It is no secret that Anthony and I are engaged and active in the political scene in Canada. We vote, we research the issues and we talk about what our politicians are doing for and about our country, city and province. We talk about politics in front of and with our children. While our two year old hasn’t grasped what it means to vote in an election our 6 year old has and he wants to vote.
He talk to us today about Harper and said that he didn’t want Steven Harper to be Prime Minister anymore. We asked him why and his answer was that Harper was mean and was doing bad stuff. He then said that maybe he [Harper] was just going to stop all the bad stuff at the rallies. I told him that Harper wants him to be working on his campaigns.
In the car today on the way to a birthday party Aidan asked me to vote for a certain party. I told him that I might just do that and then he told me he was going to vote for this party too. I had to tell him that he wasn’t allowed to vote yet. He asked me why? I told him that our voting rules want people to be legally an adult before they can choose our elected leaders. It seems so unfair that I have a little boy who has a fair grasp of politics and a real interest in voting and he can’t, and there are so many Canadians who don’t take the time to figure out what they believe in and can’t get off their asses to vote. Saying that they aren’t interested, or that don’t think that their vote makes any difference.
I really hope that these vote mobs actually happen. I want a change in how engaged our country is in our political system. Figure out what you believe in and get out and vote! You have time before and after work, and even if you can’t go then, your work is obligated to let you go to vote.
Vote! Take your children, like we do with Aidan, and maybe in a few years we will have a youth vote that really makes its mark on the country.