MENZIES: No need to lower the voting age to 16

WATCH: Connected with Michael and Heaven discusses the push to lower the voting age to 16. (27:00 mark).

OPINION:

My first thought when hearing there’s another push to drop the voting age down to 16 was to think: Great! Now the politicians’ brain power will match the new voters.  

Alas, it is real. The second round of debate in the Canadian Senate happened on May 28 to amend the Canadian Elections Act. 

Discussed first in 2021, now back on the docket, this has been floated and pushed – typically by left leaning political groups – citing the urgency of today’s issues and how they affect Canadian youth. 

But then Senator Bernadette Clement’s rousing speech was clipped by CBC into a TikTok. She translated her talk into “Gen Z” and it provides all the cringe you’d expect.  

As one TikTok commenter aptly put it, “Aura -1000” 

“Honourable fam, waiting to vote until 18 is big yikes and mad cheugy. But S-201 hits different. Today’s youth slays and stays bussin’. That’s why we gotta give them a chance to clap back. If not, how will they be able to say they ate that up? No cap. This bill slaps and is electoral glow-up. I am its number one stan, for real.”

All the charm of the cool high school teacher or the with-it camp counsellor. That “Hello fellow kids” vibe. 

The general reasoning behind this is the idea that decisions being made now will disproportionately affect today’s youth. Things like climate change, for example, are used as reasoning. 

But decisions have always been made by politicians that will affect those that can’t vote yet much more than themselves. That is the function of politics: creating legislation that will have a long lasting impact for generations to come.

Sure, did I believe at the age of 16 that I had the mental acquity.to cast a ballot in a federal election. Best believe I did. And I had classmates who I thought could too. I also had others I wouldn’t trust to mow the lawn. 

18 is the right age

The voting age shouldn’t be lowered, not because there aren’t 16-year-olds who can make an informed decision, it’s because the line must be drawn somewhere. 

The legal age of adulthood, 18, is the best place to draw that line. 

There are 19-year-olds who don’t know enough to vote. Hell, there are 45-year-olds that don’t know enough to vote. That’s not the point. 

We’ve decided 18 is the age that allows you to do many things in our country. 

You can buy a beer (in Alberta), you can enlist in the military, are no longer protected by the Youth Criminal Justice Act, fornicate with other legal adults, expose yourself online, and on and on. 

And by the same logic, why stop at 16 to lower the voting age? Haven’t you read a good social studies essay from a Grade 8 student? If they’re old enough to take a provincial achievement exam and get their learner’s license, why can’t they vote? 

While we’re talking about it, let’s get real. 

The bright 16 and 17-year-olds arguing to lower the age because they want to participate in democracy can still do so. You can join political advocacy clubs, protest, or make a sharply worded TikTok. 

Participating in democracy is not just about voting once every few years. It’s about embodying your beliefs. For real. 

Besides, if they did lower the vote, teenagers would only get to share the feeling that today, your vote doesn’t mean a whole lot anyways… 

Menzies’ Voting Manifesto

I’ve long had many opinions about voting. To summarize them quickly: 

• If you don’t know anything about politics, don’t vote 
• “None of the above” should be an option on every ballot 
• Never let anyone ever tell you’re throwing your vote away if you vote for the party that most accurately represents your views, if they don’t realistically have a chance to win 

This is explained a bit in the video and will be fully fleshed out, maybe by the time I’m ready to start campaigning.