WATCH: In Saanich alone, more than a third of the municipal council candidates are under 40. April Lawrence spoke with two of the candidates who are under 30.
Ned Taylor may be 19-years-old but this isn’t his first time hitting the pavement for an election campaign. Taylor ran in last year’s by-election in Saanich. It was his first time running and first time voting too.
“So the first time I voted I voted for myself,” he joked.
Taylor isn’t the only youthful face on the Saanich ballot this election — more than a third of the candidates running for council are under 40.
“I think the tide is turning I think more young people are going to get involved and I think that’s a good thing,” said Taylor.
23-year-old Zac de Vries is the next youngest candidate running in Saanich. He thinks affordable housing is one of the driving reasons more young people are getting involved.
“You look at the housing market I think that’s what’s driving a lot of this, we’re finding our generation is the first generation since The Great Depression to be worse off economically than our parents,” he said.
As more young people get involved in municipal politics some hope it will change people’s perception of millennials.
“When people think of millennials they think of young people being sad in their parents’ basements while spending too much money on overpriced lattes and avocado toast and we need to change that perception,” said Gavin Dew with the Forum for Millennial Leadership.
Dew says more millennials are realizing how impactful municipal politics can be both today and years down the road.
“It’s really important to have people at the table who are going to be living in those communities in 20, 30 40 years,” he said.
Dew said seeing young people running for politics, and being elected, will encourage others to get involved.
“When we start electing younger people we’ll see a positive cycle where people see themselves represented and they feel they are qualified,” he said.
Not only encouraging others to hit the campaign trail but also to get out and vote
April Lawrence
