Observations on youth engagement in parliamentary politics.

• Author: Fernandez, Maya

Low levels of youth voter turnout in recent elections have caused public concern about the disengagement of young people's interest in parliamentary politics. In this article, the authors argue that legislative internship programmes and the presence of young legislators are both counter-examples to the trend of youth disengagement and evidence that some young people are actively involved in parliamentary politics. Drawing upon their experience as legislative interns in British Columbia, they offer a few strategies for youth engagement.

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In recent years, parliamentarians and the public alike have decried the decline of youth engagement in parliamentary politics. This disengagement is most clearly evident in low youth voter turnout for provincial and federal elections. (1) For example, in the 2011 federal election 38.8 per cent of eligible voters aged 18-24 years cast a ballot. (2) In the 2009 British Columbia provincial election, only 26.9 per cent of eligible voters aged 18-24 years voted and 33.69 per cent of eligible voters aged 25-34 voted. (3) Many young people are not voting which threatens the representative nature of our democratic institutions.

Although low youth voter turnout indicates disengagement, counter-examples to this trend exist. As current legislative interns in B.C., we contend that some young people are meaningfully engaged in learning about and participating in parliamentary politics. In addition to the existence of legislative internship programmes across the country, there are youth who are actively involved in parliamentary politics as federal and provincial legislators. The purpose of this article is two-fold: first, to discuss the role of legislative internship programmes in engaging youth in federal and provincial politics; and, second, to document the presence of young legislators in Ottawa and B.C. We conclude by offering a few suggestions for youth engagement strategies inspired by our experiences as legislative interns.

Internship Programmes as a Path to Engagement

Legislative internship programmes give recent university graduates the opportunity to participate in the provincial or federal legislative process. For example, during the six-month B.C. Legislative Internship Programme (BCLIP), interns are assigned to a caucus, either Government or Opposition, while the FFouse is in session. In addition to working with a Caucus, interns take on a placement in a provincial Ministry. Legislative internship programmes across Canada have competitive application processes and attract a significant number of applications. In the past three years, the BCLIP has received 196 applications for 30 positions (10 each year). David Mitchell, a former B.C. legislative intern writing in the Canadian Parliamentary Review, said that internship programmes in Canada "provide long-term...