OTTAWA — The president of the Liberal Party of Canada’s youth wing says he believes it remains the party of youth, even as many appear to have left, flocking instead to the party’s chief rival: federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Liam Olsen, who has led the Young Liberals of Canada since 2023, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau showed he took young people and their issues seriously, from appointing himself to be the minister of youth and establishing youth councils, to prioritize fighting climate change and ending interest on federal student loans.
Now, Olsen says, it is time the party considers what’s next.
“We need to build a nation for our generation,” the 24-year-old said.
“Too many young people feel like we’re being left behind, like no matter how hard we’re working, or how hard we’re studying, that we can’t get out of debt, but that’s because of student debt we accumulated through university or college. We can’t keep up with rent or rising grocery prices, and we need leaders who hear our voices.”
With the contest to replace Trudeau underway, the Young Liberals are calling on candidates to commit to championing a new policy pledge. Released on Thursday, the one-page document highlights different priorities it wants them to advance.
They include lowering the voting age to 16, restricting temporary foreign work in regions where young people don’t have jobs, ensuring youth have “debt-free” access to post-secondary and halving green house gas emissions by 2035.
Topping the list of priorities is one that reads: “the housing affordability crisis is a national emergency.”
Olsen said candidates ought to talk about it as such.
Poilievre has made housing affordability a central plank of his pitch for why Canadians should elect him as their next prime minister, targeting those under 40, for whom owning a home feels impossible because of the price.
While Liberals, New Democrats and others dismiss Poilievre’s efforts as nothing more than social media soundbites and slogans, months of back-to-back polling suggests his message has worked.
Phillipe Fournier of the polling aggregator, 338Canada, says Conservative are leading among those aged 18 to 34, with the Liberals and NDP battling it out for a distant second.
Not only is that significant because of how Trudeau rose to power in 2015 by appealing directly to young people, but because young Canadians have traditionally veered towards the NDP.
Fournier says the Conservatives began rising in the polls around when housing prices were being hit hard by interest rate hikes coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. Poilievre began pounding the message that people cannot afford homes under Trudeau and Conservatives would fix things.
“That I think resonated with a lot of young voters,” Fournier says.
Since winning the Conservative leadership in 2022, Poilievre has ushered in a social media savvy not seen from previous Conservative leaders, which has driven his success among younger Canadians. That, and his style of being able to speak casually, despite having been a career politician.
In his most recent wide-ranging interview with right-wing commentator and host Jordan Peterson, Poilievre discussed how many of the young people he meets are “exhausted.” He at one point says that all young people do now “is work.”
“I am astonished when I meet university students how much they work outside of their studies just to scrape by,” Poilievre told Peterson. “These kids are working 20-30 hours a week in addition to a full course load.”
Fournier says it appears voters have been migrating to the Conservatives from the Liberals.
“Obviously, it’s not the same voters as five or 10 years ago, but we see that, yes, the Conservatives are first among young people in almost every poll.”
Whether those trying to replace Trudeau can claw back any of that support remains an open question. The winner will likely have little time to do so, given how they may find themselves campaigning in a general election in only weeks. All opposition parties have vowed to bring down the minority Liberals as soon as Parliament resumes on Mar. 24.
The Liberals pick their new leader on Mar. 9.
Pointing to a newly released poll suggesting the Liberals may be experiencing a bump since U.S. President Donald Trump’s election, Olsen expressed optimism. He added that he is not “focused on the past” and that life has become more expensive for everyone. “I don’t think it’s just young people.”
Fournier says it is still to early to tell whether Canadians feel differently about the Liberals following Trudeau’s decision to resign.
Olsen said he believes all leadership candidates take youth issues seriously, having spoken with the campaigns of frontrunners Mark Carney, a former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor, as well as former finance minister Chrystia Freeland. Olsen also said he has been in touch with Karina Gould’s campaign, the only one of the three making a direct appeal to the party’s young Liberals.
A millennial herself, the 38-year-old Gould at her campaign launch talked about having been a Liberal since she was a teen and celebrated the youth wing has having been the first to champion matters that later became government policy, like Indigenous reconciliation. She also recently held an event with around 40 young Liberals.
“Young people are looking for a leader who will listen and represent their voices. I’m ready to bring that change,” she recently posed to X. “It’s time for a new generation of leadership — one that’s fresh, energetic, and focused on building a stronger, united Canada for today and tomorrow.”
Housing Minister Nate Erskine-Smith told reporters on Wednesday that he was not yet sure how he was going to be involved in the race. Talking about Gould, he said she comes from “the same generational lens” as he does, and hopes “she speaks to housing and child care.”
“I have every expectation that she will.”
National Post
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