The Alberta Teachers’ Association

This is all to say that I have been reading and thinking extensively about the issue of declining youth voter turnout, the subject of my capping project, over the past two years. The issue is considerable.

Voter participation, in general, has been declining in Canada and around the world in recent years. Canadian elections held between 1958 and 1972 consistently turned out more than three-quarters of voters, whereas elections held since 2000 have failed to get any more than a 65 per cent turnout. The 2008 election garnered an all-time low turnout of 59 per cent. The issue is more severe in Alberta, where the 2008 provincial election attracted only 41 per cent of voters.

Our young people are leading this exodus from democracy; turnout of voters aged 18–29 years has plummeted since 1984. Young people, as a result of various lifestyle factors, have always had poorer rates of participation, but the problem has been exacerbated in recent years because of generational effects. In short, young people today are voting less and less compared to young people of previous generations. The problem will only get worse as high-participating older generations are being replaced by increasingly less active younger generations.

Perhaps surprisingly, young people are not getting turned off by the negativity of partisan politics so much as they are simply tuning out. Low levels of knowledge and interest are more often cited as the cause of low participation, as opposed to cynicism. Young people either don’t know about the issues, candidates or process at all or don’t know enough about them to care.

It is fortunate, then, that we have programs like Student Vote that engage students before they become voters. Student Vote is important because it strikes at the heart of apathy—the low levels of knowledge and interest. It provides teachers with unique, intriguing and hands-on ways to engage students. Its parallel election program ensures that students increase their knowledge of issues, candidates and the processes of voting. Its comprehensive and compelling multimedia resources garner interest and help reinforce the relevance of government, politics and voting in the lives of young people.

The effect is not just on students. An Elections Canada–commissioned study done on the program found that parents of children who participated reported an increase in their own political interest and knowledge. Of parents that voted, 20 per cent reported that their child’s involvement in Student Vote contributed to their own decision to vote.

Alberta’s teachers are some of the most ardent supporters of the Student Vote program. The rate of participation from Alberta’s students leads the nation, and the Alberta Teachers’ Association has been an important funder of past programs held during Alberta elections. As a result, Alberta students get engaged in the electoral process, encourage their parents to participate and increase their own likelihood of future civic participation.

The Harper government’s anti-­democratic Bill C-23 would ­effectively kill the amazing work of Student Vote. Sections of the so-called Fair ­Elections Act are built on the premise that Elections Canada should not be promoting voter participation. Under the bill, Canada’s chief electoral officer would be prohibited from engaging in any publicity or activities that encourage voting. Consequently, one of Student Vote’s most important funders would disappear.

Other aspects of Bill C-23 are also troubling. Stringent voter ID requirements will disenfranchise segments of the voting population who, research shows, are already less likely to vote: the young, the impoverished, Aboriginal people and immigrants. Other changes would hamper the ability of Elections Canada to adequately police and prosecute election fraud.

Fortunately, Bill C-23 is still before the House of Commons. Teachers, as pillars of democracy, should contact their member of parliament to express their concerns.

I welcome your comments—contact me at jonathan.teghtmeyer@ata.ab.ca.