Up until 2015, there has been a major lack of participation in Canadian elections by Canadian youth. The voting age in Canada however, starts at the age of eighteen. Nonetheless, since the law had been passed for young people to vote, there has not been an adequate volume of youth taking part in elections. This paper will investigate the matter of the immense shortage of political contribution by youth in Canada. In order to create change and have a diverse input on what the government does, it is vital that young people exercise their right to vote in order to have a voice in what occurs in our political system. Seeing that voting is not a privilege that can be accessible by everyone around the globe, this is a critical issue since Canadian …show more content…
This essay will argue that the decline in political participation by Canadian youth is a direct cause of the lack of political culture that is created for and directed toward youth within their surroundings of their upbringings, education and media. Societal factors play a huge role in Canadian youth’s lives and are the reason why there is an absence of Canadian Youth’s involvement in the electoral system.

One explanation to understand how interest plays a part in the decline of youth voting can root from the influences youth lack when it comes to politics. One large factor can be focused towards the household and parents surrounding these young adults. If most parents do not find it necessary to speak about politics at home with their children, then this can influence them into viewing politics as less important in their lives. Parents are the first people youth commonly look up to and their many views can be …show more content…
In order to not make an informed decision, most young people will not take part in the elections because they feel they will make the wrong choice in choosing someone right to represent them. Most young people’s knowledge on politics derives from what they see and hear in the media and what they learn in school. Without what is displayed on the media, most do not have any prior knowledge when it comes to the democratic system and what each party is offering. Since school and in specific, high school does not direct much focus in the political world; students who go into the twelfth grade usually have almost no knowledge or concepts on the democratic system and the elections. The media on the other hand is where their little knowledge on politics would derive from and seeing each campaign targeting each other and advertising on each other’s negative factors can be a turn off for young people. In the paper “Civic Duty: Young People’s Conception of Voting as a means of Political Participation” by Ottilia Chareka and Alan Sears’ there is great discussion surrounding the lack of knowledge young adults due to educational and media factors when it comes to politics in general. According to Chareka and Sears