The Alberta NDP passed resolutions to lower the voting age and expand access to abortion at its weekend convention.
Party members discussed 76 resolutions at the Hyatt Regency Calgary. The 10 resolutions that passed aren’t binding and may not be included in the NDP’s election platform.
One motion submitted by the New Democrat Youth of Alberta sought to lower the province’s voting age from 18 to 16 years old, claiming young Albertans are engaged in politics and capable of making political decisions.
According to the motion, a voting age of 18 years old is “arbitrary and does not reflect human development.” People are more likely to vote once they have done it before and lowering the age gives them more opportunities to, the motion argued.
NDP MLA Janis Irwin praised the motion’s passage on Twitter.
“Delegates at our @albertaNDP convention just voted overwhelmingly in favour of lowering the provincial voting age to 16!” Irwin wrote on Twitter.
“The high school social studies teacher in me is just so darn excited!!”
In September, the federal NDP tried to pass a motion in the House of Commons to lower the voting age to 16. The motion failed to pass to third reading after a vote of 77 in favour to 245 against.
Delegates also voted to expand abortion access across the province, with a resolution arguing that abortion is “an essential human right.” The resolution stipulated that the NDP must establish at least one “reproductive” health care provider in population centres with more than 20,000 people. Providers would be searchable through a database.
Another resolution sought to address high costs at the grocery stores by calling on the UCP to work directly with the opposition and create an all-party committee on food affordability and routine government reporting on grocery prices.
In a speech to party members, Notley said she “kind of missed” former premier Jason Kenney. She joked that new Alberta Premier Danielle Smith might not last much longer than former British prime minister Liz Truss, who resigned after just 44 days in office — the shortest term in British history.
The UCP also held its annual general meeting the same weekend at the River Cree Resort in Enoch Cree Nation, near Edmonton. In a speech to party members, Smith said her caucus will prioritize action on affordability and inflation, jobs and economy, health care, and standing up to the “NDP-Liberal coalition government in Ottawa.”
The new premier said she had a quiet start to her term as she worked to unify the caucus ahead of a spring general election.
“Our team is now unified,” she said on Saturday.
“Our team is now ready to fight for Albertans, and come hell or high water, we are going to beat the NDP in 2023.”
