Coffee, doughnuts and politics

By Rick Peterson October 9, 2008

(Vancouver) Here’s an interesting thought for you as we get into the last few days of the federal election campaign.

Did you know that if you’re applying for a job serving coffee and doughnuts at Tim Horton’s, you need to go through 20-30 hours of training before they’ll let you go behind the counter?

But did you know that the candidate knocking on your door this weekend or the volunteer who’s called you at home has probably never had any formal training in campaigning or running an election campaign? And, to think that instead of merely serving up sugar and caffeine, these good citizens are offering to serve up the law of the land.

This little “timbit” comes to us from Preston Manning, who has a long history of being ahead of the curve and identifying big trends in politics long before they become main street news: clarity over Quebec separatism; Senate reform; and the importance of environmental policy are just three of the key issues he spotted ahead of everyone else.

And, once again, he’s right – but only partially - in pointing out the need to help increase the level of knowledge and expertise in developing political skills among Canada’s young people.

Manning is in discussions with Carleton University about establishing a Masters program in political studies to help young post-graduate students learn the art of campaigning, fundraising, polling, branding & communications, voter ID and all the other important facets of running a successful election campaign.

This is a good idea – but is too narrow and a little elitist. Drop into your local campaign office of your favorite political party this weekend, and you’ll see that the people who are carrying out these tasks now are everyday people like you and me ranging in age from 14 to 84. Manning’s idea of a graduate school in politics is good for those people who want to make a career out of politics – but those animals are few and far between, and it’s not a career choice that offers much in the way of security or financial rewards.

The Earlier the Better
What we should be doing, instead, is teaching these basic skills starting in our elementary and secondary schools as part of the regular social sciences curriculum. Why? Because these courses can be a lot of fun, they would be offered by the major political parties themselves at no cost to taxpayers, and – here’s the real benefit of this - they would attract more young people to become involved in politics at an early age and help them form habits and relationships with people that will stay with them for a lifetime. At a time of decreasing voter turnout and record numbers of young people turning away from the polls, here’s an idea whose time is long overdue.

So, how could we get a few hours basic “Campaign 101” instruction into the classroom? Well, there is already a program in place with Junior Achievement of Canada, a non-profit group operating in Canada for more than 50 years for the purpose of teaching business education and entrepreneurial skills to young students.

JA programs are delivered free of charge, in coordination with local school boards, and linked to curriculums already in place by qualified business volunteers. Starting as early as Grades 5 to 7 in elementary schools, JA programs whet the appetites of budding young entrepreneurs and give an appreciation of how business works. These programs continue on through junior high school and into high school. Check out their website and you’ll easily see how rich and rewarding these programs could be.

Could the same model be adapted or copied for political campaign programs and delivered by the major political parties? If federal political parties receive taxpayers’ subsidies for each vote they get, shouldn’t they be asked to provide some level of educational service in return that will encourage people to become involved in the political process? Absolutely. A well-structured program could be fun, informative and useful. It would take some leadership to get off the ground, and is maybe a good issue for an visionary school board trustee to champion.

Any smart political party would make a concentrated effort at this, because there is an untapped vast pool of young voters that can make a huge difference in any political campaign. Canadians as young as14 years of age can take out memberships in federal and provincial political parties and have a voice in local nomination contests. And, as we watch election results roll in next Tuesday night, check out the number of ridings where the final result is decided by a few hundred votes – a narrow gap in many cases where the voices of young Canadians can have an important say.

Engineers Without Borders
If you want to see a stellar example of students who very much have their act together and are learning to use their support of a good cause to have an impression on political parties, have a look at Engineers Without Borders in Canada.

The Vancouver chapter of this group held an all-candidates debate on issues of global poverty, trade and foreign aid at the downtown Vancouver Simon Fraser University campus on Tuesday night of this week in front of a packed crowd of 250 or more students.

Three federal candidates were present at the forum: the NDP’s Peter Prontzos (South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale); the Liberal’s Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre) and the Green Party’s Jim Stephenson (North Vancouver). The Conservative Party didn’t have a candidate at the event. All three were very strong, well prepared and did an excellent job, and should be congratulated for coming out to address an issue that has escaped the front pages of the federal election campaign so far this year – and most years.

SFU’s Shauna Sylvester did a wonderful job of moderating the debate, keeping it on time, focused and lively. Over the two-hour period of the forum, there were tough and thoughtful questions, good answers, valid points raised and all three political candidates offered different but clear views on a question that is of interest to these EWB students who are literally out changing the world as they work on projects in Africa and raise awareness here in Canada.

The forum was interesting enough, but some recent polling numbers that were distributed at the forum were even more fascinating. The bottom line of two extensive surveys among 1,000 Canadians between the ages of 15-24 conducted last month by the Innovative Research Group and the Environics Research Group shows that this group is more “conservative” than we might think and very undecided in their voting intentions. Here are some interesting results from these two studies:

• Younger Canadians tend to follow international news much more closely than domestic or local news.
• Younger Canadians make as many donations to organizations working internationally as older Canadians, and their average gift is $924, which is higher than the national average!
• Voting intentions of this group in early September were evenly split: Liberals 18%; NDP and Conservatives both at 17%; Greens at 11%; 5% for the Bloc and about 30% undecided.

So, there you go: a pool of intelligent, motivated, and committed voters who will donate their precious and scarce dollars to a cause they believe in, and are watching all political parties to see which one best addresses their concerns. (The Conservatives lost a good opportunity on Tuesday night to highlight some of the very strong work that is currently going on in the government to refocus CIDA and make Canada’s foreign aid more efficient and having a greater impact.)

So, in the end, every political party in Canada would benefit by helping bring the basics of campaigning into the classrooms of this country in a way that is fun, engaging, and motivating. For, the political party that taps into the energy and drive of young voters – as the Democratic Party has visibly done in the US this year – has a formidable ally on its side.