As a member of the “youth” here in Prince Edward County, it is encouraging to see the importance of our engagement in community and council is being recognized and acted upon (Municipality first in the region to link with Youth Council Coalition of Canada, The Picton Gazette Jan. 29, 2021).

In my experience, the up-and-coming generation of youth are not as active in civic government as they perhaps should or could be. The YCC plans to turn this around and this coalition is on the right track by encouraging youth to get more involved.

]Youth education in municipal government is limited throughout elementary and secondary school. This has become clear to me, as I have only recently commenced education on governance in municipalities through a third year class- Local Government in Ontario- I am taking at the University of Guelph. From this class, I’ve realized how little I was taught on this topic previously. I fully support the YCC’s goal to get youth involved, because getting involved is surely the best way to become educated.

As YCC’s Kelsey Santarossa mentioned, I hope the YCC or similar groups can eventually spread across the country.

Jordan Stacey

Prince Edward County