[rubecube]

http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/spike...port-1.2864902

Honestly, regardless of your political stripes, this is encouraging to see.

A dramatic spike in young voter turnout during the 2015 federal election was “critical to the Liberal majority victory,” a new report says.

The study, commissioned by the Commissioned by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations, shows more than half of Canadians aged between 18 and 25 cast their ballots in the election.

Only 39 per cent of those in the same age group showed up to the polls in 2011.

“There was a major shift in this election in which the youth vote really did unify behind a single party and in doing so came out in larger numbers and probably drove that from a minority to a majority government,” Michael McDonald, the executive director of the alliance, said on CTV’s Power Play.

Forty-five per cent of millennials voted Liberal, 25 per cent supported the NDP, while the Conservatives only managed to sway 20 per cent of young voters.

McDonald said the numbers prove that young voters should not be dismissed as apathetic or disenfranchised, and that it’s up to politicians to effectively address issues that matter to millennials.

“Decision makers need to see young Canadians as a political force and respond with policy solutions that mirror their needs and expectations,” McDonald said.

McDonald said the study also sends a message to other parties that they need to do more to engage youth, who are expected to make up a quarter of Canada’s population by the time of the 2019 election.