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Passionate millennials just won’t vote

Generation writes off politics

Nothing is served by resorting to generational stereotypes. Although it’s easy to toss around labels like entitled (millennials) or selfish (boomers), most of the time, behavioural trends among these groups make a lot of sense when viewed in context of the events that have shaped their life experience.

But some stereotypes are hard to argue with — like the one about young people being politically apathetic.

Now, I know that’s not entirely true. A recent study from the Broadbent Institute showed the under-35 set have very strong feelings on issues like the environment, education and health care that are so distinct from older generations they could profoundly shift the political landscape of this country — if only they bothered to vote.

And herein lies the rub.

In B.C. less than half of 18 to 24-year-olds cast ballots in the 2013 provincial election, and 25 to 34-year-olds were even worse, less than 40 per cent voted. In contrast, nearly three quarters of voters aged 55 to 75 showed up at the polls.  

This does not bode well for the prospect of a Yes victory in the transit plebiscite, where a stark generational divide means those who rely on transit the most, people under 40, are the least likely to be counted in deciding its future.  

The Yes campaign has done an admirable job to court to this group — Mayor Gregor Robertson even showed off his DJ chops at a recent warehouse party in East Van to celebrate the cause. But considering the stats, I’m not optimistic it’s enough.

I called up Paul Kershaw to discuss my fears. As founder of Generation Squeeze, a non-partisan lobbying group aimed at standing up for the interests of younger Canadians, and a professor at UBC’s school of population and public health, Kershaw has been mulling over the problem of young voter apathy for some time. In his assessment, attempts to make voting seem sexy or hip are often too little, too late.

“Part of the answer rests, ironically, with not focusing so much of our attention on voting per se, but actually stepping back many months and years before one’s asked to vote and talk about what happens then,” he says.

In appealing to younger demographics only when they want something from them, political machines of all stripes feed into a “broader cultural malaise of discontent” that has shaped the political views of young people.

“We’ve actually reared a bunch of people in their 40s and younger to think politics is irrelevant to their lives,” Kershaw said. “We don’t motivate people to pay attention to the details of decisions that are taking place in politics.”

If younger people had a better understanding of the political back story that brought us to the referendum in the first place, Kershaw believes, they would realize how their own inaction has played a role.

“I think it’s critical for younger people to ask: ‘why the heck do we even need a referendum to raise $250 million to invest in transit when the provincial budget that was just tabled found more than double that for medical care?’ We didn’t need a referendum on that,” he said.

“I would say the answer is largely, well, 50 cents of every medical care dollar goes to the 15 per cent of the population over 65, and older British Columbians are more likely to vote.”

And so goes the circular logic of the young voter issue: political parties and governments don’t try to appeal to us because we don’t vote, and we don’t vote for precisely that reason.

But Kershaw contends we can break the cycle. His Generation Squeeze aims to redirect the narrative on politics away from distrust and disgust and toward the considerable political clout we could gain if we were educated, organized and active.

“We need to learn from the wisdom of our elders,” he said, citing the lobbying efforts of the Canadian Association for Retired Persons, which, at 300,000 members, is bigger than many political parties and has successfully demanded action on issues affecting Canadians over 50.

“However, we haven’t been doing the same thing as younger Canadians, and until we do, we will have so much less influence on the platforms that the left, the centre and the right campaign on.”

Kershaw hasn’t completely written off a Yes victory yet, and neither have I. But we both agree that younger people will shoulder a substantial part of not just the burden, but also the blame, in the event of a defeat.

“I’m hopeful we can turn it around, but if it doesn’t we’ll all have to look in the mirror as younger Vancouverites and say: it could have been different.”

No matter the outcome, we also need to answer the call of Generation Squeeze and start proving this stereotype wrong. For more info, visit gensqueeze.ca.

jessica.barrett@gmail.com