privilege made available only to those who vote. You don't vote you have no right to complain. Layton in power and you really don't like him? Harper pissing you off? Martin doing something really stupid? Those of us who voted can sit back and say "Well, at least we tried to prevent it." Those who didn't vote can only sit back and say "Damn! I knew I should have voted!" because they really didn't make any attempt to elect someone who might have done better.
I really apologize to anybody who doesn't want to read me rant about anything not cute or jelly bean related, but the number of articles and letters to the editor I've read recently concerning youth and voting and how us youth are apathetic and don't see how politics affect us and blah, blah, blah, shoot me in the head please, now, get it over with, just really got to me this morning. I got tired of seeing it suggested that we don't find the government and their decisions to be relevant to us. I also realize some of the examples I used are exaggerated. I do that.
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