Former attorney-general and Liberal leadership contender Mike de Jong says he wants to lower the voting age in B.C. from 18 to 16 in a bid to attract more voters to polls.
The Abbotsford West MLA, first elected to the legislature in 1994 said Wednesday that the idea, a rare policy stand in a campaign where his four rivals have been regularly laying out ideas on issues ranging from election dates to regional policy and the minimum wage, has come from suggestions from party members during his “Open Mike tour” of B.C.
“Instead of simply decrying the fact that fewer and fewer people are participating, we have to create a culture of engagement, and the only way to do that is to say to a student at a formative time in their lives, you are full members of society, and instead of leaving here and never voting or never voting until you’re 40 or 50, here’s your chance to make a difference,” he told reporters after announcing the idea during a radio interview.
Two of the other four candidates in the race issued statements supportive of Mr de Jong's proposal.
Kevin Falcon said he would back the idea as part of a package that should include mandatory civics classes for the new voters.
George Abbott said he would like to look at change in time for the 2013 election.
The former government house leader, who quit his cabinet duties to seek the leadership in a Feb. 26 vote, said the B.C. Liberals already allow 14-year-olds to vote in leadership contests so allowing a 16-year-old a provincial vote is acceptable.
The BC Liberal party already allows 14-year-olds to vote in its leadership contests. Chad Peterson, the party’s executive director, said the party has long cultivated an active youth wing. However he could not say how many BC Liberals aren’t old enough to drive, because the party refuses to divulge its membership figures.
“I can tell you from my personal experience, I joined when I was 15,” he said. “I was the first member of my family to join a political party.”
A spokesman for the BC New Democrats said that party passed a resolution in the last decide that allows 12 year olds to join the party and, therefore, vote.
Dennis Pilon, a University of Victoria political scientist, said some countries, such as Brazil, are lowering the vote age in a bid to counter declining voter participation by introducing the voting habit earlier.
“As far as it goes, I say sure, why not,” he said. “But people shouldn’t expect very much from it. The reasons people aren’t voting are more complex.”
Mr. de Jong said he does not feel compelled to rush to match the pace of policy positions of the other candidates, saying his tour is more about listening than dictating.
“[It] has been about saying to British Columbians: ‘Let’s talk about some ideas,’ and this is clearly a new one that has emerged from the course of my discussions around the province and I happen to agree with it and would intend to pursue it,” he said.
“But I don’t intend, through the next two months, to go around and tell British Columbians what a de Jong government is going to do to them. I think that’s one of the reasons the government is as unpopular as it as. We have gotten very good at telling people what’s good for them.”
