ENGAGING YOUTH
City of Charlottetown, youth advisory board holding political meeting later this month
City of Charlottetown, youth advisory board holding political meeting later this month
The City of Charlottetown and its youth retention advisory board are trying hard to engage young people in the political process.
And, with a civic election scheduled to happen in November, there’s no time like the present.
The board, made up of youth volunteers, will host an event called Youth in Politics at Bar 1911 on Longworth Avenue on Tuesday, Feb. 27, 6:30-9:30 p.m. Elections P.E.I. will be there as will some of the city’s staff and politicians.
It all stems from a report the youth board presented to council two years ago that covered people aged 16 to 35.
“One of the trends that came out of the results of the survey was there wasn’t many opportunities for young people to be engaged in the political process,’’ said Zac Murphy, a member of the youth board, adding that the perception is that the only way to get involved is to become a member of the Young Liberals or Young Conservative groups.
“After some discussion with the city and the other board members on the youth advisory board, we thought it would be relevant and timely to do an event like this since we do have a municipal election coming up in November of this year.’’
Al Douglas gave the youth vote a big boost in December when the 30-year-old social media personality and marketing events manager jumped into the mayor’s race.
Incidentally, he’s the only declared mayoral candidate thus far.
Murphy said Douglas’s candidacy is a big step forward.
“I think it would be great to see even more (young) people involved in the political process,’’ he said.
“(But) I don’t necessarily think that has to come in the form of running for council or for mayor. Perhaps it means that you join an advisory board, such as youth matters, or even just become a more engaged citizen in terms of understanding how the political process works.’’
In terms of getting involved, Murphy said challenges include the fact that many young people are just getting their lives started — buying homes and starting families — so the timing may not be right.
Coun. Kevin Ramsay, chairman of the committee responsible for the youth advisory board, said he’ll be at the event to answer whatever questions people might have about the political process.
“In my own personal view, it’s much easier to see how things operate from someone who has been there than just (to) jump into the fire,’’ Ramsay said.
“You’re always on call (as a councillor). There’s always someone who wants to ask you a question. It’s a real eye-opener. It’s a full-time job, really. The average citizen doesn’t realize that. The amount of time you put in with your emails, your phone calls, your meetings, the functions you go to. We hope to enlighten everyone about that.’’