The millenials have spoken, and will continue to

By Medicine Hat News Opinon on October 25, 2019.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade

Some seemingly important aspects of the election did not resonate with voters across the country and that could mean the demographic of voters has shifted and so have values.

Most adolescents would have told you that climate change was the biggest issue for them. Most did not have a vote though. Today’s 14-year-olds will be voting in four years. Elizabeth May, leader of the Green Party has already said she feels the voting age should be reduced to 16.

Apparently millennials made up the largest demographic of voters in this election and that might account for a shift in what is currently perceived as important.

Older voters remember parents and grandparents taking great pride in “living within their means”, not going into debt unless it was to purchase a home. Living within a budget used to be huge. Saving money each month in case you lost your job also used to be very important.

Younger people are more comfortable carrying a balance on a credit card or two or three, having a line of credit, buying or leasing a new vehicle every few years and paying a substantial amount in interest to accommodate this.

As older voters decline and millennials come to the fore it is not hard to see how Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer’s message did not resonate across the country. Reducing government spending to balance the budget, getting a handle on the debt was not as important as it was to voters in previous elections.

Could it be that millennials, who live extremely busy lives compared to their grandparents, were also not as questioning about some of promises made during the election.

Promises not kept

Perhaps there was a time when a politician who made a promise could be counted on to follow through because to not do so was political suicide. That is no longer the case.

Several promises made by Justin Trudeau four years ago were not delivered. They were mentioned by opposition parties during the election but in the end it was not a big issue.

A few generations ago “a man was as good as his word” or if you shook hands on a deal that was as good as having it in writing. Someone would be shamed and ashamed to fail in that regard. Voters at that time would have had a very different perspective on Trudeau’s failed promises than what we saw this time.

Younger people are more tolerant of someone not following through, not arriving in time for work or being late for an appointment. Even children today are inclined to give someone the benefit of the doubt or to believe that the person “tried their best” even if they did not deliver.

It becomes clear then that as our society has changed our values have too and it just could be that we saw this play out in a federal election for the first time.

(Gillian Slade is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to https://www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions, email her at gslade@medicinehatnews.com or call her at 403-528-8635.)

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