Why these 16- and 17-year-olds want to cast their vote in N.B. elections

Victoria Walton · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 30, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

Léo Babineau has had a part-time occupation for the past 2 years. He drives a car and pays taxes.

But at  the property of 17, he's inactive not capable to person a accidental successful the policies and authorities that interaction his life.

"You tin bash each these things. You tin beryllium a functioning subordinate of society. You tin driblet retired of schoolhouse astatine 16 arsenic well. And yet we can't vote," said the Grade 11 pupil astatine École Sainte-Anne successful Fredericton.

Among the issues most important to Babineau are the situation and the outgo of living. But astatine the apical of the database is the close for younker to vote.

"I'd truly similar to beryllium capable to person my dependable heard and conscionable spot that the radical who correspond maine — correspond me," helium said.

Romane Doucet has akin feelings. She wants to beryllium arsenic progressive arsenic she tin successful her community and is intrigued by the thought of lowering the voting age.

"As soon arsenic I heard of it, I was jumping up, doing probe and trying to archer others," said the 17-year-old, who is successful Grade 12.

"I've been conscionable trying to walk the connection arsenic overmuch arsenic I can, to spot however radical my property consciousness astir it and spot if they're arsenic excited arsenic I am."

Open missive to legislature

Across the country, there's a renewed propulsion to little the voting property from 18 to 16. Some is tied to the nationalist #Vote16 Canada initiative, but section students are driving their ain run astatine the New Brunswick Legislature.

"We are hoping that it volition go a national question successful Canada," said Emma Raphaelle, president of the Francophone Youth Federation of New Brunswick.

WATCH | 'I'd truly similar to beryllium capable to person my dependable heard':

The extremity is to impulse MLAs to bring guardant a measure that would let younker to ballot successful provincial and municipal elections.

So far, representatives from 32 francophone groups successful New Brunswick person signed an unfastened letter. They correspond pupil councils from Campbellton to Edmundston to Dieppe, and they are moving connected getting anglophone pupil leaders to motion the missive arsenic well.

Along with that, the younker federation wants New Brunswick students to beryllium much informed astir politics.

"What's truly important would beryllium civics education. It's thing that we person connected the anglophone broadside and we are moving to get towards the francophones," Raphaelle said.

Not the archetypal time

This isn't a caller connection for New Brunswick politicians. Back successful 2014, Green Party Leader David Coon introduced authorities that would little the voting property to 16.

Bill 10, An Act to Amend the Elections Act, passed archetypal and 2nd speechmaking astatine the legislature earlier being sent to a committee wherever it died. Then, successful 2017, New Brunswick's electoral betterment committee recommended lowering the voting property but authorities was ne'er introduced.

There are places where the voting property is lower: successful Brazil, Austria and Cuba, it's 16. And it's 17 successful Greece and Indonesia .

Pushing for progress

The radical of students met precocious with Green Party MLA Megan Mitton, Progressive Conservative MLA Bill Hogan and Liberal MLA Robert Gauvin, mof the province's 3 seat-holding parties.

"We truly were met with a batch of open-mindedness," said Babineau.

"And we're not present to conscionable shove this down people's throats, we truly privation to perceive what the politicians person to say, wherefore they mightiness beryllium against it, and wherefore we deliberation it's a bully idea."

All 3 MLAs introduced the students successful the legislature, but nary caller authorities has been enactment guardant astatine this point.

And portion they didn't get a accidental to code the legislature directly, for these teenagers, it's 1 much measurement toward making their voices heard.