Ottawa bound

A local high school student said he never expected he’d be picked to represent the region at a national youth caucus.

The Global Vision Junior Team Canada chose Mike Robinson, 18, to represent Northwestern Ontario in Ottawa at the National Youth Ambassador Caucus. The caucus, scheduled from May 15 to 19, aims to make youth more involved in politics and economics.

Global Vision picked 100 youths from across Canada. Robinson said he was shocked to learn that he had been selected.

"I thought the chances of being selected were pretty slim," Robinson said. "I’m pretty excited to represent our region."

Robinson said he plans to talk about economic diversity and cities that rely on natural resources.

Robinson said he is disappointed that youth seem to have little interest in political issues. Robinson recently graduated from St. Ignatius High School and has been accepted into the University of Ottawa’s journalism program. He said that eventually he wanted go make politics a career.

"It’s important to stress that everything that happens at the different levels of politics affects each and every ones of us," he said. "The more we are involved in the change the more we can speak about it and ignite the change that we want to see."

The 2008 federal election had the lowest voter turnout in Canadian history. Only about 59 per cent of eligible voters took a trip to the polling stations for that election, breaking the previous record low turnout of 60.9 per cent set in 2004.

Robinson said it is disappointing to hear how few people participate in the voting processes in Canada. It’s even more disappointing when you consider that there are counties that don’t give their citizens the right to vote, he added.

High school students often voted on the St. Ignatius school website when a poll question related to pop culture. That enthusiasm nearly disappeared when the question related to politics, he said.

"Even when we discuss politics in class some days a lot of people fall asleep and put their heads on their desk," he said. "It’s disappointing."

Robinson said those who wanted to get more involved in politics should become more involved with organizations such as Global Vision and pay more attention to the news.