While Québec solidaire is busy convincing young adults to vote, to boost its support for Monday’s election, in Ottawa the government of Justin Trudeau has closed the door to the idea of lowering the voting age. right to vote. An NDP bill, which proposed to lower it to 16 on the federal scene, was rejected.
Despite the support of the Bloc, the New Democrats and the Greens for Bill C-210, a consensus of Liberals and Conservatives refused to send the proposal to parliamentary study in committee. The bill was therefore defeated by 245 votes, against 77 support.
The government has not explained its decision to oppose the idea. Twenty Liberal MPs nevertheless supported Bill C-210 at second reading. In the lot, the former Quebec minister Marc Garneau.
New Democrat MP Taylor Bachrach, sponsor of the bill, argued on Wednesday that in Austria or Scotland, where the right to vote was extended to young people aged 15 to 17, the latter expressed themselves in greater proportions than young people aged 18 to 20. “We know that when young people take advantage of their right to vote, during their first election, they develop habits that follow them for the rest of their lives. And that makes our democracy stronger, ”said the British Columbia MP at a press briefing.
The Liberal and Conservative parties allow young people to become members of their party and vote in their leadership races from the age of 14.
Little support in Quebec too
On the Quebec scene, only Quebec solidaire (QS) and the Parti Quebecois propose lowering the right to vote to 16 years. The co-spokesperson for QS also called on young adults to exercise their right to vote this week, when the polls were open from Tuesday to Thursday on student campuses.
The Coalition avenir Québec, the Liberal Party of Québec and the Conservative Party of Québec are more in favor of keeping the minimum age to vote at 18 years old.
The federal Minister responsible for Democratic Institutions, Dominic LeBlanc, did not detail the reasons for the opposition of the government of Justin Trudeau to review the minimum voting age at the federal level. The minister contented himself with affirming, in the Commons, that he was “looking forward to discussing the question” with the sponsor of the bill, Mr. Bachrach, “in the coming months”.
Liberal MP for Hull-Aylmer, Greg Fergus, cited the risks of misinformation to justify his opposition to C-210 despite finding its objective “interesting”.
Justice Minister David Lametti opined that this kind of change would require “more consultation than is anticipated in the private member’s bill process.”
Liberal Mark Holland had himself tabled a bill in 2004 aimed at extending the right to vote to young people aged 16 and 17. Now Leader of the Government in the Commons, Mr. Holland did not vote on C-210 on Wednesday.
The polling firm Abacus Data estimates that in 2015, no less than 45% of voters aged 18 to 25 supported the Liberal Party of Justin Trudeau. In 2021, this proportion would have increased to 31%.
NDP MP Bachrach held up the Liberals’ abandoned promise on voting reform and predicted that young people would once again be disappointed and feel let down by Justin Trudeau’s government.