Youth vote 2019: In their own words

Jobs? Climate change? Student debt?

What matters to young people could have a major impact on the outcome of the 2019 federal election.

That’s why some of Journalism’s first-year undergraduate students headed out to ask young people what was on their minds.

They joined student journalists across the country in a J-Schools Canada/ÉcolesJ collaborative project in seeking answers to two key questions:

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

Here’s what our student journalists found…

Olivia Boisvert, 22

By Rachel Fiset

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“I guess it would have to be things that relate to me, so like student funding and the ways they’re going to support student education, because currently I’m a student. Obviously the environment too, we all know about the climate issues and as a young person that is valuable to me as well.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“Obviously I’m going to vote, I have to. The most important reason to vote is because it’s your future, well it’s my own future and those around me, and we all need to vote in this election.”

Brendan Français-Cope, 18

By Pippa Norman

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“Well, when it comes to the most important issue, a lot of people tend to go with, oh you know, climate change or equal rights or something along those lines. Personally, I feel like the underlying problem to all of this is the electoral process in general. Because it doesn’t matter what my opinion is if I do vote for someone, chances are, with the first-past-the-post, it’s not going to be represented, because I’m essentially a minority idea, and what I want to vote for probably won’t even be represented. So, if I’m going to be looking for someone in this election, I want someone who’s going to be changing the electoral process that’ll benefit everyone in more of a democratic way. Instead of thinking about the big issues that everyone wants to think about right now, I want to see, okay, what other ways are we going to be benefitting this country.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“I’m going to vote because I have that right to vote. My great uncle, he died in World War II. So, he helped fight for this nation to have that right to vote. With that being said, if you don’t want to vote, personally, I don’t think you should be penalized for it, because you have a right to vote and if you’re being penalized for doing – or not doing – something you have the right to do, is it really your right?”

Jacob Howell, 21

By Valerie Patulot

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“Although it is under the provincial division of powers, I think access to post-secondary education, considering OSAP cuts.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“I will be voting and the reason for that is because as much as every individual vote matters, a lot of people see the perspective that, ‘oh, it’s just one vote’ but a lot of articles have been published on millennials outweighing the Baby Boomer era. [I’m] trying to encourage by example for students and anyone really to vote so that an impact can be made.”

Jordan Collacut, 19

By Sarah Rosario

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“When it comes down to what’s on my mind during this election, some of the biggest issues to me are: climate change and building a greener future, increasing national defence spending, and ensuring affordable housing. I think many of the issues I consider as priorities are very diverse across the political spectrum, which can make voting difficult sometimes! But so far, I like the direction Canada is moving in, so I definitely think that voting to continue that moment is important.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“Funny enough, I actually have already voted; I cast a special ballot last week at my riding’s Elections Canada Returning Office. I did some thorough research into the candidates in my riding, and also looked at the polling. In my riding of Kanata–Carleton, it’s polling as a tight race between the Liberal incumbent and the Conservative candidate. The Liberal incumbent has been an incredible Member of Parliament for our area and championed issues like accessible internet services (in some of the more rural areas, like where I live, this is a huge issue to many residents), as well as getting Light Rail Transit to the urban areas of Kanata ahead of schedule. The Conservative candidate (or really, the Conservative party as a whole) has really disappointed me this election. From shady campaign tactics to misleading Canadians about the current government’s actions, I think Canadians deserve a much cleaner, fairer election.”

Ben Smith, 18

By Isabel Harder

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“Climate change because it’s the existential crisis of our time and things need to be done about it if we are to overcome other problems in our society. And more so immigration, because I think it’s important to have the right people coming to our country at the right times and I think there should be stricter limits based on your expertise and your education.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“Yes I am [voting]. It’s your civic duty to do so. It’s something that everyone should have to do because it’s the greatest privilege you could have as a citizen.”

Jasmine Jeaurond, 19

By Valerie Patulot

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“Being a nursing student, health care is definitely a big issue. A big thing for me [is] when they do cuts in health care. Obviously I’m not for it.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“I will definitely. If we don’t vote, how will our voices be heard? I think it’s important because if all don’t vote we can’t complain about what we get or don’t get.”

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If we don’t vote, how will our voices be heard?

– Jasmine Jeaurond

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Josh O’Gorman, 23

By Rachel Fiset

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“That’s a good question, I’m going to go with what I thought about in the last election and it’s more on funding for science and R & D projects and scientific research. Because I know the Conservative government that’s not something they capitalized on last time and that’s something I was disappointed in, because I am a science major and I think it’s important. Like health care, and research and science in health care as well.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election –  why or why not?

“I will be voting because I care, I mean I don’t want a show like in the US, so yeah I’m going to take the time to vote.”

Zoe Amo, 18

By Pippa Norman

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

” … just because of everything recent, looking at climate issues and that kind of thing is really important, but also, social issues are something that I value. (What kinds of social issues?) Well, overall, like LGBT issues, especially ones that are related to health. Both mental health and physical health and resource wise, that kind of thing.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“Yep. Because voting is something that is important to me. It’s something that my mom raised me to do, and it’s the first time I’ll be eligible to vote so I’m excited to do that.”

Eden Bekkers, 18

By Shadea Nance

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“The most important issue to me when deciding to vote or not would probably be climate change.” (Why?) “Just because I feel we should solve that first, it’s affecting everyone and everything and it’s something that we need to act fast on.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“Yes, I will … I feel that it’s important for us as the younger generation too kind of like change our bad habits in reference to like consumption and climate change and we can make that happen by electing someone who will act on that.”

Maggie Harder, 18

By Isabel Harder

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“Probably environmental issues, because I feel like they tie into other issues. I feel like most parties are socially left so human rights aren’t as much of a concern because I feel like if a party didn’t accurately cover human rights they wouldn’t have a big platform in the election, so environmental rights is probably my biggest thing right now.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“I am [voting], because I feel like my vote counts in this riding. Back home it wouldn’t count, I’d still vote but it wouldn’t count back home. I’m from Calgary, a real Conservative riding, [so] my vote would get thrown away.”

Mark Colley, 18

By Sarah Rosario

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“Over the past few weeks, I’ve really focused in on climate change and I didn’t think it was the most important issue to me but it definitely has developed into that over the past few weeks. I attended the Climate Strike march last Friday in Ottawa and that really opened my eyes and made it the most important issue to me. Climate change isn’t really the sexy and anger-inducing issue that some other things are, but it really is the biggest problem we face in today’s society.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“I will be voting in the upcoming election and in fact, I am already registered to vote. This will be my first time voting in a Canadian election … I’ve been living in the US for the past seven years so in that environment, focusing on politics that I could never vote in because I wasn’t a US citizen made me wish that I could vote and make a difference in that election versus being here in Canada and realizing that yes, I can make a difference in the elections, and knowing I can vote is really exciting. Primarily, I’m just really excited – it’s my first time. But also, I think it’s incredibly important to exercise my democratic right and get a say in how this country is run.”

Carly Plain, 18

By Shadea Nance

What is the most important issue to you as you decide whether or not to vote, and why?

“The biggest issue for me would be tuition costs.” (Why?) “I feel like since we are the ones going through education, that will eventually lead us to jobs to help out our own economy, I think its very important that tuition costs are low enough for everyone who wants a chance to go to school and get an education or a degree, as we will be the ones leading the economy soon.”

Will you vote in the upcoming federal election – why or why not?

“Yes, I will be voting … because the only way that change will be made is if everyone goes out and votes.”

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