Debates surrounding lowering the voting age have recurred in Canadian political circles for years, but the answer, for now, should remain the same.
Amidst the 2025 Canadian Federal election, a group of young Canadians, known as the Young Politicians of Canada, advocated to lower to legal voting age in Canada from 18 to 16 years old. The argument was that Canada, being a representative democracy, should allow stronger representation from younger Canadians.
While the potential drawbacks of lowering the voting age — notably the risk that 16-year-olds may be more susceptible to outside influences, including their parents — ultimately outweigh the benefits, the argument is not without merit.
Young Canadians, for example, would be most likely to vote on issues oriented towards the future of the country, since they will live with the ramification of today’s political decisions longer than anyone. This is sorely lacking from Canada’s modern political landscape.
Not only that, when young people in democracy’s feel unheard and unrepresented, societal unrest can follow. Look at the student-led protests in France as evidence to this point.
If younger Canadians were allowed to vote, politicians could no longer ignore young people once they became a significant voting demographic.
Evidence also shows that when voting ages decreases, those who voted at an earlier age continue to vote at a higher rate than the rest of the population. In a country where voter turnout and general political apathy are already significant issues, encouraging younger people to vote can help address both of those issues.
It’s perfectly reasonable for 16-year-olds to feel like they should have the right to vote. And make no mistake, plenty of young, well-informed Canadians have opinions that should, in an ideal world, be heard.
However, we do not live in an ideal world. In reality, life experience does matter when it comes to voting.
Friends, partners, peers, coworkers: these shape the experiences and perspectives that inform our understanding of the world. In that regard, independence, especially as a mindset, is a critical component of forming a political opinion, and a characteristic all voters should have.
Of course, there are exceptions. But in general, the younger you are, the less likely you are to have developed that perspective.
That is the primary reason voting should not be extended to younger Canadians.
Among voting-age adults, one of the strongest indicators of how someone votes is how their parents vote, and that only gets stronger the younger the voter is.
While external parental influence is problematic enough, it’s possible that parents or guardians wouldn’t even have the greatest influence. In fact, the truly impactful influence could come in the form of online information, and it’s impossible to ignore how much of that now comes from unreliable sources.
For Canadians aged 18 to 24, social media is already the single largest source of political information, and it plays a disproportionate role in shaping their opinions — and this effect is amplified in developing, impressionable teenage brains.
No Canadian, regardless of age, is immune to disinformation online, but studies show younger brains have the most trouble discerning real information from fake.
The same problem already exists among adults. Uninformed voting is common, and lowering the age by two years does nothing to fix it. More participation, on its own, won’t produce a better democracy.
A test, or a pathway for 16-year-olds to apply for the vote, might seem like a way through. In theory, it makes sense. In practice, most Canadians who can already vote likely couldn’t pass one, and barriers to voting are already a problem.
Canada still has work to do on turnout, civic education, and access for the voters it already has. That work should come first. Until it’s done, the voting age should stay where it is, at 18.
— Journal Editorial Board
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