House of Commons set to debate lowering voting age for Canadians – National
The Home of Commons will debate decreasing the federal voting age in Canada from 18 to 16 years of age on Wednesday.
NDP MP Taylor Bachrach initially launched Bill C-210, an Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (voting age), on Dec. 13, 2021. Wednesday’s debate would be the invoice’s second studying.
“We must always all be involved that voter turnout in Canada continues to be lowest among the many youngest voters and this invoice seeks to enhance that by forming voting habits whereas younger persons are nonetheless in class,” mentioned Bachrach on the Home of Commons after introducing the invoice.
“This invoice can also be about recognizing the rights of younger folks to take part in democracy,” he added.
If the invoice does move, it implies that each one that is a Canadian citizen and is 16 years of age or older on polling day can be certified as an elector.
Earlier than the invoice was launched in December 2021, a number of younger Canadians took the federal authorities to courtroom in an effort to strike down the minimal voting age.
The youth ranged in age from 12 to 18 years and got here from all throughout the nation, together with a number of from Nova Scotia and as distant as Nunavut.
They argued that the Canada Elections Act, which hinders residents beneath the age of 18 from voting in federal elections, is in violation of the Canadian Constitution of Rights and Freedoms, which states that each Canadian has the best to vote.
The youth mentioned of their software that being denied the best to vote “perpetuates stereotypical and prejudicial attitudes that younger persons are much less succesful and fewer deserving of collaborating in Canadian democracy by the voting course of.”
These {qualifications} aren’t imposed on these older than 18, they declare.
“Imprecise and unsubstantiated assertions about maturity are usually not sufficient to justify depriving a big portion of Canadian society their core political proper,” the declare mentioned.
Different international locations which have lowered their voting age to 16 embody Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Germany, Scotland and Wales.
– with recordsdata from The Canadian Press and World Information’ Amber Fryday
