
Why these 16- and 17-year-olds want to cast their vote in N.B. elections
Léo Babineau has had a part-time job for the past two years. He drives a car and pays taxes.
But at the age of 17, he's still not able to have a say in the policies and politics that impact his life.
"You can do all these things. You can be a functioning member of society. You can drop out of school at 16 as well. And yet we can't vote," said the Grade 11 student at École Sainte-Anne in Fredericton.
Among the issues most important to Babineau are the environment and the cost of living. But at the top of the list is the right for youth to vote.
"I'd really like to be able to have my voice heard and just see that the people who represent me — represent me," he said.
Romane Doucet has similar feelings. She wants to be as involved as she can in her community and is intrigued by the idea of lowering the voting age.
"As soon as I heard of it, I was jumping up, doing research and trying to tell others," said the 17-year-old, who is in Grade 12.
"I've been just trying to pass the message as much as I can, to see how people my age feel about it and see if they're as excited as I am."
Open letter to legislature
Across the country, there's a renewed push to lower the voting age from 18 to 16. Some is tied to the national #Vote16 Canada initiative, but local students are driving their own campaign at the New Brunswick Legislature.
"We are hoping that it will become a federal movement in Canada," said Emma Raphaelle, president of the Francophone Youth Federation of New Brunswick.
WATCH | 'I'd really like to be able to have my voice heard':
Should you be able to vote at 16? These teens say yes
8 minutes ago
Duration 2:40
More than 30 student representatives have signed an open letter to elected officials asking for the voting age to be lowered.
The goal is to urge MLAs to bring forward a bill that would allow youth to vote in provincial and municipal elections.
So far, representatives from 32 francophone groups in New Brunswick have signed an open letter. They represent student councils from Campbellton to Edmundston to Dieppe, and they are working on getting anglophone student leaders to sign the letter as well.
Along with that, the youth federation wants New Brunswick students to be more informed about politics.
"What's really important would be civics education. It's something that we have on the anglophone side and we are working to get towards the francophones," Raphaelle said.
Not the first time
This isn't a new proposal for New Brunswick politicians. Back in 2014, Green Party Leader David Coon introduced legislation that would lower the voting age to 16.
Bill 10, An Act to Amend the Elections Act, passed first and second reading at the legislature before being sent to a committee where it died. Then, in 2017, New Brunswick's electoral reform commission recommended lowering the voting age but legislation was never introduced.
There are places where the voting age is lower: in Brazil, Austria and Cuba, it's 16. And it's 17 in Greece and Indonesia .
Pushing for progress
The group of students met recently with Green Party MLA Megan Mitton, Progressive Conservative MLA Bill Hogan and Liberal MLA Robert Gauvin, mof the province's three seat-holding parties.
"We really were met with a lot of open-mindedness," said Babineau.
"And we're not here to just shove this down people's throats, we really want to hear what the politicians have to say, why they might be against it, and why we think it's a good idea."
All three MLAs introduced the students in the legislature, but no new legislation has been put forward at this point.
And while they didn't get a chance to address the legislature directly, for these teenagers, it's one more step toward making their voices heard.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Toronto Star
14 hours ago
- Toronto Star
New York lawmakers approve bill that would allow medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Terminally ill New Yorkers would have the legal ability to end their own lives with pharmaceutical drugs under a bill passed Monday in the state Legislature. The proposal, which now moves to the governor's office, would allow a person with an incurable illness to be prescribed life-ending drugs if he or she requests the medication and gets approval from two physicians. A spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would review the legislation.


Winnipeg Free Press
14 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
New York lawmakers approve bill that would allow medically assisted suicide for the terminally ill
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Terminally ill New Yorkers would have the legal ability to end their own lives with pharmaceutical drugs under a bill passed Monday in the state Legislature. The proposal, which now moves to the governor's office, would allow a person with an incurable illness to be prescribed life-ending drugs if he or she requests the medication and gets approval from two physicians. A spokesperson for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she would review the legislation. The New York Senate gave final approval to the bill Monday night after hours of debate during which supporters said it would let terminally ill people die on their own terms. 'It's not about hastening death, but ending suffering,' said state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat who sponsored the proposal. Opponents have argued the state should instead improve end-of-life medical care or have objected on religious grounds. 'We should not be in the business of state-authorized suicide,' said state Sen. George Borrello, a Republican. The state Assembly passed the measure in late April. The proposal requires that a terminally ill person who is expected to die within six month make a written request for the drugs. Two witnesses would have sign the request to ensure that the patient is not being coerced. The request would then have to be approved by the person's attending physician as well as a consulting physician. The legislation was first introduced in 2016, Hoylman-Sigal said, though it has stalled year after year in the New York statehouse. Dennis Poust, executive director of the New York State Catholic Conference, which has opposed the measure, said 'This is a dark day for New York State.' Eleven other states and Washington, D.C., have laws allowing medically assisted suicide, according to Compassion & Choices, an advocacy organization that backs the policy. Corinne Carey, the group's local campaign director, said lawmakers had 'recognized how important it is to give terminally ill New Yorkers the autonomy they deserve over their own end-of-life experiences.' 'The option of medical aid in dying provides comfort, allowing those who are dying to live their time more fully and peacefully until the end,' said Carey.


Toronto Star
19 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Minnesota budget deal cuts health care for adults who entered the US illegally
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Adults living in the U.S. illegally will be excluded from a state-run health care program under an overall budget deal that the closely divided Minnesota Legislature convened to pass in a special session Monday. Repealing a 2023 state law that made those immigrants eligible for the MinnesotaCare program for the working poor was a priority for Republicans in the negotiations that produced the budget agreement. The Legislature is split 101-100, with the House tied and Democrats holding just a one-seat majority in the Senate, and the health care compromise was a bitter pill for Democrats to accept.