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In the Yukon, as no doubt in other ridings, there is much hand wringing over what can be done to get out the youth vote.
As the reader might be aware, the percentage of youth voting is down compared with the rest of the population.
In the Yukon for the 2011 Federal election, 39 per cent of males and 42 per cent of females aged 18 to 24 voted. Compare that with 72 per cent and 71 per cent of those aged between 55 and 64.
Now there are various movements afoot to get Youth to vote.
And no doubt the chattering classes (of which this aged commentator is one) will wail that democracy is going to hell in a hand basket if they don’t vote.
But something odd might be happening, or at least happening in Whitehorse.
I was invited to a farewell party by one of the local leftists.
By leftist I mean this person actually works for the local political lefties, and the reason for the party was his departure to points East to help out with campaigns in other ridings.
Oh, as an aside, most Yukoners consider all Canadians pretty much easterners.
The most westerly community in Canada is Beaver Creek, Yukon. Their not so unofficial town motto is “you’re all easterners to us.”
Don’t feel bad. In this case they’re including all other Yukoners as well as the rest of the country.
But back to the party.
I was amazed at the number of under thirty year olds that showed up.
They were all young and progressive and, most importantly, engaged in discussing politics.
The invite list was obviously aimed at New Democratic Party supporters, and they were not shy in vocalizing why they were voting that way.
The New Democratic Party candidate, Melissa Atkinson, was in attendance at the start, but then had to leave early to no doubt do some campaigning.
To be fair, some of the party guests might have been Liberal inclined. But not many. And I doubt any Conservative was present.
Given that it was a party featuring some excellent beers (including from the two Yukon breweries, Yukon Brewing and Winterlong, if you see any of their products I encourage you to try them), some of the discussion revolved around the release of a poster showing Mulcair hoisting a pint and proclaiming the NDP platform on tax incentives for small brewers.
Another big topic of conversation was how to check if a person was on the voter list or not. Other pieces of talk revolved around what sort of identification would be needed on voting day.
It would appear that the fuss over the (Un)Fair Elections Act might actually be galvanizing youth to vote. With the Act, they might have remained their complacent selves.
To vote though, they need to get on the voting list.
A lot of Yukoners don’t get their mail at their home, they get it through Post Office boxes. Some even get it through the General Delivery service of their local post office.
So a drivers license won’t have the voters physical address. But a utility bill will. Or a property tax assessment.
Some Yukoners will not be in the Territory towards the end of October, so early voting or mail-in voting was also discussed.
For those who are interested, the advanced polling station is conveniently located right beside the Whitehorse liquor store. It is open Monday through Friday.
The full and proper list of identifications that Election Canada requires is available on their website www.elections.ca. You can advance vote right now.
Given that it is early days yet the ballots haven’t been printed off yet, so you have to write in the name of the candidate you’re voting for. Spell accurately.
It might well turn out that youth voting numbers will still be down this election.
But given what happened at one small party in one small riding on the far north western outreaches of Canada, I think we might be in for a surprise.
And I think that the Conservatives are in for a surprise. When you’re entire platform is not geared towards youth, those youth that do vote are not going to vote for you.
If a lot of them vote, a certain incumbent political party could be in trouble.
And of top of that, if you happen to have a leader of a party who is shown proudly proclaiming his support of micro-breweries, why every hipster in town is going to vote for you and your candidates.
And that includes those in the Yukon, home to a surprising number of hipsters.
Photo: flickr/ Roland Tanglao
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