"Sorry, I Don't Talk Politics"

In my recent initiative to encourage Canadians to cast their ballots, I've started many a public, political debate. In coffee shops, pubs, restaurants and street corners (and it's only been 3 days!). Many attempts at political discussion have been met with replies of "Sorry I don't talk politics in public" which is a handy and polite way of getting out of a discussion. Unfortunately, it's only one in every three people I meet that are actually willing to even talk about talking politics, and I feel like maybe "I don't talk politics" is code for "I don't understand politics."

So I decided to conduct a little experiment, I took to the streets of Vancouver and asked citizens a few basic questions about Canadian Politics.

Out of 100 people questioned on the street, 44% were aged 30 and under, 31% were aged 30-50, and 25% were age 50 and above.

When asked how many political parties we had in Canada 62% of citizens responded with 4, commonly siting the Conservatives, the Liberals and the NDP and a fluctuating response of Green Party or Marijuana Party as the 4th selection. Only 2% responded that we had 17 registered political parties, while 24% responded with 5, Liberals, Conservatives, NDP, Green Party and Marijuana Party, and 12% responded with 3, Liberals, NDP and Conservatives.

When asked who the most recent Prime Minister was before Stephen Harper 76% of Vancouverites questioned responded with Paul Martin while 24% responded with Jean Chretien.

Just for fun, when asked the name of the Spouse of The Prime Minister 18% answered correctly, while 82% didn't know. When asked the name of President Obama's wife 100% responded correctly with Michele.

While I'm not a fan of numbers, my curiosity got the better of me and I sat down with my calculator and broke down my statistics into age groups.

For question one, 80% of 18-30 year olds believed there to be 4 political parties in Canada and for 42% of 18-30 year olds surveyed believed Jean Chretien to be the last Prime Minister of Canada before Harper. As for the first name of Mrs.Harper, 5% of 18-30 year olds responded correctly, which means 95% of the 44, 18-35 year olds questioned didn't know her name was Laureen.

With a such a startling report card, it's no wonder young people don't talk politics. Most of my generation skipped a Prime Minister, and forgot about at least one Political Party.

I haven't conducted a formal survey of our understanding of elections and the electoral process, but from my discussions with peers over the last few days I can tell you that many 18-30 year olds don't understand where their vote goes, how it affects the process or even how to vote. Many people still feel voting is an inconvenience and a hassle to do, when really all you need is a piece of ID to prove who you are, a piece of official mail to prove where you live if it differs from your ID, or someone to vouch for you to say you are who you say you are, like a roommate or friend.

One thing we have learned is how to disassociate ourselves from politics, and boy do our leaders like that. With a lack of civics classes in schools, and a brief glance over the electoral process and politics in most junior high Social Studies classes, by the time we are eligible to vote, we’ve either forgotten everything we knew in sixth grade, or we have no clue about our government. Our main concern of should be teaching young voters how to utilize the power of their ballot, the function of our government and how to make the changes they wish to see. This is the first step in implementing change in our democratic system and it’s time to close the gap and let our politicians know that we’re here and we want change!

To those that say, “I don’t talk politics” I say, “Talk!” Involve each other in government, via discussion, talk about politics, teach politics and challenge yourself to learn politics!