When she looks around the House of Commons, the sight that greets Renée Miller is mostly aged, mostly white and mostly male.
That’s something the Liberal candidate in the Nanaimo-Alberni riding wants to change.
“There’s a real problem with voter apathy we have to fight against,” Miller said. “It’s an apathy that stems from feeling their MPs are not representational. The average age of MPs is 53 and the average MP is white and male. Certainly in our riding it’s not all old timers.”
Miller said she wants to increase the participation of young people in the vote, stressing that decisions made in Ottawa now will directly impact their lives more than any other group.
“Politics affects us all and every single one of us needs to be engaged,” she said. “Politics is only as good as good as the individual voices that get out to help create it.”
Miller said party leader Michael Ignatieff’s proposal to give $1,000 per year for four years to post-secondary students is one way her party is working to appeal to younger
“Anything that provides a cash infusion to make sure as many Canadians are able to pursue the education they want is positive,” she said. “We want to make sure young people know we are working for them in an effort to assist with the cost of post secondary education.”
Miller said the Liberals plan to use every modern tool at their disposal in an effort to get that message out to younger voters.
“We have a Twitter campaign page and a Facebook campaign page, both of which are receiving some fantastic traffic,” she said. “Social media is an incredible opportunity to use free resources to get the message out to multiple people.”
Boiled down to its essence, Miller’s message is simple.
“Get out and vote,” she said.
