that voting and electoral politics alone will not result in the
changes we hope for. But aren’t
we failing to truly practice a diversity of tactics by not engaging in electoral politics?
Increasingly, the national parliament and provincial legislatures do not reflect the issues
and ideas that matter to young
Canadians. Young people are
kept to the margins. There are
not many young people who
are power brokers or decision
makers in Canada. Only 35 MPs
are under the age of 40 in the
House of Commons—out of 308
MPs. We have only two members under 30.
Do I want a parliament made
up entirely of 21-year-olds? Of
course not. But I also don’t want
a government made up of 308 old
white guys.
We debate pensions all the
time, but when do we talk about
post-secondary education? Or
job opportunities for youth? Or
the fact that the next generation will inherit a planet on the
verge of catastrophic climate
change?
Our Canadian Parliament recently passed a unanimous motion on pension reform, while
efforts to act on climate change
have completely broken down.
This is a matter of intergenerational equity. Our governments
are making decisions that those
decision makers don’t have to
live with. We’re being left with
the legacy of those decisions:
a crumbling education system,
scraps of a social safety net and
a poisoned planet.
My generation must engage
with electoral politics. Respect
for a diversity of tactics also
means a healthy respect for the
efforts of elected officials. But
we also need to reject notions
that change automatically hap-
pens when we elect a new gov-
ernment or that our elected
officials are all powerful. My
generation’s experience with glo-
balization helps us realize this
is not the case.
As an elected official, I have
been even more adamant about
building my local community.
I have transformed the office
where I meet with my constituents in Halifax into a community center, where I help build
diverse networks of people to
realize their objectives. When
I meet with someone in my office, I don’t tell them all the great
stuff I’ll do for them with all the
power I have. I engage them in
a discussion about how we can
work together to realize our common goals for social change. I tell
them that I need them speaking up in their communities as
much as they need me to speak
for them in Parliament.
At a speech on climate change
recently, a long-time environmental activist approached me
and said, “You don’t sound like a
politician—you sound like a real
person.” I believe that reflects
the fact that I’m approachable,
and I believe I’m approachable
by virtue of the fact that I’m a
young woman, and I don’t act
like the old-style politicians who
think everything is about them
and only wish to brag about the
riches they will bequeath upon
their communities.
Even while my generation
can recognize the complexity
of driving social change, we
can set more ambitious goals for
our future. That’s not a contradiction. The problems that confront our generation are serious.
They include not only climate
change but the very real potential that North America’s role in
the global economy will diminish. The challenges are too serious for us not to demand the
impossible.
VOICES
FROM
THE
NE W
GENERATION
Sebastián
Mendoza Garrido
b.
6 OCTOBER 1975
CHITRE, PANAMA
Chief Strategy Officer, Container
Consultants & Systems
PANAMA CITY, PANAMA
THE TECHIE
OUR GENERATION
expects instant gratification. Previous generations did not have
instant access to information nor
the ability to communicate with
the same level of immediacy that
the Internet, mobile phones and
BlackBerries give us today. We
have become less forgiving of delays and inefficiencies.
But the flood of instant information has its risks. This is particularly true for issues that require
a long-term approach and the patience to be addressed step by
step. Preserving our environment
for future generations is one such
issue. The world has already paid
a high price for the way we have
wasted global resources. It took
us many decades—even centuries—to reach this point, and we
will not be able to correct our mistakes overnight. Likewise, young
business leaders who want to
do the right thing environmentally and build successful countries and businesses must learn
how to set long-term achievable
goals. Information used carefully
and conscientiously can help get
us there.
