Sunday, July 21, 2013

My policy for the OYL South Central Regional Policy Parliament - Encouraging Youth Democratic Participation and Improving Civic Education

I wrote about the merits of lowering the age of voter registration to 16 back in April, and I've turned it into a policy for the OYL South Central Regional Policy Parliament tomorrow. Take a look!


Encouraging Youth Democratic Participation and Improving Civic Education

 WHEREAS – The lowest voter registration rates are for young voters 18-24 years of age

WHEREAS – There is a positive correlation between voting and being registered as a voter before General Voting Day

WHEREAS – Australia and several American states allow for voter registration below the age of 18

WHEREAS – The Chief Electoral Officer of British Columbia recommended in 2011 in his Report to the Legislative Assembly to amend the BC Elections Act to allow the provisional registration of individuals when they are 16 years of age

WHEREAS – Ontario Young Liberals have previously passed policies encouraging youth democratic participation and improving the Civics class as part of Ontario’s curriculum

BE IT RESOLVED THAT – The Ontario government amend the Ontario Elections Act to permit the registration of individuals onto the voter list when they are 16 years of age

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT – The Ontario government amend the Civics portion of the Ontario High School curriculum to include the voter registration process, as the majority of students in grade 10 would be 16

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Hudak PC candidate: Female voters are "less informed"...including about control over their own bodies?


That's Wayne Wettlaufer, former PC MPP who served with Hudak and Mike Harris running to win his seat of Kitchener Centre back for the Conservatives.

Wettlaufer also must think women aren't informed enough to have control over their own bodies (also noteworthy a little guy named Tim Hudak as well several currently serving Hudak Conservative MPPs are also mentioned here)

"Several notable MPPs (all Tories) have demonstrated a commitment to respect the sanctity of life and the institution of the traditional family. Among them are Jim Brown (Scarborough Agincourt), Tim Hudak (Erie-Lincoln), Frank Klees (Oak Ridges), John O’Toole (Durham), Frank Sheehan (Niagara Centre), Wayne Wettlaufer (Kitchener Centre), and Bob Wood (London West). These pro-life MPPs have submitted numerous petitions to the legislature, thus bringing attention to important issues such as the need for conscience legislation, calls to eliminate taxpayer funding of abortion, the need to protect the rights of parents in areas such as health care and education, and opposition to the expansion of gambling. Without the commitment of these pro-life MPPs, these issues might not have been brought up on the floor of the legislature.

In response to the 1995 Campaign Life Coalition candidate’s questionnaire, these seven MPPs generally supported measures that would protect the unborn and regulate abortion, including ending taxpayer funding of abortuaries, consent to treatment changes and measures to provide for informed consent. Hudak...wrote, “I believe that it is the government’s role to... encourage women to carry the babies to term."  They have put their votes where their rhetoric is. Each of the MPPs voted for Bill 91, an act to provide for parental consultation under the Health Care Consent Act of 1996."