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Pique n' your interest

Apathy now!

My generation, and the larger 18 to 35 demographic, has often been accused of being apathetic – "having or showing no emotion or interest," according to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary – especially around election time.

We are constantly reminded that democracy is a hard-earned privilege not a natural right – a muscle that has to be exercised regularly if we don’t want to lose it to atrophy. And if you don’t vote, then you can’t criticize.

In the November 2000 federal election, only one in four Canadians that turned 18 that year bothered to return their voter cards to Elections Canada, and a fraction of that number actually turned up at the polls.

Voter turnout is in decline in most democracies, and while younger people have always been less likely to vote, there is a growing sense that apathy is at its worst.

Drastic measures have been taken to get young people to the polls.

In Australia, you have to register at the age of 18 and vote in all federal elections, or face a fine of $50 each time.

In the U.S., MTV and various politicians have attempted to "Rock the Vote" to increase turnout. It didn’t work. The Green Party and Ralph Nader held huge rallies in the 2000 election with all-star line-ups like Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder that attracted huge turnouts, but despite strong polling before the election, those votes didn’t materialize on election day.

In Canada, only 61 per cent of registered voters turned out for the last election. The Liberal Party won a huge majority in Parliament with 5.3 million votes, while 8.2 million eligible voters sat at home and watched hockey.

To put those numbers into perspective, the CBC estimates that 10.6 million viewers tuned in to watch Canada take on the U.S. for the gold medal in Olympic hockey.

Some critics claim that the education system isn’t doing enough to teach Canadians about citizenship, and the importance of voting. Others are calling for an overhaul of the whole political system in Canada, with ideas for creating an elected senate and switching to proportional representation in the house – other experiences in proportional representation in New Zealand and elsewhere have resulted in higher voter interest.

One thing is for certain, and that is candidates will continue to target young people with their campaigns, and will continue to pay the price for being naïve enough to count on a bunch of slackers. Still, you can’t blame them for trying.

We are a huge demographic, with enough collective power to elect any candidate or part we chose to back. If every young person who was eligible voted, there would be a viable three-party system in the U.S. by now, and members of the Green Party would probably be in provincial legislatures and Parliament in Canada.

Although I don’t have the statistics to back this up, I believe young people tend to be more moderate in their views than older voters. On the whole, I believe we are pro-environment, pro-choice, pro-education, pro-union, pro-peace and pro-equity. You can label us socialists, but with little in the bank and virtually no assets, we can still afford to vote with our consciences. If we vote, that is.

One of the reasons for apathy is the overwhelming feeling that no parties or politicians represent our views, at least none with any hope of getting into power and having a say in government. The voice of Green Party member in the Legislature or Parliament will always be drowned out.

Things are still a lot more democratic at the local level where there typically are no political parties to vote for, just civic-minded neighbours and a handful of issues that would appear piddling to an outsider.

Which brings me to our upcoming municipal election on Nov. 16.

Whistler is one of the youngest per capita towns in all of Canada, and it really showed in the last election. Just 2,300 voters turned out of 5,625 registered voters. Probably another up to 2,000 people would have been eligible to vote, but didn’t even bother to register in the first place.

Similarly, if you went to the all-candidates meeting, you would have noticed that the majority of people there were generally older. Many of them would belong to the so-called establishment – in other words, they were well-off individuals who own properties and businesses in Whistler. As such, they have a lot of different priorities than the rank and file locals that are living from paycheque to paycheque.

Young voters could have shifted that election any way that they wanted if they had only been so motivated, and there’s no denying that any candidate that is successful in moving this unmovable force in November is guaranteed a spot on council or the mayorship.

Past attempts elsewhere have shown that this is impossible, that the apathy among young voters runs too deep. I say don’t give up on us yet – we are the silent majority in this town. If you can move us, you win.

Here’s are a few hints:

We care about affordability. More affordable housing would be nice, but higher wages and less gouging would be nice as well. We also care about the environment, and want to see an end to development in the valley – fresh lines on powder days are a local’s right, not a privilege, and this right is more endangered than democracy.

To all the young voters out there, hit pause on the Playstation and take 10 minutes to figure out the issues and where the candidates stand. On Nov. 16, ski season will still be a week away and it’s going to be too cold for anything else, so let’s see some action on election day, already…

While we’re young.