A local political association has announced it supports lowering the voting age in B.C. ahead of next month's Burnaby byelection.
The Burnaby Citizens Association, founded in 1955 by Eileen Dailly and Alan Emmott, voted unanimously to endorse the Vote16 campaign, which is aimed at seeing younger people being able to vote across the province.
“Young people are politically engaged, smart, and values-driven," Youth Representative of the BCA and Burnaby council byelection candidate Alison Gu said in a news release.
“Too often, the decisions made at different levels of government don’t reflect the needs of future generations, and that’s why allowing young people to have a say will have a positive impact on our democracy.”
Currently, voters in British Columbia must be 18 years old and above to cast a ballot. The Burnaby Citizens Association is the first municipal party to endorse the campaign.
“As a former Burnaby school trustee and Board Chair, I witnessed first-hand how engaged our youth were in not only with their immediate school community, but how deeply they cared about their neighbourhoods, their environment, and the vulnerable in their communities," BCA Burnaby council by-election candidate Baljinder Narang added.
“Input from the District Student Advisory Committee was always integral to the Board’s deliberations, and I was always impressed with how wise and thoughtful their contributions were to the conversation."
In British Columbia, those that are 16 years of age can register as a future voter with Elections BC, get a drivers' license, write a will, apply for a passport and other entitlements.
"The BCA believes lowering the voting age to 16 in BC will improve voter turnout, which has declined to less than 35% of eligible voters in the last two municipal elections."
The Burnaby byelection is scheduled for June 26 as General Voting Day and Advance Voting Dates are June 12 and 14-19, 2021.
Current Burnaby Citizens Association elected officials include Coun. Pietro Calendino, who has served on council so far in 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2018, Coun. Sav Dhaliwal, who was first elected to Burnaby council in 2002 and Coun. James Wang, who was appointed to council in 2014.
