Kamloops’ youth call on election candidates to address concerns, reach more young voters

While some said they had ideas about the city’s future, they were unaware and uninformed about the people hoping to lead it.

“I’m actually not sure about who’s representing us in downtown,” said Kyle Frasca, a law student with the university told CFJC Today.

Jordan Strickland, a natural resource student with TRU, highlighted the importance of face-to-face interactions.

“They should be reaching out… probably canvasing on campus,” Strickland said.

“Being out here on campus or elsewhere around the city… just going out and being with like the community, especially like younger events,” added Trygg Townsley, a first-year culinary arts student.

“I don’t feel like I’m really exposed to it that much, especially on social media,” noted Cohen Gorospe, a student inside the engineering program.

Gorospe though isn’t the only student who says the campaign has been hard to notice.

“Compared to like the federal election, sometimes the [provincial] B.C. election. There’s normally more ads, more like YouTube ads, all sorts of places,” said Frasca.

“Pretty much the only stuff that I see is, all the [election] signs,” added Gorospe, noting the lack of information is seemingly flawed in the delivery towards the younger demographic.

There are issues the youth want candidates to hear about.

Strickland recently moved to Kamloops, and he said finding housing brought the cost of living into focus.

“It was a little bit difficult to find appropriate housing… for international students it might be a bit more of a challenge,” Strickland said, noting transit is another priority.

Townsley is 17, so he’s not able to cast a ballot just yet, but he wants to be prepared for when it’s his turn. He said he already knows what he wants from those who are putting their names in the hat.

“It is a great importance to me that they’re like, getting with our youth and talking to them about their ideas, and the youth’s ideas as well,” Townsley said.

by Jeremy Russo

Kamloops’ youth call on election candidates to address concerns, reach more young voters

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