Released on February 12, 2008
Premier Brad Wall spoke with students today about an ongoing challenge in Canadian democracy - voter turnout among young people.
Wall asked students at Campbell Collegiate in Regina for their ideas about how to get more young people involved in the electoral process.
"When you think about it, young people have the most at stake in elections because the decisions that governments make today are going to affect them for the longest time," Wall said. "Yet we know that voter turnout among young people is the lowest of any age group."
In the 2004 federal election about 38 per cent of voters from the ages of 18 to 21 cast a ballot.
That was up from an estimated 25 per cent in 2000.
Wall said today's high school students will be first-time voters in the 2011 provincial election, so he wanted to ask them what elected officials and political parties should do to get more young people to vote.
"I think too often, us middle-aged politicians try to come up with solutions without asking the people we are trying to reach for ideas," Wall said. "Over the coming months, I plan to visit a number of schools to seek ideas from students on how to increase voter participation by young people."
-30-
For more information, contact:
Jennifer Johnson
Office of the Premier
Regina
Phone: 306-787-4829
Email: jennifer.johnson@gov.sk.ca
Cell: 306-529-5350