Fed-Election Rising...Will The Kids (Help Make Us) Be Alright?

TheOnlyWayOutIsToGetThemIn
TheGroundGameVille


There was a nice profile of that former parliamentary page with the infamous sign, Ms. Brigette DePape, by Carol Goar in the TorStar late last week.

And just in case you were wondering what Ms. de Pape is up to these days...

This:

...(Ms. DePape) wants a government that reflects the values of her generation and future generations. She wants an agenda that includes an equitable, compassionate society; treats the environment as a priceless public asset; addresses youth unemployment and student debt; respects the views of women, workers, indigenous peoples and racial minorities; and brings the nation together.

DePape was in Toronto last week as part of a five-city tour by the Council of Canadians to get out the youth vote. “I understand why most (young people) see voting as futile,” she told her first audience in Winnipeg. “In the 2011 election when I was a University of Ottawa student, someone asked me to go door-knocking. But I really didn’t see the point.

“Since then, I’ve had a change of heart. After four years under the current government (nine counting Harper’s two previous terms), I want to do everything in my power to see a government that reflects our values.”

It is not a pipe dream, she insists. All it would take to defeat the Conservatives is a wave of young people coming out to vote...

{snip}

...DePape’s goal over the spring and summer is to build a team of youth leaders and collect 2,000 vote pledges in strategic ridings. In the fall, she and her associates will pull out the stops to collect on those pledges...

So.

Can this kind of thing, wherein you get real kids to work the swing ridings so that they can get other kids to pledge to actually (i.e. really) vote, actually work?

Well.

Maybe some of the doubters amongst us should talk to Mr. David Eby.

OK?


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And for those conflationists who stop by here occasionally...Identifying a demographic so that you can cajole them into voting is NOT the same thing as identifying a demographic so that you can bamboozle them into not voting...Or to just outright try and prevent them from voting....
And just in case you were wondering...The latter type of behaviour, directed against the young, is not just for famous ex-FedCons operatives anymore...In fact, Ms. Christy Clark's ops folks themselves engaged in it last time out....Just in case you all (and/or any young activist-type kids out there) have forgotten...


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