Why young people deserve the right to vote

In fall 2019, I landed in Prince Rupert, B.C., for an all-candidates’ debate at the local arts theatre. It was my first run for federal office. I was nervous. My fellow candidates and I did our best to answer questions, but what I remember most was what happened afterward.

I was invited backstage to meet a group of 16- and 17-yearolds who were part of a Chamber of Commerce mentoring program. I remember their questions being among the most insightful, challenging ones of the evening. These were informed, engaged citizens.

Two and a half years later, I tabled The Right to Vote at 16 Act, which aims to give young Canadians like those I met in Prince Rupert that evening the right to vote.

Issues like housing affordability and the worsening climate emergency have a profound, disproportionate impact on young people. They deserve a voice.

On Wednesday, my bill faces a crucial vote in Parliament. If passed into law, Canada’s federal voting age changes from 18 to 16, just as Austria, Scotland, Wales and many others have successfully done.

Canada’s voting franchise is a story of expansion. At one time only male, landowning British subjects could vote. Parliament has since rightly extended this to include women, Asian Canadians and Indigenous Peoples. In 1970, the voting age was lowered from 21 to 18.

There’s also the issue of rights. The Canada Elections Act arbitrarily sets the limit at 18, but Canada’s Charter affords all citizens voting rights, which can only be legally infringed upon within the reasonable limits of a free, democratic society. Is there sufficient reason to deny 16-year-olds their rights?

We give 16-year-olds all kinds of other responsibilities. In most provinces, they can drive. They can live on their own. Many of them work and pay taxes but have no say in how they are set. The Conservatives already allow 14-year-olds to vote in their leadership races.

Opponents of my bill often lean on stereotypes that are at best inaccurate and at worst ageist. Some argue young minds aren’t developed enough to make rational decisions, ignoring research showing precisely the opposite. I take a more optimistic view. Many youth are informed, engaged and passionate. They can access more information than any previous generation. They’re marching in the streets demanding climate justice; fighting for LGBTQ rights; working to create safer classrooms in the pandemic. And their issues span the political spectrum.

When the Liberal government asked young Canadians their priorities, as part of its first “State of Youth” report, they recommended urgently lowering the voting age to 16.

Attempting to obtain one more data point as I prepared my bill, I asked my then16-yearold daughter, Ella, whether she and her peers should be given the right to vote.

“Well,” she said, “I can see both sides of the argument.” Exactly. Today’s young citizens have a lot to offer Canada. It’s time we acknowledge that and let them vote. Our democracy will be better for it.