Here’s one thing Liberals and Conservatives agree on: Canada’s voting age shouldn’t be lowered to 16

The NDP’s Taylor Bachrach, who sponsored the defeated bill, said he was disappointed that so many Liberal MPs voted it down -- especially since a report on youth the government sponsored recommended dropping the voting age just last year.

Thestar.com
Sept. 29, 2022
Alex Ballingall

The latest parliamentary effort to lower Canada’s voting age to 16 died on Wednesday when the Liberal government joined the Conservative Opposition to defeat a private member’s bill from the NDP.

The bill’s sponsor, New Democrat MP Taylor Bachrach, had pitched the electoral change as a way to strengthen Canadian democracy, which he said is currently facing challenges from public feelings of powerlessness and alienation with political institutions. By expanding the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds, Canada could include teenagers in the political process at an earlier age and create voting habits that could last for years, he said.

He also alluded to threats to democracy abroad, arguing it is important for the Canadian government to make efforts to “buttress” the country’s democratic process by bringing more people into the pool of voters.

“When we look around the world right now, we can see that democracy is embattled, and I think it behooves all of us in politics to think about ways that we can buttress our democracy against those headwinds, ways that we can strengthen our system and make our country stronger,” Bachrach said before

Wednesday’s vote in the House.

“Bringing young voices into the conversation is one way we can do that.”

The bill was defeated in a free vote, 245 to 77, with New Democrats and the Bloc Quebecois supporting the proposed law, while the Conservative MPs, cabinet ministers and most Liberal MPs opposed it.

Bachrach had forecast the potential for defeat earlier in the day when he told reporters the government’s response to his proposal in private conversations had been “lacklustre.”

Expressing disappointment after the vote, Bachrach questioned how the government could oppose a measure recommended in a report on youth that it commissioned last year. He argued the government should have supported the bill, which was at second reading in the House, so it could at least be studied further by a parliamentary committee.

Bachrach also said he was puzzled by a statement from Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who said during question period on Wednesday that the government -- despite opposing Bachrach’s bill -- looks “forward to working with him on this important issue in the months ahead.”

“I’m certainly open to talking to the government about how we make this bill a reality in the future,” Bachrach said. “But today was a big opportunity, and

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit disappointed to see the vote result and to see so few Liberal MPs supporting it.”

Ahead of the vote, Justice Minister David Lametti said electoral reform is a “live issue,” but that further public consultation is needed before pushing changes like dropping the voting age.

“We feel that it’s a larger set of issues and the appropriate place to start is not a private member’s bill,” Lametti said.

“The best way to start that process would be through a larger dialogue with Canadian people that is not bounded by the committee process.”

Bachrach’s bill was the latest attempt in Parliament to lower the federal voting age. Another bill sponsored by Manitoba Sen. Marilou McPhedran is currently before the red chamber. Previous attempts have been tabled in past parliamentary sessions by the NDP’s Don Davies and Green MP Elizabeth May.

Liberal MP Mark Holland, who is now the government house leader, also tabled a bill to lower the voting age in 2004, a fact Bachrach highlighted Wednesday as he tried to push the government to support this latest proposal. Holland ended up voting against Bachrach’s bill.

Parliament, however, isn’t the only place where the voting age can be changed.

Cheryl Milne is executive director of the David Asper Centre for Constitutional Rights at the University of Toronto. Along with a group called Justice for

Children and Youth, Milne is spearheading a legal challenge in Ontario Superior Court of Canada’s election law on behalf of 13 teenagers.

In an interview with the Star, Milne explained that the legal challenge launched last December aims to strike down a provision in the Canada Elections Act that limits voting to people aged 18 and older. It argues that violates Section 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which states that “every citizen of

Canada” has a right to vote for members of Parliament and of other legislatures.

Milne said her clients’ goal is to convince the court to strike down the federal age limit for voting as unconstitutional, thereby forcing the government to legislate a new and more inclusive electoral system.

“There is not a very good reason for disenfranchising, essentially ... teenagers ,” Milne said, arguing they are competent enough, are old enough to work and pay taxes, and often interested in pressing political issues like climate change.

Jonathan Rose, head of the political studies department at Queen’s University, said Wednesday there are many compelling reasons to drop the voting age. He said it can help people form voting habits earlier in life, and bring young people into the political process at a time of low voter turnout and party membership.

As for arguments against the move, Rose pointed to political rationale: the status quo might serve the electoral interests of certain parties.

“Maybe you don’t want to increase participation,” Rose said. “If that’s what you feel, then this could be a good strategic or tactical reason to limit potential people to vote against you.”