Young voters gained an important asset in 2019. This was in the form of the non-profit Future Majority, a non partisan organization that was established to get more youth involved in the political process and to get them talking about what issues were important to them.
Joel Steve is working on his second degree in Psychology at the U of R, and has been a volunteer for Future Majority since late September.
“I would say how we get people engaged is just talking about issues that matter to them…. About tuition about how the pandemic is affecting their lives and it’s just active listening and really identifying with the issues they are facing and then tying that into being able to change policies and regulations surrounding the topics that they might be concerned about. That’s been, at least for me, very motivating to see people excited about voting because of those issues.”
Saskatchewan is now in the midst of its provincial election and Future Majority has been hard at work to reach young voters, to educate them on the voting process and to encourage as many as possible to exercise their democratic right.
Future Majority’s efforts were widely publicized with the Next Gen Leaders Debate, which took place virtually on October 19th between Ryan Meili, the leader of the NDP and Dustin Duncan, the Minister of Environment while more than a hundred young voters attended and posed questions. It was made possible due to a partnership between the Student Unions of both the University of Regina and Saskatchewan as well as Future Majority.
Steve thought it was a success even though Premier Scott Moe was unable to attend.
“He’s a busy person, its campaign season and we still had an informative, enjoyable, and entertaining debate. So, overall, I’m happy with the outcome and I think Future Majority is as well.”
Bronwyn Heerspink is in the second year of her Political Science Honors Degree at the U of R and she has been involved with Future Majority since the 2019 federal election. She had thoughts about the organization’s overall goal.
“You take it step by step; we’ve seen some growth over the last two federal elections with youth turnout. But as with every election season you see some more growth and you have to continue building. So, I think we’ve set up a pretty good foundation to move forward and I’m hopeful that not only this election turnout will be high, but that in the next election and the ones going forward we will continue to see growth.”
When asked if Future Majority will try to make the Next Gen Leaders Debate a regular occurrence for elections, Heerspink said:
“I don’t know if that’s necessarily a full goal, I think one of the goals that Future Majority is working towards is just having youth issues so mainstream that they aren’t seen as specifically youth issues but as normal political issues. Because they are issues that affect all of Saskatchewan.”
When asked about how they are reaching out to young voters, both the Saskatchewan Party and the NDP responded.
The Sask Party outlined their approach by stating that they had worked to engage young voters by “knocking on as many doors as possible and engaging through social media.” They also referred to student supports that amounted to 112.7 million dollars this year, which included programs like the Saskatchewan Advantage Scholarship, and the Saskatchewan Innovation and Opportunities Scholarship. They stated that the strength of the economy, due to their management, would attract many more people to stay and build careers in Saskatchewan.
In the NDP’s statement, they criticized Scott Moe for not attending the Next Gen Leaders Debate, arguing that they are doing more to engage young voters. They stated that their platform of raising the minimum wage, removal of interest from student loans, commitment to the creation of green jobs, as well as a commitment to create internships in the Crown Corporations would greatly benefit Saskatchewan’s youth.
Heerspink believes there is still a way to go:
“I don’t know if our concerns are necessarily being fully addressed but I think there is more awareness that us as a voting block could potentially sway election results… so I hope next time around we’ll see more of a platform focus on us.”
