Madam Speaker, I rise virtually this evening to pursue a question that I asked in the House some months ago. It was on the occasion of a wonderful conference that took place in Ottawa, called Vote16. There are movements across this country of people who want to see the voting age lowered to 16 years old. I am going to canvass very quickly why that is because the response I received that day from the parliamentary secretary was not about the issue of why it would help make our democracy more vibrant if we were to change the voting age, as some jurisdictions have. For instance, on the occasion of the referendum in Scotland, the voting age was 16 years old.
The problem we have in Canada with voter turnout, and it is a significant problem, is that it tends to go down over the years. The voter turnout that scandalized me was in the most recent Ontario provincial election. The last one had something like 46% voter turnout, so fewer than half of the people who were able to vote actually voted. That really is a blow to democracy.
The demographic group that votes the least in our country is the group that has, if we will forgive the expression, the most skin in the game: young people. The decisions we make in the House in 2024, in this Parliament, are going to significantly affect 16-year-olds for the rest of their lives. For people my age and older, there is relatively less of a long-term impact. However, young people vote the least.
When we look at the research, one of the reasons for that is as follows: At 18 years old, many Canadian youth are away from home for the first time. They may be away at university or off trying to find a job, making their own way in the world. They end up feeling they are not sure they know enough about the community in the new place they live. It is not where they are from. That tends to reduce voter turnout.
We also know from the research that, if young people do not vote at their first opportunity at 18 years old, they are quite unlikely to start voting when they are 25, 30 or 35. We put in place patterns of nonengagement and non-involvement. We add to that the general disgust of the public at political partisan games, and we end up having a very real risk of voter turnout continuing to go down.
I imagine turning that around, which we could still do before the next election, and saying that voting is now legal at 16 years old. Sixteen-year-olds can drive and pay taxes; 16-year-olds can risk their lives in many ways, and we accept that. Why could we not allow young people to vote at 16 when they are in their home community, when they have the support of peer groups and the potential for beefed-up civics classes? I have heard from many retired schoolteachers that they feel teaching democracy in schools has gone downhill in civics classes. Of course, this is in the provincial jurisdiction.
In the time remaining, I just want to say this: Let us seize the opportunity while we have time to increase the engagement of Canadian youth in the future of our country and to ask young people to step up and start voting at 16. I think we would see a positive impact for all of us, including seniors.