Vancouver Island University’s Students' Union hosts All Candidates Forum encouraging young voters to get out and vote
The All Candidate Forum is on October 8 starting at 4 p.m. at the Malaspina Theatre. Photo: Lauryn Mackenzie / CHLY 101.7fm
Editor’s note: Since the publication date, the two Conservative Party of BC candidates, Dale Parker for the Nanaimo-Gabriola Island riding, and Gwen O’Mahony for the Nanaimo-Lantzville riding have indicated they will be in attendance for the All Candidates Forum.
With Election Day weeks ahead, the Vancouver Island University Students’ Union is encouraging students to get out and vote.
In addition to its Generation Vote Now campaign, the VIU Students’ Union (VIUSU) is hosting an All Candidates Forum for students to learn more about who their local candidates are.
Caitlin Kellendonk is the Director of External Relations for VIUSU and a fourth-year student studying Sociology. She is leading the Generation Vote Now campaign at VIU targeting first-time and young voters on campus.
“It's also really honing in on the fact that for the first time youth and young adults, aged 18 to 35 are the largest voting block in Canada, marking a significant shift in political influence,” Kellendonk said. “It also shows that we carry the vote.”
She said throughout the campaign they have been hosting a “campaign coffee cart” offering free coffee and chatting with students about the upcoming election. Kellendonk said the biggest feedback they get from students is hearing they are surprised that youth and young adults make up the largest voting block in the province.
“For the first time, young people aren't just the future, they're the present. So I'm just hearing a lot of students are ready to vote,” she said. “They're feeling more equipped to vote.”
They said they hear that students are excited to vote this year and have their voices heard.
“As I go around campus with initiatives like the Campaign Coffee Cart and I'm having these conversations with students, I am able to hear that some of our students are like, ‘Yeah, I'm already registered to vote. I can't wait,’” they said.
But they said they have also heard from newer students that many don’t know where to start when it comes to the election.
“And then I'm also reaching some of those may be newer students who are just at voting age that are actually, ‘well, I'm not sure who to vote for, and I don't know how to register to vote,’” they said.
She said right now they are seeing an unprecedented amount of engagement from students across the province when it comes to this year’s provincial election.
“I also get to talk with some other union representatives at other institutions across B.C. and I think that the myth of apathetic youth simply isn't actually holding up anymore, and our young people want to be involved, and they are engaged and they are ready to be heard,” Kellendonk said.
The cost of living, cost of housing, cost of tuition, and Truth and Reconciliation are some of the top priorities for students at VIU, Kellendonk said. She said she did a mock voting booth during the Frosh Welcome Party and asked students what their number one priority is.
This is Kellendonk's second time voting in a provincial election but she said they remember the feeling and confusion of being a first-time voter.
“I was really nervous, quite unsure–just out of high school, I actually vividly remember not understanding what registering to vote entirely meant, showing up to polls, waiting in the wrong line, getting sent to a different line, having to register to vote, getting back into the other line. So there was a level of nervousness,” Kellendonk said.
Her first-time voting experience is one of the reasons why she wants to make sure students feel equipped for this election and ready to vote.
For the first time ever, there will be a polling station on campus at Vancouver Island University for both advanced and Election Day voting.
“So there's a huge option for any of our students on our campus to really hit those advanced polls in the cafeteria on Wednesday, October 16 and even Saturday, October 19, which is E-Day,” Kellendonk said. “Our students who are living in residence, they'll be able to walk right over to the cafe cafeteria and hit the polls first thing in the morning.”
Along with running the Generation Vote Now campaign, VIUSU and the VIU Political Science program are hosting an All Candidates Forum on October 8 at 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Malaspina Theatre letting students learn about their local candidates.
Kellendonk said the idea to host this event came from her own experience of voting for the first time and not knowing anything about the local candidates.
“This campaign, Generation Vote Now [has] all of this information, but I really also wanted to provide them with an educational opportunity, which is why we've organized a forum to just hear from the candidates themselves–to hear about their platforms and their values, so that students can really feel ready to make an informed decision when they get to the poll, either in advanced or on voting day,” she said.
The forum will feature candidates from the Nanaimo-Lantzville riding and the Nanaimo-Gabriola Island riding.
Kellendonk said they have confirmed Shirley Lambrecht candidate for the BC Green Party and Sheila Malcolmson the BC NDP candidate for the Nanaimo-Gabriola Island riding will be in attendance, along with George Anderson candidate for BC NDP and Lia Versaevel, the BC Green Party candidate for the Nanaimo-Lantzville riding.
Dale Parker with the Conservative Party of BC for the Nanaimo-Gabriola Island riding declined attendance and Gwen O’Mahony, the Conservative Party of BC candidate for the Nanaimo-Lantzville riding did not respond to VIUSU’s invitation.
Kelendonk said the forum is going to be student-focused.
“So we're going to be asking the candidates five questions related to the student experience based on the conversations and polls that I did on campus,” she said. “I also allowed students to submit some questions to us, and that really helped inspire what our focus really is going to be.”
Dr. Michael MacKenzie is a professor of political science at VIU and the Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership. He will be doing a keynote speech at the forum.
He came down to the CHLY studio to talk about his keynote and what he has seen with young voters.“I mean, it's very exciting for young people to come of age and vote for the first time. I really encourage everybody to get out and do it. It's important for our democracy. It's important for individuals to come out and express themselves, and it's important because it can, at least in principle, put pressure on the government to address issues that matter to young people,” MacKenzie said. “Unfortunately, I don't see, and I could be wrong about this, but I don't see a lot from any of the parties that focuses specifically on the interests and needs of young people in this election.”
He said it is important for candidates and political parties to appeal and speak with young voters.
“The challenge here is–well, we know that young people don't vote at the same rate as other people, and I encourage all young people to get out and vote, but this is very systematic,” MacKenzie said. “I mean, across all democracies, in each election, young people vote at lower rates than other people, so there's less incentive for parties to really stake a lot on the issues that matter to young people.”
According to Elections BC, the 18-24 age range had the lowest voter turnout in the 2020 provincial election with 111,154 voters behind the second lowest being the 25-34 age range with 213,217 voters.
MacKenzie also said young people are not well represented in the legislature.
“Now, you know, somebody who isn't young can represent young people and advance their interests, and that certainly happens, but it matters that the legislature itself underrepresents young people quite dramatically,” MacKenzie said. “I mean, we occasionally get young people elected into public office, but you know, typically the body of elected representatives is older than the population.”
He said in his classes and when he does events on campus he sees a lot of engaged young people but that does not mean every young person at VIU is engaged.
“I think there must be lots of young people who, very appropriately, don't see what the political system is doing for them for some of those structural reasons that I talked about, although part of the solution is to get out and vote,” MacKenzie said. “I would love to see the voter turnout among young people come dramatically up–I don't think it will–I encourage people to go out and vote.”
He said his keynote will address trust in democracy which goes along with his work as the Jarislowsky Chair in Trust and Political Leadership.
“I study democracy, and the relationship between trust and democracy is a difficult balancing act. So we want trust, we need to trust our political leaders, because we can't, in a complex society, do things together unless we trust,” he said. “I would say, even in a small group, we can't do things together unless we trust each other. So trust is necessary for us to do things collectively together at the same time.”
He said he wants people to be skeptical and critical and to be distrustful until they have reasons to trust.
“So what you really want is warranted trust,” he said. “That is trust that is underpinned by good reasons and warranted distrust, that is you should distrust when you think you have reasons to do so.”
He said because of this, democracy is a kind of balancing act when it comes to different types of trust.
“Sometimes we worry about declining rates of trust, which I do too, but we really should be worried about declining rates of warranted trust, and we should be worried about increasing rates of unwarranted distrust,” he said. “We should not be worried about warranted distrust. That's exactly what we need in a democratic system. We need people to be skeptical and critical and distrusting so far as they have reason to be distrusting.”
More information on the upcoming election can be found on the Elections BC website or on the Generation Vote Now website.
The All Candidates Forum is on October 8 starting at 4 p.m. at the Malaspina Theatre.
Election Day is October 19, with advance voting starting October 10.
Funding Note: This story was produced with funding support from the Local Journalism Initiative, administered by the Community Radio Fund of Canada.