The case for lowering Ontario’s voting age to 16

Around the world youth are bringing critical issues forward. Why should they be excluded from the democratic process?

In Ontario, politics has become messy and complicated. Many people are turned off from participating in our democracy. Partisanship has divided our province, and there seems to be no respite to the divisiveness that pervades our politics.

On June 7, Ontarians will head to the polls to decide the fate of the incumbent Liberal government. Many will vote to get rid of Premier Kathleen Wynne, others will vote to elect Doug Ford or Andrea Horwath as premier, and some will choose to just stay home.

Voter turnout in Ontario’s recent elections has been embarrassingly low. In 2011, 48 per cent of voters cast a ballot.

This increased slightly to 51 per cent in 2014. It is a shame that voters in Ontario do not cherish their democratic right to vote.

Liberal MPP Arthur Potts, who represents the Toronto riding of Beaches-East York, introduced a private members bill that proposes the voting age be lowered from 18 to 16 in provincial elections.

Private member’s bills seldom pass. Premier Wynne prorogued the legislature, which means Potts’ bill will have to be tabled again.

His proposal set off debate online and raised an important question: should teenagers be allowed to vote?

Other locations in the world, such as Austria and Brazil among others, believe so. Scotland saw youth participation as an important factor in its 2014 independence referendum. In that particular vote, voter turnout among youth was 75 per cent.

In Ontario and beyond, youth are bringing important issues to the forefront.

First Nations-led youth councils are holding the government to account on its promises to Indigenous people in Ontario, young activists involved in the Black Lives Matter movement are advocating for systemic change, and many others are making a difference in their communities.

Some act as if allowing teenagers to vote goes against natural law and would throw Ontario into anarchy. On the contrary, young voters would actually bring a levelheaded approach to politics.

As a 16-year-old myself, I wholly disagree with the argument that we are immature and lack the lived experience to exercise what should be a democratic right.

These arguments come from an older generation of voters, who simply do not vote.

Teenagers, on the other hand, have grown up with peers of diverse backgrounds and beliefs. Because of that, we are more comfortable with the changes that are coming to society.

Most young people do not deny that climate change is the most pressing issue of our time. The action that we take now will determine our very survival.

We know that we have a vested interest in the future of our province. What decisions elected leaders make today will affect us in the future.

The activism of the survivors of the Parkland, Fla., high school shooting demonstrate that today’s young people are articulate, courageous, and passionate. Their activism saw them go head-to-head with the National Rifle Association and Sen. Marco Rubio, a darling of the gun lobby.

Potts’ private member’s bill is unlikely to pass. With the chaos of an upcoming election and the likelihood of Doug Ford becoming premier, I highly doubt Ontario will see the voting age lowered any time soon.

Maybe, in time, the activism motivated by today’s outrage against social injustices will be the push Ontario needs to lower the voting age to 16. Young people should be given more than just our voices to make change.

It’s time to give us the right to vote.