Future Majority campaigning for youth to vote in upcoming federal election

A non-profit, non partisan group is working to increase youth voter turnout.

Future Majority is made up of young Canadians working to encourage youth to vote in the upcoming federal election.

Bashra Asghar is a field organizer with Future Majority in Sault Ste Marie. She and her colleagues have set up throughout the country to encourage the conversation.

"We're talking to people everyday about the election and what some of the issues are that are impacting them," she said. "We're getting a feel where people are at and … getting them to pledge to vote."

Asghar says she has been speaking with college and university students in the Sault Ste. Marie area.

"They're really affected by funding in the post-secondary education system," she said.

"These people have thousands of dollars in debt. They're struggling to stay in school."

She says another concern she is hearing is about employment opportunities after graduation.

"We're a generation plagued with precarious jobs where we don't have any benefits or pensions and are constantly working contract work," she said.

Climate change is also a topic that is continuously coming up among youth, she said.

Asghar says young voters are apathetic about voting because politicians don't traditionally engage with them. That, she says, is unfortunate.

"We really want them to realize how much political power we hold and how we're like a really important group to, you know, canvass this election," she said.

"That's not happening which is quite sad because I feel like we're being intentionally left out of the conversation."

Asghar says youth voting rose to 57 per cent in the last election in 2015, up from 38 percent in the previous election.    

She adds the group is also launching an online tool to help youth decide who to vote for.

"We're not telling them who to vote for," she explained.

"It's more them understanding what the policies are."