The Youth Vote

[Rick_Donald]

There has been alot of dialogue in the media about the loss of the youth vote. Apparently they feel that none of it matters as the baby boomers vote is all that matters and that the current political parties and their members don‘t give a hoot about youth issues.
I agree that a lot of emphasis is put on the aging demographic but a few important issues which do relate to todays young people are also on the plate.
If the military is your goal right now ( I‘m assuming it is as you are on this website) than increased spending and manpower to the CF should be a priority of yours and deserves your vote.
Those of you caught in the quagmire of bureaucratic delays or just waiting until something opens up in the CF should be very interested in moving things along.
Other issues related to this is Canada‘s role in the global community. Every day we lose clout in international affairs as Canadian politicians rest on their laurels and let the rest of the free world look after the world‘s hot spots.
I can see how health care is the least of your concerns at your age so make some of the other issues yours and make it count.
And don‘t forget, the decisions made today by the voting population will be paid for by you with every paycheck that you sign over to the government.

 

[Slim]

Rick

Not that I‘m a youth, but I don‘t really believe any of them.

Slim

 

[scm77]

One of the reasons young people don‘t vote is becuase the politicians don‘t pay enough attention to areas that effect youth. But the politicians don‘t pay enough attention to them because it‘s not an important area because they don‘t vote. It just goes round in circles.

 

[wongskc]

I‘ll be voting this election, but I truely don‘t think it will matter. I doubt whether any of those issues that Mr. Donald mentioned will be addressed (at most given lip sevice) no matter how much effort my age group puts into it. Lets face it, aside from those who actually care about foreign policy, or us CF junkies, no one gives a rat‘s *** about the military. And those numbers are relativley small.

 

[Paul F]

They all promise you the world and then when they are elected and realise they can‘t keep their promises they break them. It doesn‘t matter who is elected, the outcome will be the same. Broken promises.

 

[Rick_Donald]

As i recall the last federal was won by the Liberals with only just over 50% voter turnout (the exact number I can‘t remember.)The demographics of those that chose not to vote I don‘t know either ut I sure as **** don‘t want a repeat of the last election just because we have no faith in the parties. It‘s the only system we have.
So, we can not vote and have more of what we‘ve had for 12 years or vote for a party that‘s platform comes closest to what you would like to see happen. Change isn‘t going to happen if we don‘t make it happen, young and old.

 

[nULL]

Doesn‘t really matter anymore. I can‘t help but feel that Canadian society is going down the tubes. Nothing is going to change no matter what government gets into power. Their job is to do what the majority of Canadians want, not what they want, and with votes guiding them, that‘s what they‘re going to do. Canadians aren‘t going to encourage the government to rock the boat in a major policy shift, so what‘s the point? Everyone who wants something different isn‘t going to wait around, they‘re just going to leave, and it‘s not going to be the old ones doing that.

 

[loyalcana]

I think its just another "pin it on the youth" media stories. The voter turnout for 30-50 age group isn‘t that high as well.

 

[Paul F]

Isn‘t there a certain percentage of registered voters that have to vote in order for the election to be deemed legitimate?

 

[Goober]

One of the reasons young people don't vote is becuase the politicians don't pay enough attention to areas that effect youth.  But the politicians don't pay enough attention to them because it's not an important area because they don't vote.  It just goes round in circles.

I agree, they youth vote isn't targeted, if it is, they failed horribly. There is not enough done to get youth interested in politics.

 

[Rick_Donald]

Food for Thought
The decisions made 20 years ago (when I was a youth) are affecting us today. eg. NAFTA, GST, Reduced budgets to DND, cutbacks to provincial transfer payments. I'm sure there are thousands of other decisions that affected the east and west  of Canada.
I guess what I'm saying is that you won't be a youth forever and the choices you make today will affect you greatly 10 or 20 years down the road.

 

[Smoothbore]

The voter turnout is minimal because voting for an alternative party would ultimately change nothing, as all parties in Canada are different shades of blue and basicly share the same goals. The Conservatives are turquiose, while the Liberals are indigo colour. And don't expect that by voting Conservative we'll be seeing Canucks in Syria shooting up terrorists in M1A1's.

BTW, greetings to all, and I look forward to your replies.

 

[Gunnar]

Different shades of blue?  No wonder you look forward to our replies.  Do I have to pay to cross this bridge?