In the last municipal election, a meagre 25 per cent of Lake Country voters dropped their ballots into a white box.

B.C.sa国际传媒檚 average voter turnout for municipal elections is 33 per cent and you cansa国际传媒檛 argue that itsa国际传媒檚 Lake Countrysa国际传媒檚 population size that makes its voters so uninterested in local politics as Peachland, with a population of 5,000, has had the highest voter turnout in the Central for the past decade.

Don Wilson, with the Peachland Museum, says its because of Peachlandsa国际传媒檚 retired population, as about half of the municipality is over the age of 55.

READ MORE: Peachland has highest voter turnout for the past decade in Central Okanagan

While this theory may be true, we then turn at the age-old argument of why young people donsa国际传媒檛 vote. Lake Country has a growing population of young families, who will be affected by rising housing costs, public beach accessibility, water quality, taxes, ect. for years to come.

Itsa国际传媒檚 not a problem that only Lake Country deals with, young Canadians under 35 donsa国际传媒檛 often show up to the polls on both provincial and national levels (however, there was a spike of interest for the federal election in 2017).

The decisions your council makes has a direct impact on your city. Politicians will naturally gravitate to policies and messages that affect baby boomers, as they are Canadasa国际传媒檚 largest demographic, but that shouldnsa国际传媒檛 be a deterrent for millennials. If we voted more, maybe wesa国际传媒檇 see politicians start to address issues that have more of an effect on our age group.

Itsa国际传媒檚 baffling how many young people complained about the smoke this past summer, yet took no time to research what politicians are doing to mitigate forest fuels and more importantly, what politicians are doing to combat climate change, which is directly linked to the increase in wildfires. Itsa国际传媒檚 also costing $1 billion annually for B.C. property damage losses.

READ MORE: Climate change blamed for $1 billion annual B.C. property damage losses

You will be directly impacted by this, either for smoke, fires, floods or landslides, increasing taxes ect. and you also have the ability to go to your local politicians and talk to them.

Millennials will also be on the earth longer than the baby boomers, maybe itsa国际传媒檚 time we started thinking about how we want to leave our mark.

carli.berry@kelownacapnews.com
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