Voting In Canada

Thousands of these young adults are politically informed, politically active and have the concerns and demands many of the people who actually vote have. However, the youth of Canada also have concerns of their own which they are unable to address substantially. People under the age of eighteen for the most part are concerned in matters much different than say an employed thirty five-year-old. The youth under eighteen still are in high school they are concerned about as a grade 10 student from Western Canada High School put "class sizes, teacher disputes, and minimum wage", (Thompson) among other things. He later goes on to state the fact that by the time he has indeed graduated and become eighteen years old, he will no longer be interested in class sizes nor teacher disputes, therefore he will not address them in his decision on who he decided to vote for. This is a very valid argument and it is also true for the most part to say that the voices of these concerned children should be heard via the vote of their parents. The government of Canada sees the parents as a voice for their children, however parents inevitably will vote in a bias towards their needs such as tax cuts. Without the availability and opportunity to vote and voice their opinions in an electoral system the youth of Canada are left to impact the political process in other ways. Thousands of youth are involved in political parties, political rallies and interest groups

Canada’s friendly neighbor to the South, the US, has an electoral system that is composed of 3 separate elections, one of them deciding the head of state. The president elected by the people and he or she is the determining person of the country’s political system. In the US runs like a majority system” In Canada, however, elections are held slightly differently. Citizens vote for a Member of Parliament in a 308-seat house and candidates win not by a majority, unlike in the US, but by a plurality. This means that a candidate can actually win by simply having more votes than the other candidates. This method of representative democracy, in general, does not cause too much controversy in a global scope but has

“From 1972 to 2012, citizens 18-29 turned out at a rate 15 to 20 points lower than citizens 30 years older” from this data we can conclude that age is a demographic that affects voter turnout (What Affects Voter Turnout). Voting laws such as those of identification or registration impact voter turnout. For example, the introduction of early voting was meant to increase voter turnout, but has in fact decreased turnout (What Affects Voter Turnout). In response to the argument that the system lowers voter turnout rate, one should take the many other variables that contribute to turnout into account.

Canada’s voter turn-out is decreasing every year with now only 60% of Canadians voting in the federal election. Most of the non-voters consist of youth, where the majority of the votes come from seniors. Political observers have argued that mainstream politicians ignore youth concerns because they know youth are less likely to vote then seniors. This statement is true and has a negative effect on Canadian youth and Canada as a whole. The negative effects lead to the consequences of the youth feeling unimportant, youth not putting the effort to get educated about politics, and to the lowering turn out of Canadians voters.

Voting is a standout amongst the most principal parts of political engagement. Numerous political researchers connect voting with the strength of the popularity based process and contend that declining voting rates might be symptomatic of a democratic deficit. Since political support can likewise impact public policy, others are worried that lower investment could bring about strategies that are not really illustrative of key voting demographics, similar to the individuals who tend to vote less. Therefore, the voter turnout rate is utilized as one pointer of political engagement. In Canada, researchers who look at voter turnout have found various

An article written by a man named Daniel M. Shea brought up points regarding why there is lower turnout among young voters than those of older age groups. The author of the article is the director the Goldfarb Center of Public Affairs and Civic Engagement and a professor of government at Colby College. The main theme of the article is that there are a lot of reasons why young adults are politically apathetic and the author’s bias is that voter apathy is something that should be thought of as a concerning thing to citizens of the U.S.

Since a robust voter turnout is instrumental to the functioning of a healthy democracy, the ongoing decline of youth voter turnout in Canada is highly alarming. According to the Canadian Election Study, the reported voter turnout among Canadians aged 18 to 24 dropped from 83 percent in 1974 to 60 percent in 2000 (Barnes and Virgint, 2010). The aim of this paper is to explain this decline. While it is generally accepted that people’s propensity to vote increases as they age in their “life-cycle”, it does not provide an adequate explanation for the decline of voter turnout among young Canadians. This paper argues that the decline of youth electoral participation in Canada is, by and large, “generational” in nature – it can be attributed by the underlying characteristics of the youth generation. Young Canadians are more apathetic towards the political process, have a lower level of political knowledge, and view voting as less of a moral obligation than older Canadians and young Canadians in past generations.

Throughout Canada’s history, citizens have had an interest in electoral reform. The issue has been continuously brought up in both national and provincial elections for the last couple of decades. Does this mean Canadians are unsatisfied with the current first past the post system or does it mean that they are just following the ‘trend’ that has been brought forward? This question has recently been acknowledged by the government of New Brunswick and as such, has produced a discussion on whether it is a necessary for the province to participate in a referendum to reform its electoral system.

In 2012, 62% of the youngest voters showed disintrest in the political process. So what does this mean, give up on the young. Not an option, we need to get younger people more involved. They need more edjacation on how not voiting will affect them later in their life. They need to know

The political process in Canada meets the needs of all Canadians when Canadians elect people who represent us the Government. However not all of our voice is being heard, because not all Canadian citizens is going out to vote. Since Canada’s electoral process is First-Pass The Post, not all of Canadian voice is being heard because a riding can win by one. Because of this people don’t show up to vote since they feel like their voice isn’t being heard. Nevertheless if our electoral process is First-Pass The Post, the people will be willing to vote since all of their voices would be heard. This is how we can improve so that everyone in Canada gets the voice heard.

As the decline in voter turnout affects Canada and most western democracies, there is an increasing urgency to find a solution to this trend. This paper will evaluate whether civic education is indeed a solution to the trend, in hopes of re-engaging citizens. I would argue that civic education is a crucial measure to be taken in order to inform and mobilize voters. It is said, without question, that a politically savvy population is more inclined to engage in political participation. However, believing that civic education alone is the “silver bullet” solution to declining voter turnout is overly optimistic.

“Is Voting For Young People?”, written by Martin P. Wattenberg is based on his views on surveys and research that has been done on why there is such low turnout for voting when it comes to young people . His major point is that he wants to get across the problem of low youth turnout and it is by no means just an American one. It seems like this problem is a trend in most of the Western democracies and America is not alone when it comes to getting young people to the polls. In previous times this was not the case when it came to young people not knowing about politics and not voting. In 1970, there were actually no relationship at all between age and political knowledge (87). Moreover, older people used to be the least likely to follow major

There are several reasons as to why I chose this topic, because the young voices of America matter now a days. Young adults don’t realize that we are the next generation for the United States. Throughout my survey I came to the conclusion that there are a lot of young adults that aren’t registered to vote but they have a political view whether it be Democrat, Republican, or a Liberal. But they don’t see the purpose of being registered to vote because they aren’t really informed on what is going on in the society because it isn’t interesting for them at the time but what they fail to come to realize is that when they began to retire at an older age they won’t have the same benefits as the older generation do today. During my Research I found a lot of adults here in Florida aren’t registered and if they are they aren’t voting.

Political culture has been a subject of political science largely because it deals with attitudes and behavioral patterns of the population. This culture determines the relationship of the citizens with the political system . Elections, in particular, have a strong impact on these behavioral patterns and political attitudes. This covers various aspects which deal with elections and voting. People are always engaged in voting because of the perceived benefits that are obtained from balloting (McDonald 107). This means that regardless of the effect created by the outcome of an election, it may a have substantial effect on a person’s life. Citizens always participate in voting, playing the role of political actors in the political system. In order to understand this, it is critical for any political system to include the participation of its citizen. . With such a link created through voting, it legitimately serves the political system to the extent of democracy and shape policies so that they accord with the popular wishes and interest (Green, 79). In most of the parliamentary democracies in the world, for instance the U.S., the simplest and most straightforward form of political participation is

The current minimum voting age, 18, also marks the year of chaos and pressure for many young Australians. 18 is the time when many complete high school and continue to embark on university, TAFE or even full-time employment. It’s the time when many leave home and move to new and unfamiliar environments, and it is certainly the time when waves of stress that accompany the beginning of adulthood come crashing in for the first time. With all of the changes occurring in an 18 year old’s life, having to adjust with the new responsibility of voting at elections