TORONTO, ONTARIO — What do we, as Canadian youth, think about what is taking place in the Canadian political realm? Canadian youth in general are purely disinterested in the unchanging, stagnant politics and politicians of the Canadian government. However, youth should be interested in the direction Canada as a country is going and who is taking us in that direction.
Why do too many Canadian youth show no interest in the future of Canada? The main reason is that we, as youth, are usually not listened to—our votes, or our opinions simply do not matter in the larger scale of Canadian politics. Instead, it is a “cute” concept that youth have an opinion or stance and want to express them in the greater world.
A large number of Canadian youth just do not vote because there is no patience in making an informed decision about our future leaders. Canadian elections lack a political culture of aggressive activism that would ignite passion and interest in youth towards politics.
There is no passion within the current politics of the country to induce interest. Change is a forbidden word in Canadian politics. Canada needs a passionate, innovative leader to encourage changes in the current political system, and to create innovation and creativity in the Canadian government.
A recent report conducted by federal, provincial, and municipal politicians, declared that today’s politicians need to change, or else they risk being left behind and replaced by a new generation who understands the importance of technology in politics and the world today. The study also suggests that through increased use of technology, politicians can better connect with Canadian citizens.
Another problem associated between young people and the government is youth generally do not trust political officials. Promises are made by the government and are not kept, resulting in a questioning of character and motive in the Canadian government. Every time the government makes and breaks promises, it creates a feeling of distrust. How can we, as the young people of Canada, begin to trust a government that from the prime of our youth has continuously broken promises?
For example, when the Liberal party was campaigning, it had promised to extinguish the GST. Once the Liberals were in office, they broke their promise and to this day the tax remains.
Brian Tobin, the former industry minister, had an innovative idea to “connect Canadians” through the broadband initiative of that name, which meant wiring all homes for the Internet. This was a phenomenal idea to introduce innovation and increased knowledge to the government and within it. But somehow the idea disappeared into the fog when Brian Tobin left his position.
The Canadian government made another promise to become electronic by 2004 in the October 13, 1999 throne speech. Surprisingly, in the latest throne speech on September 30, 2002, there was no mention about the government’s Internet initiative. Has the Canadian government realized once again that another of their promises is not feasible? These promises are made but soon fade into the background until the government’s motives are questioned.
The last throne speech, however, did focus a lot on youth. Has the government realized that there will be no future for the country if youth continue to be disinterested in the politics of Canada? With this great asset to Canadian politics, how can the government utilize Canadian youth to the best possible result? And is this plea to bring Canadian youth back into politics creating more interest? The motives of the Canadian government have to be continuously questioned because we, as Canadian youth, cannot trust the “broken promises” that has become their mandate.
This renewed interest in Canadian youth will have to take a stronger stance as too many young people have no motivation to become interested in politics. Our image of the Canadian government is that they never hear our ideas or plans. This can give us no reason to lobby for our causes, as we are not taken seriously in our efforts to create a better world and at least, a better Canada.
The Canadian government needs to shape up and become a leader that Canadian youth will admire and want to become interested in—a feat that, from a youthful perspective, is far in the future.
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Tanya Karas, 22, is a fourth-year criminal justice and public policy student at the University of Guelph.
