I am in a time capsule this week, roaring back to the year when my age was 16.
That was the year I got my driver’s licence, had a boyfriend with a truck and was the editor of the school’s yearbook. I was involved with the Junior Red Cross Club at the school and I provided coverage of school events to CHAB Radio and the Mainliner Coderre News.
The topic of being able to vote at our age was not a topic of conversation among my classmates.
The closest most of us came to election involvement was in the 1964 provincial election when I was 14. That year, my class was involved through the efforts of our English teacher, who felt current events should be taught at an early age. Our election campaign was limited to our class, although we did go outside the classroom for resources such as campaign brochures for all the parties, and newspapers that provided a perspective of the election beyond our community borders.
The teacher divided the class into the three parties: Liberal, CCF and Progressive Conservative. I was put into the Liberal camp to elect Ross Thatcher as the premier of the province. We researched the topics of concern, gave speeches for or against, depending on our party affiliation. The Liberal group was so involved that we wore T-shirts that claimed “Ross is Boss.”
My mom helped with the lettering on the T-shirt and my Dad told me to wear a sweater over the lettering so the neighbours wouldn’t think he was voting Liberal. It was all in good fun, though.
On the day of the election, the Liberals elected 32 MLAs to defeat incumbent Premier Woodrow Lloyd of the CCF, whose party elected only 26. The PCs managed to elect one MLA. In the classroom vote, the Liberals won with a clear majority. I was called on to give an acceptance speech. I’m sure it was eloquent, but certainly not as off-the-cuff as the speech given by the new premier upon accepting the election results.
Advance two years and there was more on our 16-year-old minds than thinking about being able to vote officially, in any kind of non-classroom election. But if we had been given the opportunity, perhaps we would have been up to the task of voting wisely and with knowledge of the campaign issues.
In the 1967 provincial election, our class discussed the campaign but did not have a full-blown lesson plan on that topic. We did hold a mock vote and once again, we matched the provincial results, re-electing Ross Thatcher. I could not find my Ross is Boss T-shirt for the occasion.
All of this historical musing is designed to let us determine if we think Saskatchewan/Canada should enact legislation to allow 16-year-olds to vote in provincial/federal elections. This topic has been discussed and dismissed on previous occasions, but now it is being brought to the top of the desk again because of legislation passed in the United Kingdom. Legislators there say the lower voting age will “strengthen British democracy and restore trust in politics.”
Should Canada and Saskatchewan follow suit? Those in favour suggest one-third of all 16-year-olds are mature enough to go to school and work in part-time jobs that put them on the tax rolls. The opposition says the 16-year-old mind is not sufficiently trained to cypher out fact from fiction when it comes to political campaigns.
Do 16-year-olds want to vote?
My 16-year-old self would have appreciated the offer, but I can say with confidence that others in my grade would not have been excited by the prospect.
Rather than going full bore into federal and provincial elections, how about starting by allowing 16-year-olds to vote in municipal elections? At that age, they drive and understand pothole problems and know from listening to their parents that property taxes are too expensive.
If I were voting, I’d say start locally and judge the interest and turnout from there. By the time any proposed legislation is debated and passed, those 16-year-olds will be 18 and eligible to vote without any hulla-balloo.
Joyce Walter can be reached at [email protected]
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
