3 THE KEY ISSUES
MILLENNIALS ARE NOT SHY ABOUT LETTING CORPORATIONS AND GOVERNMENTS KNOW WHAT THEY THINK
1 A SERIOUS LACK OF MEANINGFUL WORK
A survey earlier this year conducted by pollster Legerweb suggested millennials would be willing to trade a $10,000 raise for more meaningful work.
The online survey, done for cloud computing company Servicenow, asked 1,500 Canadian office workers about their jobs.
Another survey from Angus Reid found that 35 per cent of Canadian workers don’t feel their employer helps them develop their professional skills.
2 DISILLUSIONMENT AND DISTRUST
Millennials don’t trust corporations, governments or the media, according to the Deloitte Global Millennial survey, which gathered the views of 13,000 millennials from 42 countries, as well as 3,000 Gen Xers from 10 countries, earlier this year.
The survey found that millennials are pessimistic about the economy and social progress, they’re not satisfied with their lives, their jobs or how their data is being used, and they distrust corporate motives.
Millennials do value experience, however, and spend their money in ways they believe align with their ethics. They are quick to quit spending if they perceive a company is misbehaving.
3 LOWERING THE VOTING AGE
Christopher Martin, a Newfoundlander and associate professor with the University of British Columbia, says encouraging youth to vote can be helped by engaging them earlier. Martin says one option is to lower the voting age altogether, from 18 to 16.
“The main argument against lowering the voting age, as I understand it, is they youth don’t know enough or are too immature. Or they can be manipulated. But if that’s your reason, then it follows that you’re committed to denying the vote to lots of adults for the same reason. And if that’s the case, you’re no longer in a democracy,” he said.
In 2018, then-federal chief electoral officer Stephane Perrault, voiced his opinion that lowering the voting age is an idea “worth exploring.” The idea is also being explored in British Columbia, following a call by B.C. Green Party Leader Andrew Weaver.
Martin says he can see two key reasons why lowering the voting age could encourage a sense of civic duty earlier in life.
“One, political parties would have an incentive to capture their votes and this may mean policies on the table that speak to young people’s real interests, such as climate change, as well as the quality of public education,” said Martin.
“Second, if people vote young — and schools worked hard to ensure students understood the rights of responsibilities of a right to vote, it may instill voting as a habit longterm. At least more likely than they are, now. Habits are much easier to instill at a young age.”