I have to apologize for being late writing about this event. Getting a campaign up-and-running has consumed a lot of time. That’s no excuse; the Youth Voting Call to Action event organized by Steinbach Regional Secondary School student Kristine Bolisay was well worth spending some time writing about.
Ms Bolisay organized this event, held on March 11, as part of a student project to inspire her fellow students to care enough about our democracy to get involved. What a great project, and so valuable in an age where apathy, particularly among youth, is affecting the outcome of our elections. Bringing 150 or so students in to the theatre at SRSS to hear us answer questions of interest to the students was a great opportunity for both students and candidates.
I was joined at the table by Trevor Kirczenow, the Liberal candidate for Provencher, and Julian McArthur, former chair of the NDP Youth wing. Ted Falk, the CPC incumbent, was invited but canceled the night before due to scheduling conflicts. It was the first time I have met Trevor and Julian and really enjoyed sharing some ideas with them and getting to know them a bit.
Six questions were presented to us to answer. We didn’t have time to cover them all in detail but we had some good conversation. As someone who is passionate about our democratic systems and a sustainable democracy, the questions really spoke to me. I’d like to touch on a couple of them here.
How do you feel about adjusting the voting at to 16?
Not only am I in favour of this, I think it is a great idea – one that will help build a sustainable and dynamic democracy. There is experience in other jurisdictions that shows if we can engage youth in the democratic system, and get them staring to vote, they will continue to vote all their lives.
The climate crisis, and the challenges and opportunities it presents, makes it ethically imperative that we invite the generation with the most to lose, and the most to gain, into the political decisions we need to make.
It is really important that we continue to push for meaningful electoral reform in Canada so that we make every vote count. We need a modern electoral system that can help bring a multitude of voices to the table in a spirit of consensus-building and problem solving.
It is also Green Party of Canada policy to reduce the voting age to 16.
How can I talk to my friends and family about politics without it turning into a big fight?
This comes up a lot for me. I love talking about politics. Just last night I got into some pretty big conversations at our local curling wind up. I don’t want to make my curling club buddies, my neighbours and friends, uncomfortable or angry, so it is important to me to walk a line that doesn’t turn into big fights.
First, remember that most of us, at the core, want the same things; security, happiness, food on the table, a roof over our heads, and health and well-being for our friends and families. We may disagree about how to get there but the disagreement is often the path to new ideas and consensus building.
It is also important to understand how our brains work. Jonathan Haidt in The Righteous Mind makes the argument that our ancient “lizard” brain makes rapid, emotional decisions and then our more recent higher brain spends its time rationalizing why the lizard brain acted the way it did. So your family is going to busy rationalizing why they feel how they do, rather than listening to your rational arguments. And you’re probably doing the same.
So, relax a bit. You don’t have to be right, and they don’t have to be wrong. And don’t forget to listen to their points too. Call out the stuff that is really harmful or blatantly wrong but leave some room for people to think and adjust.
How can I learn more about your party and Canadian Issues without falling into false information?
Great question because there is SO much disinformation out there. Try to observe what the difference is between journalism, opinion, and click-bait. Good news and journalism sources will often identify when a piece is opinion. That’s not news – that’s somebody’s opinion, with all their biases built-in.
My blogs here are opinion so don’t trust things I say here. But some of the work I do online such as writing policy for the Green Party of Manitoba and Green Party of Canada is usually backed up with more facts.
Go to the source! Check the party websites for their policy pages.
Look to well established news producers. Social media is loaded with opinion and misinformation. In fact, if you see any “news” pieces on Meta platforms like Facebook or Instagram, it isn’t news. Meta has refused to pay reasonable compensation to Canadian media producers for their work so you will find no news on Meta.
Get loads of variation in your news: left oriented, right oriented. Canadian. Manitoban. Local. Foreign. Be aware of foreign owned corporate news. They’re editorial policies are often influenced by the owners. Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch, and the Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, have both been impacted in their journalistic independence by their owners.
And check out news evaluation sites such as Ground News. Ground News is a Canadian site too! They rank news by left/right bias and can give you a clue as to where the biases are in what you are reading.
I highly recommend the following news sites, some of which I subscribe to:
- The CBC
- Canada’s National Observer (left leaning – lots of climate news)
- The Free Press (They own the Carillon and Brandon Sun too. They are one of Canada’s last independent newspapers.)
- Any local news: The Carillon, Dawson Trail Dispatch, Steinbach Online, the Niverville Citizen, The Clipper
- BBC (UK)
- The Guardian (UK)
- The New York Times (US)
- The Atlantic (US)
- The Walrus (Canada)
- The Tyee (Canada)
- The Hill Times (Canada)
Once you start engaging with some of these, it gets easier to analyse others for bias and reliability.
Thanks again Kristine for a great session and your service to our democracy!
