When she was seven, Emma Abramowicz’s father campaigned for both the federal and provincial NDP candidates in her riding and she and her brother went with him. She now admits that might have been to partially spare him from dealing with the occasional rude response.
“In retrospect, I would imagine that having children at his side would make it less likely for people to slam the door in his face,” she said.
Growing up, politics was both dinner table conversation and a passion.
“I’ve been brought up to believe that an active participation in our system can lead to change that I think is necessary,” Abramowicz, 19, said.
These days, the second-year history and political studies student at Queen’s University said she still feels engaged, especially after voting in her first federal election, although she isn’t as blown away by the nationwide vote mobs.
Although she said she would have attended a student vote mob, exam schedule permitting, she isn’t sure the mobs actually encourage new involvement.
“I believe most students going out of their way to participate in a vote mob already plan to vote,” Abramowicz said. “I don’t believe that a vote mob would have encouraged my non-voting peers to vote.”
To get youth who are on the fence out to vote, she said she thinks more attention needs to be paid to social media such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, pointing to NDP leader Jack Layton’s YouTube ads and people’s Facebook statuses as good examples.
“It was very difficult to watch a YouTube video without hearing about [Layton’s] message,” she said. “Similarly, students who are engaged in politics . . . spent the weeks leading up to the election posting relevant newspaper articles, partisan messages and the like all over their Facebook pages. It’s an extremely effective way to spread information, even to those not looking for it.”
That said, Abramowicz, who spent some time campaigning for Daniel Beals, the NDP candidate for Kingston and the Islands, isn’t as quick as some to play the civic responsibility card.
“I vote because I care about issues within our society and I feel that certain parties can address those issues in ways that reflect my values. If you don’t care about issues in Canada and you’re happy to live your life without concern . . . I certainly don’t think you should be voting,” she said.
The idea is in direct contrast to the many who are trying to encourage voting after the 2008 election saw the country’s lowest turnout with just 58.8 per cent of eligible voters casting their ballots, according to Elections Canada.
“I believe that at a certain point, you either care or you don’t,” Abramowicz said.
Apathy, she said, starts when you are unable to connect real life with politics.
“It can begin in your home if your parents pass on the belief that there isn’t any merit to our political system,” she said. “It can even begin if your parents don’t talk about politics at all . . . young people will not, in most cases, go out looking for information if they haven’t been taught at some point that it’s important.”