As youth across Canada strike for immediate climate action, we should ask ourselves: why can’t they vote?

We teach students in Grade 10 about government and our electoral system. But we don't let them vote. We require high school students to spend 40 hours volunteering in their community to develop a sense of responsibility and awareness. But we don't let them vote for who will govern those communities. We laud students who work, and charge them taxes. But we don't let them vote on how to spend those taxes.

Then we saddle our youth, and children, and the future with debt, pollution, urban sprawl, and climate change. They will spend their entire lives dealing with the damage we’ve done. That is why we should lower the voting age. That is why Greens across Canada have introduced bills to work towards a more inclusive democracy by lowering the voting age to 16.

Photo: Members of Future Rising Ottawa on Sep 13, 2019.