Municipal News Highlighting news and events within the municipal sector throughout Newfoundland and Labrador March 2014
Kent on Youth Engagement
By Randy Simms
It should not come as a surprise to anyone that the new Minister of Municipal and Intergovernmental Affairs, Steve Kent, would be at the vanguard of a movement to involve more young people in the province’s political process. Shortly after being sworn in as Minister he introduced a piece of legislation that has some municipal councillors scratching their heads while others are applauding his inventiveness. Kent is championing Bill 20, a bill designed to encourage youth engagement at the municipal level. He is proposing to amend the Municipalities Act and the three city acts to grant councils a unique authority. If and when the bill becomes law a municipal council will have the right to appoint a “youth representative” to sit on council and participate in its deliberations. However, this person, who must be under the age of 18 to be in that special youth seat, will not be allowed to vote on anything before the council and will not be considered a member of council for the purposes of forming a quorum.
Before moving on to provincial politics he also served as Mayor for several years. Kent readily admits that his own experience growing up in Mount Pearl makes him an enthusiastic proponent of engaging young people in the political process. “We need more people to step up and play a role in community government throughout this province and we also recognize, through our Make Your Mark Campaign, that we are not getting enough young people coming forward,” he says. “Some how we need to inspire and engage young people in the democratic process, where it matters most, at the community level.”
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Bill 20 is supposed to help do that. The amendment is not an order. Council’s are not going to be required to put a young person on the council unless they want to. The legislation says “council
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Kent himself was bitten by the political bug at an early age. He was once President of the Mount Pearl Youth Advisory Council and it was there that he cut his teeth on policy issues, public engagement and the thrust and parry of politics. At the ripe old age of 19, just old enough to vote himself, he stood for election and ended up Mount Pearl’s Deputy Mayor.
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