Democracy on the line

Jessica Cunha

“Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”

Such was the belief of George Jean Nathan, journalist, editor, essayist and critic. And it’s true.

When it comes to voting young people just aren’t showing up to the polls, but feel a pressing need to complain about who is elected to office.

According to Elections Canada, in the 2006 federal election, only 43.8 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds bothered to cast a ballot. This age group had the lowest voter turnout, 19 percentage points below the national average.

This was an increase of 6.8 per cent from the 2004 election, but the final result is still a far cry from perfect.

In a democratic country like Canada, young adults should be exercising their right to vote instead of being politically idle.

Young voters need to start taking an interest in how their country is run.

Sure it might not be as fascinating as the hockey game or the latest episode of Gossip Girl but politics is, fortunately or not, a part of life.

Three of the biggest reasons for low voter turnout among young people, according to Elections Canada, are a lack of information, interest and initiative.

The youngest group of eligible voters aren’t educating themselves on electoral issues. The sad part of that is all the resources needed are readily available.

Newspapers, television and the Internet – all provide access and coverage of each of the four main parties and their platforms. Young people just aren’t tuning in to the message.

Part of this is due to the belief that it doesn’t affect me.

But it does.

Young voters, as cliché as it sounds, are the future of this country. Decisions made now will affect the future.

Platforms addressing childcare will become pertinent, if not so already, in the next couple of years for young Canadians. Health care is important for any age group. And, like it or not, taxes are something everyone has to live with so it’s important to know who is working hard to keep them down.

Even if the candidates are less than thrilling, even if none of them really strike a chord, the main question is, which one is the lesser of two evils?

So if voting can help keep bad officials out of office, go cast a ballot.