YOUNG PEOPLE'S VIEWS SHOULDN'T BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED

We all know the stereotype of teenagers when it comes to politics. They are
apathetic, if not downright hostile, to the idea of voting. They think
public policy has something to do with keeping the washrooms clean at
school. Parent-led discussion of the election over the breakfast table
induces hives, then the onset of chronic narcolepsy. Teens simply don't care.

On the contrary, our Youth Vote 2004 survey indicates teens have strongly
held and sometimes deeply divided opinions on the major social issues
facing Canada. Their views differ, in some cases substantially, from adult
assumptions about what teenagers think. Specifically, their opinions on
three key issues -- the legalization of marijuana, same-sex marriage, and
immigration -- provide some clues to the future shape of Canada's political
culture and a strong case for lowering the voting age to 16.

First, the big surprise in our poll: 55 per cent of the teens we surveyed
said they did not support the legalization of marijuana. Despite the best
efforts of NDP leader Jack Layton and the hemp lobby to position the
decriminalization of marijuana as a campaign issue that could draw younger
voters to the polls, teenagers remain skeptical. With this issue, and
others in our survey, while teenagers often indicate a preference for
voting Liberal, their politics have a decidedly conservative bent,
sometimes outflanking their parents on the right.

On the controversial topic of same-sex marriage, a more complicated picture
of teen opinion emerges. Sixty per cent of teens believe that homosexual
couples should be allowed to get married. Teen support for same-sex
marriage is 10-per-cent to 12-per-cent higher than that of the adult
population. But, like adults, a minority of teens (25 per cent) strongly
oppose same-sex marriage. Gender is the single biggest indicator of where
teens come down on this issue. Young women support same sex-marriage at
rates as high as 73 per cent versus only 46 per cent of young men.

What does this mean for the future of this charged political issue -- one
that the new government will have to deal with in the first session of
Parliament?

Our poll suggests the same-sex marriage debate is classic generational
politics. In the same way that contraception and its widespread use
separated boomers' attitudes from those of their parents, same-sex marriage
is "so boring" for today's teens. With almost three-quarters of young women
supporting gay marriage and younger males likely to soften their opposition
as they enter their "Carlsberg" years, same- sex marriage is here to stay.

Not all youth opinion is driven by tolerance and the acceptance of social
differences. When we asked teens for their views on immigration, more than
one-third felt that recent immigrants do not want to fit into Canadian
society. This sentiment goes against the assumption of many adults that
today's teens are at the vanguard of a multicultural Canada, and no longer
look at race as a measure of social difference. Interestingly, the
anti-immigrant sentiment was the strongest in multiethnic B.C., where fully
41 per cent of teens felt that immigrants don't fit into Canadian society.
We should not become complacent about multiculturalism's supposed
successes. Work still needs to be done to create a welcoming culture for
immigrants.

From the legalization of marijuana to the future of multiculturalism,
today's teens have strong and varied views on a range of social issues. Far
from zoning out with their Game Boys or the latest reality TV show, young
Canadians are politically literate and have clear opinions about supposedly
"adult" issues such as same-sex marriage. When it came to answering our
social issue questions, only two per cent of young people indicated they
did not have an opinion or refused to answer -- half the non-participation
rate of adult survey takers when asked similar questions.

In this election and for those to come, our democracy and youth are losing
a huge opportunity because the voting age is not being lowered to 16. The
electorate urgently needs voters who have strong opinions. The youths we
polled have undeniably informed views on the very issues that will shape
the election that is now underway.

Let's stop writing off youths as apathetic and harness their energy by
lowering the voting age to sixteen. If the first week of this election is
anything to go by, Canadian democracy could use a healthy dose of teen spirit.

Rudyard Griffiths is executive director of the Dominion Institute.

Greg Lyle is a principal at Navigator Ltd. They are the co-authors of the
Youth Vote 2004 study for CanWest Global.

The poll of 500 teens was conducted for CanWest News Service by the
Dominion Institute and Navigator at the end of March and is considered
accurate to within 4.3 percentage points.