{"id":13717,"date":"2025-07-21T20:21:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T20:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/13717\/"},"modified":"2025-07-21T20:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T20:21:08","slug":"canada-should-follow-britain-and-lower-the-voting-age-to-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/13717\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada should follow Britain and lower the voting age to 16"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Research suggests young people who voted at 16 were more likely to keep voting through their mid-twenties, a period when turnout typically slumps.Arlyn McAdorey\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Scott Stirrett is the founder and CEO of Venture for Canada and the author of The Uncertainty Advantage.<\/p>\n

Young people are tuning out. Trust in institutions is crumbling. In recent Canadian elections, seniors were nearly 60 per cent more likely to vote than young adults. That\u2019s a democratic crisis. If we\u2019re serious about reversing the trend, Canada needs to adopt a simple, evidence-based idea: allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to cast ballots. <\/p>\n

Britain announced plans<\/a> to do so before its next general election. Countries such as Austria, Brazil, and Argentina already allow 16-year-olds to vote in elections. Many Canadians continue to dismiss the issue as too fringe or too complex to take seriously. It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

Lowering the voting age would increase turnout. Canada faces a youth voting crisis, with only 47 per cent of 18- to 24-year-olds voting<\/a> in the 2021 federal election, compared to 75 per cent of those aged 65 to 75. That\u2019s a massive generational gap.<\/p>\n

Austria lowered its voting age to 16 in 2007. Since then, 16 and 17-year-olds have consistently voted <\/a>at higher rates than 18- to 20-year-olds. Research suggests<\/a> the reason is straightforward. When young people are still in school and living at home, they\u2019re more likely to vote. Their environment is stable. Their peers and teachers reinforce the importance of participation. By contrast, 18-year-olds often face their first election amid life transitions \u2013 such as moving out, starting university, or getting a job \u2013 when voting is easier to overlook.<\/p>\n

More than 19 million votes cast in federal election, Elections Canada says<\/a><\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not just about a one-time turnout boost. As Dr. Christine H\u00fcbner from the University of Sheffield has demonstrated<\/a>, giving 16- and 17-year-olds in Scotland the right to vote appears to have disrupted the typical decline in participation during early adulthood. Young people who voted at 16 were more likely to keep voting through their mid-20s, a period when turnout typically slumps. <\/p>\n

Higher turnout makes democracy more representative and harder to erode. At a time when democracy is in retreat around the world, increasing participation \u2013 especially among young voters \u2013 helps protect Canada\u2019s institutions from the same fate.<\/p>\n

A lower voting age establishes civic habits early. Most Canadian schools teach civics in Grade 10, when students are 15 or 16 years old. That\u2019s the ideal moment to connect classroom learning with real political participation. Schools provide structure, mentorship and opportunities for discussion. When students have a real stake in democratic life, civic education becomes more than theory \u2013 it becomes practice. Waiting until after high school, when voting feels abstract or disconnected, is a missed opportunity.<\/p>\n

Countries that have successfully lowered the voting age haven\u2019t done it in isolation. Austria, for example, coupled its 2007 voting age reform with investments in civic education. Reforming Canadian civics education to include more political discussion, critical thinking, and mock elections would help young people see voting as relevant and accessible. In Scotland, young adults who remembered having political discussions in class were significantly more likely to keep voting in their 20s.<\/p>\n

Opinion: Why are youth worried for their economic future voting Conservative?<\/a><\/p>\n

A lower voting age gives younger generations more of a voice. Canada\u2019s youngest citizens are inheriting long-term crises they didn\u2019t cause \u2013 climate change, housing, intergenerational debt \u2013 but they\u2019re excluded from deciding how we respond. That\u2019s unfair and unsustainable. Ignoring young voices will only deepen the generational divide.<\/p>\n

Some argue that 16- and 17-year-olds aren\u2019t mature enough to vote. But we already trust them with serious decisions. They can drive. They can consent to medical treatment. In criminal court, they can be tried as adults. And we don\u2019t test adults for political knowledge before they cast their votes. Voting is a right of citizenship, not a prize for passing a maturity test.<\/p>\n

Some critics claim this is a partisan ploy, but evidence from Austria, Brazil, and Scotland suggests otherwise. Youth voting patterns<\/a> mirror those of the general population. Young people vote across the political spectrum. Their presence doesn\u2019t break democracy. It makes it more representative.<\/p>\n

Over the past decade, I\u2019ve worked with thousands of young adults through my role at Venture for Canada, which links interns and recent grads to paid opportunities at startups and small businesses. Most weren\u2019t apathetic. They felt ignored. Civic life always seemed like something that started after adulthood. By the time they were eligible to vote, the habit of disengagement had already set in.<\/p>\n

If we want a more engaged electorate, we have to start earlier. That means treating young people as citizens now, not future citizens someday.<\/p>\n

This is common-sense policy. It\u2019s backed by data and grounded in democratic values. Canada\u2019s young people are ready. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Research suggests young people who voted at 16 were more likely to keep…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-13717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}