Politics has never really been something that appealed to me. The constant complaints from people on Facebook and memes about Trudeau got old very quickly.
Then this election came, and the information I was seeing for the first time, interested me.
I’m sure I’m not the only person in their early 20’s who isn’t really into the whole political scene, but I know a lot of people who are really invested and follow the candidates closely.
Scrolling through my Instagram feed a few weeks ago a recommended account came onto my feed -@chase.brown2019. I’m sure that name doesn’t mean anything to most people reading this, but Chase Brown was someone I graduated high school with. I looked through the profile and saw that he is running to be MLA in the Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills area.
That blew my mind. He’s 21-years-old. He’s running to be part of the government. I’m 21-years-old too and I can barely remember to buy vegetables.
So, I called him up.
“I’ve had nothing but positive feedback from people, I haven’t had any negative feedback about me being a young guy. I think that comes from people understanding that if I’ve gotten to this point and successfully gained the nomination and organized the supporters and fundraising and began this campaign, I must have my ducks in a row,” Brown said.
He’s in college full time, graduating this year with a Bachelor of Management and he’s running a campaign from Camrose where he goes to school. It’s a lot of work, and very impressive.
Brown did tell me that a lot of his campaign does rely on social media, which is something he understands well, being a millennial and all.
It still blows my mind that he’s running for such a serious position at such a young age, but that’s important, isn’t it?
“You look at the province. It’s a very diverse province, right? In order to appropriately represent that province, you have to have a diverse government as well. That means diversity in gender, age, race, religion, it doesn’t matter. We have to have a government that represents Albertans.”
The election is April 16, and it is important for people to vote. I know, you’ve heard it a million times. In the last election, 57.1 per cent of eligible voters between the ages of 18-24 voted. That’s it.
This is the first election that I’ve been eligible to vote in and the first time in my life that I’ve cared enough to vote. Listening to my classmates talk about the different platforms and talking to an old friend who’s taking a huge chance in running for this position, it made me think that people my age can do something about it.
Do the right thing for this election, research the candidates, the platforms and vote. I’ll be there. Will you?
