Story by: Elizabeth Grace Desoe
Multimedia by: Dana Daschuk, Owen Benoit
Despite an increase in youth voting in the last federal election, young people are still disengaged with municipal politics.
“If you asked someone walking down the street who was running for mayor of Toronto, they wouldn’t be sure; but if you asked them who was running in the federal election, they would 100 per cent know,” said Karolina Surowiec, Vice President of Equity at Ryerson Student Union.
Surowiec said at the last federal election, youth were more politically active and engaged on social media than ever before. According to CTV News, 57.1 per cent of youth showed up to the 2015 election.
However, in a recent survey of students at Ryerson University, only 42.8 per cent said they were going to vote in the municipal election on Oct. 22.
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Of those that said they would not vote, 45 per cent were not informed about the elections in general and 12.5 per cent said they did not feel represented by the candidates.
“Generally speaking, young people do not make the connection between their interests, wants and needs and decisions made by government. As a result, they lose out,” said Arthur Ross, professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Ryerson University.
Students also feel that mayoral candidates are not making an effort to engage with youth and are not serving their best interests.
First-year Ryerson student Will Christofilos said he thinks voting is important but he does not know enough about the candidates to make an independent decision.
“I don’t think politicians are acting in our best interest. I think most of the time they just try and get votes whatever way they can, even if it’s not what they really want,” he said.
How can politicians engage more with young voters?
Surowiec said candidates need to engage with students both on campus and on social media.
During the summer a student group hosted a debate for Doug Ford and other candidates.
Surowiec said the debate was effective in addressing student-based questions such as what changes candidates proposed for the TTC.
“If you go out and talk to students face to face, that is effective because then you show that you do care about the students,” she said.
Third-year social work student Viktoria Bacenaite said interactive social media posts and in-your-face advertising is what will draw attention from young people.
“Social media is becoming much more common as a medium for disseminating information about politics; but I’m not sure it necessarily creates an awareness of a need to participate,” said Arthur Ross.
“The down side of social media is it tends to fragment as much as it brings people together,” he said.
Surowiec said students should care more about municipal politics because it affects them directly.
She said young people can get more involved by doing their research and going to events to figure out which candidate should get their vote.
You can vote on Oct 22. From 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. Click here for more information on voting and voting locations.
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