Justin, Jagmeet, and the Triumph of the Millennial Voter

It's that time of the year. The leaves are finally turning red, the nights are suddenly cool. After one of my the wildest summers ever, it's time to put away the boat.

And prepare for winter in the Great White North.

Sad.

But the changing of the seasons can be beautiful where I live.



And this year I also get to celebrate the changing of the generations.



Or as Edward Greenspon and Paul Adams write, celebrate the triumph of the millennial voter. 

With his victory as the eighth leader of the federal New Democratic Party, Singh makes official what Justin Trudeau’s October 2015 election first heralded: a rare and profound generational change in Canada’s political life. So rare, in fact, that Pierre Trudeau’s victory in 1968 marked the last time this happened. Everything that happened in federal politics for the next 47 years was either derivative of his views — or a reaction against them.

For while I don't believe Jasmeet Singh is the New Messiah, he's a welcome addition to the Canadian political scene, I like him.

And at the very least he might be able to drag the NDP kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.

For example, I noticed that during his acceptance speech he didn't attack Justin Trudeau once, or even mention his name.

Unlike this old loser... 



Who attacked Trudeau like a rabid hyena or a Con, and all but drowned the idealism of the NDP in his angry bile. 

But Singh won't make that mistake, for he is part of a new generation who reject that kind of approach, and he will change the way politics is practiced in this country. 

Generational change means the emergence of a new worldview — a zeitgeist, if you like — that changes not only who holds power but how they govern. In his 1923 essay, The Problem of Generations, sociologist Karl Mannheim argued that generational change is borne out of major social and historical developments shared by an emerging group that creates an original and distinctive consciousness.

He's part of the generation most responsible for defeating the Cons in the last election, and handing Justin his majority...



According to an analysis by Abacus, had the electorate been limited to boomers only, the Liberals and Conservatives would have ended up in a dead heat. But among millennials, the Liberals’ margin of victory came from shellacking the Conservatives 44 per cent to 21 per cent (with the NDP at 25 percent).

The generation that will shape our future more than any other.

Here is a hugely potent political fact about millennials: In the 2019 federal election, they will be the largest cohort of eligible voters, finally displacing the boomers who have held the title since 1979 — a period of 40 years. And their dominance will grow for many elections to come.

And the one that will hopefully finish off Andrew Scheer's creepy Cons... 



In 2016, Abacus asked millennials about their voting intentions; sixty-seven per cent said they would not consider supporting the Conservatives.

The Conservatives find themselves offside with millennials in the run-up to a 2019 generation election in which this rising generation will eclipse the boomers as the largest voting bloc in Canada. Should millennials also retain their recent propensity to actually turn out at the polls, the cost of being offside with them could be extremely high.

For not only do most millennials hate bigots, sexist pigs, and religious fanatics.They have no time for the angry old Cons, or some of the grim progressives who infest this country...



And would turn it into a place where hope goes to die.

For no matter how dire their situation, or how desperate the state of the planet they have inherited, millennials know that only hope can fuel the struggle for the future.

Paradoxically, although they expressed the fear during the last election that weak economic growth, student debt and precarious employment were condemning them to an economic status inferior to that of their parents’ generation, they also have demonstrated have an unshakeable confidence in their long-term prospects.

And they will help create a better world for people of all ages.

And the best thing is, there is NOTHING anybody can do about it.

The sun is setting on one political generation...



And rising on another.

Five years ago during the Quebec Student Strike, I first saw what the millennial generation was capable of doing when united in pursuit of a political goal.

The forces of repression were able to put down their revolt, with tear gas and clubs. But not any longer.

Now they are stronger than ever. 

They will storm the barricades.

And they will change the world...