Dear Editor:
Re: Let Grade 12 students vote, Burnaby NOW, May 31.
Much thought has been given and ink spilled to this issue, including the possibility of lowering the voting age to include high school seniors.
I have no particular issue with lowering the age limit, but I wonder - if the 19-to 25-year-olds are considered notorious for their absence at the polls then why would 18-year-olds be any different?
Are modern youth cynical, sceptical or just confused? We can all be forgiven for either of the above.
Adrian Dix took the apparent high road of not campaigning using attack advertising. He has, and will, continue to suffer the consequences for a long time. I think low turnout has other causes as well. His party failed to sufficiently differentiate its policies from those of the Liberals. Given that, some voters might think: "there is not much difference, why bother?" Other voters might follow the old saying: "better the devil you know than the one you don't." Any combination of those positions could have led to our current situation.
However, I think that there is something much more sinister happening to our electoral process.
Ujjal Dosanjh was an NDP premier in Victoria and a Liberal MP in Ottawa. Mike Harcourt was a Liberal supporter in the John Turner-era and then an NDP premier. Bob Rae was a left NDPer in the '70s, then a mainstream NDP premier in Ontario, then an interim Liberal leader in Ottawa. Thomas Mulcair was a minister in the Quebec Liberal government during Jean Charest's era. Mr. Charest was deputy prime minister as a Progressive Conservative and then the leader of that party for five years until leaving and becoming the leader of the Quebec Liberal party.
Our current prime minister, the Right Honourable Steven Harper is a special case. He was in the Reform Party, then Voters Page 8 the Canadian Alliance Party, and now the Conservative Party. He was found to be in contempt of Parliament, and yet was re-elected partly on the strength of the advertising attack against Michael Ignatieff. Mr. Harper, having belonged to the Reform, Canadian Alliance, and now the Conservative parties, all of which have supported Senate reform, then appointed Mike Duffy, Pamela Wallin and Patrick Brazeau to the Senate.
Is he expanding the horizons of his contempt to the senate?
There is a growing perception that our politicians will say and do whatever is necessary to get elected, and then if in a majority, they will then do whatever they want - the HST and the sale (999-year lease) of B.C. Rail come to mind.
If our politicians do not have any underlying principles and can jump back and forth between parties of apparently conflicting ideologies then who can wonder why our unemployed and underemployed youth cannot relate to $150,000per-year parliamentarians with million dollar pensions?
For that matter, it seems to be difficult for a large segment of the voting public. Hence the poor voter turnout.
Paul Bjarnason, Burnaby
