'They are engaged. They want to be engaged': Organization works to get young people in N.B. to vote

Encouraging young people in New Brunswick to vote Bruce Frisko speaks with New Majority field director Maeve Sharkey about engaging first-time voters and young people in politics.

The field director for a non-partisan, non-profit organization in New Brunswick says young people are engaged in politics and they want to be engaged.

“We are here in New Brunswick having face to face conversations and talking directly to as many young people as possible to make sure they have the information that they need to be able to vote,” said Maeve Sharkey in an interview with CTV’s Bruce Frisko on Friday. “They are engaged. They want to be engaged.”

Sharkey says New Majority, has been travelling to different campuses and other locations across the province where young people tend to meet up like parks, transit stops and farmers markets.

“What we found is that actually most people want to be engaged, but if they haven’t done it before they might not have the information that they need to follow through on that plan,” she said.

“So what we do in these conversations is make it really clear what information they really need, so where they need to be going to vote, what I.D.’s they need, what time they can be voting, how they are getting there and also if they are coming with friends.”

Sharkey says the top issues they are hearing about from young people are the affordability crisis, the mental health crisis and climate change.

“They have different issues that matter to them and they don’t associate with a particular political party personally. Instead, they are really focusing on the issues that matter to them and the people that they love,” she says.

Sharkey says the organization’s message to the political parties is that young people want to be heard.

“We really advocate for them to be going to campuses, going to social media and talking to them and having conversations about these issues that matter most to them.”