Friday March 29, 2024 | VICTORIA, BC [Updated 12:15 pm]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
“It was a pleasure to meet the UVic Greens and guests this week,” says Camille Currie, BC Green candidate for Colwood-Esquimalt about a gathering of Green Party supporters held at the University of Victoria on March 27.
Garnering the youth vote:
The informal mett-and-greet was a way to find out what youth are thinking about the world around them and for Green party folks to generate support among youth.
“We need to continue encouraging youth to get engaged in politics and voting. Their engagement will increase equitable representation in BC. Student needs matter. They are the future,” said Camille in the days that followed.
There are two elections coming up that will arguably reshape conditions for youth, families and broader society for the coming decade:
- BC provincial election (scheduled for October 19, 2024)
- Canadian federal election (scheduled for October 20, 2025)
The availability of on-campus voting stations has been variable over the past few provincial and federal elections.
Who was there:
The low-key gathering reportedly saw a good student turnout.
BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau and BC Green House Leader Adam Olsen (MLA for Saanich North and the Islands) attended.
Also attending was David Evans who we hear is ramping up a federal Green campaign in Esquimalt-Saanich-Sooke (with former federal Green candidate David Merner as his campaign manager).
Youth concerns:
At this week’s get-together, students talked about international student fees as well as living conditions that students face such as:
- the cost of rent and limited-to-no options for where to live* (only first-year students are guaranteed on-campus housing),
- not being able to access healthcare services (overall doctor shortage),
- those that are not BC residents trying to access healthcare,
- no timely walk-in healthcare.
Students are of course enduring the same cost-of-living conditions that most of the rest of people are in BC including the high cost of groceries. Job prospects for students (part-time to help them through school) might also be in tight supply.
The students also expressed concerns about climate change. Some of the students were returning to the Interior soon and spoke of their worries about wildfires this year and crop devastation from the winter.
===== ABOUT THE WRITER:
Mary P Brooke has been covering political news in the Greater Victoria area since 2008. Her news insights are published daily at IslandSocialTrends.ca and more broadly in the bi-weekly print/PDF Island Social Trends. | Sign up for the Island Social Trends Premium PDF subscription biweekly by email.
Her previous publications are now archived at the Sooke Region Museum: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Ms Brooke reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery while also maintaining an eye to politics of the fast-growing region of the Greater Victoria west shore.
Mary Brooke’s four now-grown children attended university in challenging times; they graduated into the Great Recession and then the gig-economy.
Mary P Brooke ran for school trustee in 2022 (in the west shore side of the Sooke School District SD62).