Despite the fact the student vote was one of the deciding factors of the 2015 Canadian election, parties are not putting enough effort into keeping this group of new voters interested in politics between elections. Political parties could and should do more to address the student vote if they want to be successful.
Even though young Liberal, Conservative, NDP and Communist clubs are run on campus to get students interested and involved in the political process, most students are not “card carrying” political supporters. More can be done to court the mass influx of voters aged 18-24, whose turn out went from approximately 38 percent in 2011 to approximately 57 percent in 2015 according to Elections Canada.
This previously untapped group of voters can make huge differences in battleground ridings like Carleton’s own Ottawa Centre riding, where Liberal MP Catherine McKenna won by just over 3,000 votes, many of which came from students.
One example of a political party taking steps in the right direction is the Liberal’s plan to create the Prime Minister’s Youth Advisory Council, which according to the Liberal Party’s website is going to consist of “Canadians aged 16 to 24,” working to “provide non-partisan advice to the Prime Minister on issues facing the country.”
This sort of committee is a great idea, implementing more of the same type for other ministers and MPs would elevate the policy from gesture politics to a concrete program to get students more invested in political decisions and make them feel like their voices are being heard.
