Canada moves to raise voting age to 16

 

The Vote16 Summit was held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Wednesday as part of a new push to lower the voting age in Canada. Efforts to raise the voting age to 16 have been underway for years. This year, the Young Politicians of Canada group took up the topic. The group advocates for more young Canadians between the ages of 14 and 24 to get involved in politics. Part of this is the demand to lower the voting age. Young Politicians of Canada also advocates that young people should have a say in decisions that affect the country's future.

Senator Marilou McPhedran introduced the bill before the Senate. The bill could come up for a second reading vote in the coming weeks. If passed, the national voting age would drop to 16.

Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua have lowered the voting age to 16. In Canada, the federal voting age was 21 until the 1970s. It was later reduced to 18. NDP, Greens and Liberal MPs supported lowering the voting age to 16. But the government and the Conservatives ended earlier efforts.