Murphy's Logic: Teach young people politics and let them vote

Murphy’s Logic: Turning voter turnout around Steve Murphy explores why voter turnout is declining and how young folks can become part of the political process.

People love to complain about our political system and the people who run it. And some of those who complain the loudest will also admit they don’t vote because they don’t trust the system.

But at least some of the most common complaints are based on a lack of understanding of the way the system is supposed to work.

For starters, the notion that the majority rules is simply not true in a parliamentary system, where the government seldom gets a majority of the votes, and often not even the majority of the seats in the House of Commons or the legislature.

Mr. Trudeau has been prime minister since 2015 without ever coming close to getting half of the votes. Since 2019, he has not had most of the seats. He’s sometimes accused of being a dictator, but our system gives the leader of the party that enjoys the confidence of the legislature near absolute control.

When the leader loses such support, the government falls. This is the way it’s supposed to work.

Similarly, first ministers have near absolute control over the executive branch – the cabinet and the departments run by the ministers. The ministers serve at the PM’s pleasure.

Our system also enshrines the Crown – the king and his representatives – as the embodiment of the state. That may seem old-fashioned, and it should be changed. But that won’t happen easily, if at all, thanks to a constitution which, although not old, is designed to be very hard to change – something else that’s not widely known because we don’t teach such things in school.

That may be another reason why people don’t vote.

One way to begin to turn this tide of apathy is to teach politics and citizenship in school and then, as an incentive to get involved in running the country, lower the voting age for high school. Students who pass a credit course in civics, they’ll be well-informed voters and better citizens.

It’s a good place to start.