Mr. Speaker, I want to say a few words in this debate in the House in support of the motion put forward by the member for Peterborough. I certainly support the motion he has presented to us.
In the last election campaign, the turnout for young people between the ages of 18 and 24 was around 25%. That is very low.
When I was elected here in 1968, I had barely turned 22 years old. In fact, I had turned 22 during the campaign. That was during the Trudeaumania era, the Kennedy era, the time of all the student revolutions in Europe and so on. There was a great deal of interest among young people in those days.
From the 1940s through the 1950s and 1960s to the 1970s, it was typical to have a turnout of about 75% or 80% in a campaign. After that, right across the board, we started to see a gradual drop in the participation rate at the polls.
Throughout the years, though, with the possible exception of the 1960s and the whole youth revolution, young people have turned out in very low numbers. Even then, it was lower than the average numbers for the general population of Canada.
It has always been a challenge to have young people participate in the political process, so I am glad we have this motion before the House today. I wish the member for Peterborough had not temporarily left the Chamber, because I wanted to ask him a couple of questions.