Photo: Keith Lacey/Local Journalism Initiative

Candidates in the Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay riding participated in a candidate forum at Penticton's Holy Cross School, Wednesday.

Although they are too young to vote, a group of two dozen Grade 8 students at Penticton’s Holy Cross School did themselves proud asking some very pertinent and important questions that will help determine their future success during an all-candidates forum at the school, Wednesday.

Teacher Michelle Cumberland organized the one-hour forum for her students, which saw four of the five candidates running in the Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay in the April 28 federal election show up to answer questions from the students.

A student, Ty, asked the candidates “If you are elected, how would you make my life change for the better?”

“That’s a really good one (question),” PPC candidate Barry Dewar said. “Bottom line is that we have to work together. How I would make your life specifically better is if I can cut the size and cost of government.

“The other day, the ruling (Liberal) government decided to pass a $40 billion bill. I can’t even think of how much money that is. In that, was $660 million for Revenue Canada. There’s only 40 million people who live here in Canada and we’re giving $660 million to one specific arm of government in order to collect the money that they want.”

The political parties that have had control of government for the past 150 years - the Conservative Party of Canada and Liberal Party of Canada - have ignored the concept of “goodness”, said Dewar.

“How will I make your life better? I would reduce the size of government, the hundreds of thousands of employees who are working in bureaucratic jobs are the problem.”

The Liberals and Conservatives have different policies, but both spend far beyond their means, said Dewar.

“All they do is increase the size of government,” he said. “The question you should be asking the candidates is what are you going to do about reducing the size of government. Without reducing that, you can’t make your life better.”

NDP candidate Linda Sankey, the longtime executive director of the Penticton chapter of the Brain Society of British Columbia, said there are numerous things she would commit to in order to improve the lives of youngsters and young adults in this riding and across the country.

“In this particular election, we’re dealing with a lot of divisive talk, especially from leaders of parties,” she said. “One of the things that concerns me most is how do we work together better to create a country with one voice. Canadians have a lot of things in common.

“One of the things we need to do is create more opportunities to speak with one another as we’re governing and have our general voices heard.”

Sankey said the time has come to discuss “proportional voting” in Canada.

“Proportional representation is a different way of electing people to government, where you aren’t worrying about just one or two parties that have always been in power. It gives you the opportunity to have a different way of selecting people who represent you.

“In New Zealand, they even have a way of electing a specific number of representatives from their Indigenous community members. This ensures a guaranteed number of folks in government that are specifically representing that Indigenous voice. To say we only have Liberals or Conservative options, we don’t. This is something the provincial government tried a few years ago, but it was unsuccessful because people need to learn more about it in school before they become adults and have other options to look at.”

Green candidate Phillip Mansfield, a retired university professor and scientific researcher, told the kids that he fully supports representational voting in the future.

“That would make things much better and all of our voices would be represented,” he said.

The Green Party is committed to ensuring the air we all breath and water we all drink and food we all eat is healthy and safe and this must be done by tackling climate issues that are causing so much damage in this region and around the world.

A green economy and Green Party policies would introduce an influx of new jobs and “would show the world how we can be leaders in renewable energy for example.

“My hope is that as you grow up and have a family of your own, you will be able to be employed possibly as an inventor, as I have been, because I have made your education free at the post-secondary level. I have created innovation grants for you to be an entrepreneur and start your own company, start your own ideas.”

There are advances in modern technology that will allow young people to live in a more sustainable future, with Canadians living in more thriving communities because of all the incentives put in place by the Green Party, he said.

Universal healthcare will be re-prioritized and the move towards more for-profit healthcare must be reduced and eliminated, said Mansfield.

“You will be able to afford a house because we will build public housing because we put rules in place that stop the price of housing from becoming unaffordable,” he said.

Morgan, a former RCMP constable, lawyer and two-time Chief of the Splatsin First Nation near Enderby, said if elected, she will be the voice for all constituents in Ottawa, including the generation of young people she was speaking to at Holy Cross.

She’s confident Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Liberals will win the upcoming federal election and that will allow her to be the voice for tens of thousands of residents across the large geographical riding she is representing.

“It’s hard for me to think that if I’m standing outside the door and yelling as loud as I can and stomping my feet, how much effect will that have,” she said. “But if you’re sitting at the table and I can bring your issues to the Prime Minister, to the cabinet and have them hear them. I think that’s a good thing. That will improve your life.”

Having young teenagers voice concerns about housing affordability and climate change is encouraging as it shows the next generation is already being politically active, said Morgan.

She promised to be an active voice if elected to Parliament and not just sit in the background collecting a cheque.

“I’ve seen people to go Ottawa and they say they’re going to be your voice, but you seldom see them in parades or at different events,” she said. “I don’t want to do that. I want to continue hearing your voice. That will make your life better. That will help you and our country move forward in a very strong way.”

A student, Ella asked the candidates if they support lowering the voting age to 16.

All four said they are in favour as classes like this prove how engaged the majority of young people are in Penticton and across the riding.

Sankey said she has five grandchildren ranging in age from three to 18.

“I can tell you, knowing them very well, that they are ready to vote at age 16,” she said. “They are engaged. Schools, like this one, are helping students understand probably better than even some adults, how important it is to get involved in our communities and vote.”

Far too many adults “roll their eyes” when it comes to politics and don’t want to engage, but her experience on the campaign trail is the majority of young people aren’t as jaded and want to be involved and make informed decisions, said Sankey.

Mansfield said he also supports lowering the voting age to 16.

“At your age, you’re not even 16 yet and you’re fully involved in politics and thinking about the issues and that’s wonderful to see,” he said. “Some of your friends are not, but I would say that’s because a lot of them know they won’t be able to vote for a while.

“Let’s just see what happens when we change that. Then it will start to become interesting.”

Morgan said young people today are much more aware of political issues than she was growing up attending residential schools.

“I didn’t know half of what you probably know,” she said. “I wasn’t ready to vote. I didn’t know enough.”

The curriculum being taught in Canadian schools and information shared between parents and other members of your family are so important to young people, but her life experience has shown her most 16 year olds have enough intelligence to make informed decisions and should be able to vote, said Morgan.

Thinking outside the box, Morgan said she would support the formation of a “youth cabinet” in Ottawa made up of teenagers that would discuss key issues affecting young people across Canada.

As was the case at last week’s Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce forum at the Cleland Theatre, Conservative Party candidate Helena Konanz did not show up, even though she was invited.

Dewar said he also supports lowering the voting age from 18 to 16.

His father was the principal of a high school in Kelowna and he grew up telling him to never discuss religion on politics at any age.

“He said all it does is create division and strife. I disagree. He was a really smart man, but he was wrong on this subject,” he said. “What you guys have to do is ask the right questions. We’ve learned today how good those questions are.

“You guys have a finger on the pulse of what’s going on, that’s largely in part because of your teachers. I think what we need again ... is goodness.”

This article originally appeared in the Penticton Herald and is shared via the Local Journalism Initiative