What Toronto would look like if youth voted

Rob Ford may have won the hearts of many Torontonians this election, but George Smitherman would have been the real winner if youth could vote.  According to data released by Student Vote, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that runs mock elections in schools, 40 per cent of young people mock-voted for George Smitherman, a slim plurality over the 37.4 per cent who voted for Ford, and the 22.6 per cent who voted for Joe Pantalone. Youth also supported 32 of the 44 newly-elected city councillors.

It is true that young people have a tendency to shy away from the right, but that fact did not seem to deter some students from supporting Ford, who lost by only 2.6 per cent in the mock election, but who won by a much larger 11.5 per cent of the vote in the actual election.

The response among young people remains varied: Some students, like Araf Khaled of Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, feel that cutting back on spending at City Hall is “something Toronto desperately needs”.

Betty Lu of R.H. King Academy, on the other hand, finds that “Rob Ford doesn't represent anything that I believe in or stand for.”

There are also others who were skeptical about the race from the beginning – those who neither supported Smitherman nor Ford, but felt that they had to “settle” for one of the two candidates.

With the mayoral race officially over, one thing is clear: Toronto is coming out of this election perhaps even more divided than before. As Smitherman racked up on endorsements from everyone from media outlets to city councillors, it made losing that much less bearable. And, as the results from Student Vote have shown, many youth are clearly not happy.

Ford is taking office amidst strong “anyone but Ford” sentiment that has yet to die down in many communities (and indeed among many of his soon-to-be colleagues at City Hall). His first task will undoubtedly be to reach out to those who have tried so desperately to keep him from claiming the mayor’s seat. But, as the results from Student Vote have shown, he is going to have to do a lot more to win the support of Toronto’s youth. Coaching a football team is simply not enough. The young people of our city demand and deserve more.

About Gorick Ng

Comments

[Anthony]

The Youths can have their say and I think it's great if everyone was involved in politics and put a vote in the ballot box. But there is one flaw and it's that youths don't need to pay bills nor do they feel the stress of having to penny and dime so maybe some issues like the land transfer tax or vehicle registration doesn't mean as much to them as progressive agendas like the green initiatives which ends up hitting our pocket books harder. I'll take their vote with a grain of salt, but they don't live in the "real" world yet and being protected by mom and dad is a huge difference than standing on your own two feet with a mortgage to pay or living on your own.

[Jen]

Why do you saw it's true "that young people have a tendency to shy away from the right"? I know the saying, and of course the history of the student movement, etc. But I don't think this is actually true in North America. But I don't know the literature. Are you getting this from somewhere?

[g.t]

Rob Ford is known for being a volunteer coach of a school team and thats fine, but I hear many speaking about his efforts are not enough. but what exactly is
SMitherman's volunteer record.

from what i could find,it seems like he has been an active politician since his teenage years, but what exactly does that mean and how does that make his work any better than that of Ford's work as a football coach in an at risk community.

From what I have observed, Smitherman has been rubbing shoulders with the who's who of toronto and ontario politics for a while and rewarded well for it.Hardly selfless volunteer work since politicians do not work for free and gains significant power for their privelaged position in society. Especialy good for someone who did not bother wwith Post Secondary education. It seems unfair to lambast Ford for not doing enough community work while it seems that nobody else has been doing similar works in an unpaid capacity.

Anyway SMitherman will be back in an elected capacity soon, but he did not prove to the Toronto electorate that he was the better candidate hence why he did not win.

[Entourage Edge]

I think youth all over the world has become very talented and very broad minded. The globalization of science and arts has led to the emergence of better brains.

More and more youth is tech geek in today's era. They can get any kind of information from any source. The thing is that they are realizing about the good and bads.

Thanks for sharing.

[angela mular]

Absolute scary voting for someone as unqualified as this....who got favourtism treatment by the media.... Scary...absolutely scary. I encourage young people to get involved but support candidates that offer solid track records rather than hide behind politicial endorsements....

[angela mular]

smitherman is not a positive role model with no completed university or high school education....who did not bother discussing his track record of lack of success....Led an unprofessional mayor campaign attack his opponent....rather than discussing issues....Smug, arrogant individual who is clearly out of touch with a majority of voters...in this city who did in fact vote....Politician with no substance...buts lots of liberal friends....This is suppose to be a democracy to discuss vital issues in our city....not annoit an unqualified politican with a spotty track record.

[William (Bill) Jones]

So, what's new??? When we were young (as it remains today) we always had the answer. As you mature in age and thought, things can (and do) change. This bring to mind one of my granddad's comments to me years ago when "I knew everything." Simply, he said: "It must be nice to have all the answers. Now, if you could only understand what the question was, that would be far nicer." Sort of tells a tale, does it not?

[Heather Y]

For those of you, who are curious:

Several Canadian, American and international studies have shown that currently youth favour progressive politics:

http://gen-we.com/ (American)

http://people-press.org/report/300/a-portrait-of-generation-next

There are several additional studies out there.

[david]

I think liberal and conservative are better labels than "progressive"

Progressive attempts to prejudice the issue.

Hitler based on his tax changes to favor poor, increased welfare, strongly advocating "science" of "social darwinism"/eugenics (was very popular at time among highest educated intellectuals ) in nazi writings, etc was partially "progressive" by todays standards.

Things should be examined on details rather than just "liberal" or "conservative" and partisan politics. If spending money on poor was by itself the solution to problems, then why are indian reservations which we spend perhaps $100K per year per person in canada by far one of worst places as far as social problems?

The goal of social spending should be to help people become self-sufficient when in their means. At same time adjustments should be made so no parasitic group makes undo profits by unfairly manipulating the system, by any form of monopoly or bending the rules in their favour. (One of greatest times of ecconomic prosperity... 1950s, the CEO's of companies made 50x rather than 500x as much as average worker. Now we have all sorts of absudities like CEO and investment bankers making bigger profits by bankrupting their companies, and monopoly power unions demanding "jobs for life" where it doesn't really matter how hard they work, and wages that are much higher than any peers)

Kids are often good for having open minds/seeing new solutions, but they are also often the most gullable/easily brainwashed... children are often the best foot soldiers of the bloodiest dictatorships.

We should encourage the children to see things unbiased rather than poison the future with partisan politics. There are some good ideas from each side of political spectrum.

[Brad]

What are you considering a youth? Someone who is too young to vote or someone who can vote, is young, but is too lazy to leave the couch? I am curious because it seems like people are always going after the mythical "youth vote" which never seems to carry any weight come election night.

On a side note, I am pretty disappointed in every single candidates transit plan. It is pretty obvious that not a single one of these guys rides the TTC. We need subways not LTR. streetcars do nothing but clog up the streets and run into delays due to accidents, stupid drivers. or poorly times lights. Subways on the other hand go down less frequently and do not impede the traffic in the city. In 50 years our kids are going to be wondering why we didn't plan for the future. Guess what, someone has to sacrifice for the future and these pussies are too scared to even mention that we may face some insignificant hardship to improve the city. Think about it, our grandparents risked their lives for our future we aren't even willing to be inconvenienced to improve the future of our city which also happens to be Canada's showcase to the world regardless of what the rest of the country chooses to believe. /rant

[Sophie]

The youths this days is aware of who are the best for their votes and deserving for the position.

[Patel Child]

I guess people in power wonder how informed the youth really are. Perhaps the youth are treated like second class citizens in this way, as they are not allowed to vote and the price of citizenship is being old enough to fight in war, or old enough to hold down a full time, year round job. Perhaps it is partly what the bible says: Youth is the time of foolishness, and that the youth just aren't trusted to vote in favor of their own nation. Like teenage rebellion might be the motivating factor behind a vote. I would probably never vote right wing, and I've been that way since youth. I'm also pretty certain, even though I thought I knew everything when I was younger, I was still pretty informed politically.