The Election is Over, Now What?

Asha Swann (she/her) 

Hello and welcome to another episode of Establish, a podcast by Shake Up The Establishment. Shake Up The Establishment, also known as SUTE, is a national youth-led nonprofit. 

The Canadian federal election has just finished, after a very hectic snap election. The Liberal Party won with 168 seats (1) and federal Liberal Party leader Mark Carney was officially elected as prime minister. The conservative party finished the election with 144 seats, making them the official opposition. As of May 1, Elections Canada reports that around 19.5 million people voted in this year’s federal election (2). So in other words, around 68 percent of eligible voters cast their ballot. But this also means the Liberal Party is just a few seats shy of a majority government. 

I’m hosting this episode from Oakville, Ontario, which is the Treaty Lands and Territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. More specifically, it’s within the confines of Treaty 14. As a journalist, it’s important for me to talk about Canada’s political system, which is known as the first past the post. Canada first enacted legislation for the electoral system in 1885, nearly 20 years after Confederation (3). And honestly, people have had issues with Canada’s electoral system for decades. Before Treaty 14 was purchased as a European settlement and officially became Oakville, it was governed by its own Indigenous population (4). And by the way, Indigenous people in Canada didn’t even get full voting rights until 1960 (5). But to this day, Indigenous people are still facing huge barriers to voting. For this federal election, Inuit voters in Nunavik reported a lack of consistent staff at polling stations and inconsistent hours (6). Remote Indigenous communities have reported similar issues over the years that stop them from being able to cast their ballot (7). As of May 1st, Elections Canada is investigating what happened in Nunavik.  But that’s a whole other story, which is part of a larger structural problem. Today, we’re talking about the 2025 federal election.

There’s no doubt about it that this has been a chaotic campaign period. The stakes were high, emotions were high, and polls often went back and forth. 

The point of this episode is to be nonpartisan. As a journalist, it’s important to me to say that no matter which political party is in power, we have to make sure our leaders are held accountable and actually represent the voters. Governments are supposed to work for us. The question on everyone’s mind is what do we do now? 

First, we have to start at the beginning. Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned, which left the Liberal Party without a leader. A short campaign ensued, and Mark Carney was elected leader, which then meant he was the Prime Minister (8). Not too long after, he called a snap federal election. Now, when you have a party leadership change like this, it’s pretty normal for the newly elected party leader to call a federal election. This has happened before, like when Kim Campbell became Canada’s only female prime Minister, a position she held for a few months (9). But it’s also worth noting that 2025 was set to be a federal election year anyway, so whether it was going to be a snap election or not, we knew that an election call was due to happen, it was only a matter of when. In American politics, campaigns last over a year. An election period in Canada is just a matter of weeks. So it can be a stressful and overwhelming time – from platform promises, to where/when to vote, there is such a constant output of information over the course of an election period that it can be hard to keep track of what’s happening.

The election period began at a contentious time. A lot of the conversations surrounding the early days of the election were about U.S. President Donald Trump and his promise to impose massive tariffs on Canada, as well as other countries around the globe (10). And because so much business goes back and forth between Canada and the U.S., a big question on voters’ minds was how do we deal with this? And which party leader will be best suited to fight for workers in Canada when it comes to dealing with these tariffs? 

As the election period continued, the trade conversations between Canada and the U.S. became more complex, especially when the conversations of sovereignty came up. If you were on social media at all over the last two months, then you’ve probably seen outrage online coming from Canadians reacting to U.S. President Trump saying he wants to make Canada the 51st state (11). As the Canadian federal party leaders travelled across the country campaigning, some Canadians were swayed to vote for one party over another, just based on the way that a leader was handling the discussion of Canadian sovereignty. 

Slogans about Canadian pride were everywhere in the election period. In my neighbourhood here in Oakville, Ontario, you can’t drive more than 5 minutes without seeing one of these signs. But it does make you wonder: where do we draw the line between pride and nationalism? At what point does Canada declaring its sovereignty become a nationalist dog whistle that points the finger at immigrants and refugees? 

Millions of people tuned in to watch the French and English debates, even though one major federal party, the Greens, were ineligible to participate (12). Almost 3 million people watched on CBC alone, but the events were also streamed on countless local news channels, and other national channels like Global and CTV News also aired the debates. There were also lots of YouTube livestreams. I even saw some journalist livestreaming with their reactions on Twitch. 

Millions of people watched the debates and then millions more showed up to vote in advance polling. This is record-breaking. Elections Canada reported that 7.3 million Canadians voted in the four-day advanced polling (13). This could’ve been for a number of reasons. Possibly because it was a long weekend so many of us had time off of work or school. It could’ve also been because of this new sense of Canadian pride, and people want to take part in shaping Canada’s democracy. Or maybe they watched the debates and really resonated with one leader over another.

No matter what the reasons were, people showed up to vote. As of recording this on May 1st, 2025, Elections Canada has not released data about youth vote. But historically, people between the ages of 18-35 don’t vote as often as older demographics (14). But young people are highly politically involved. Even though I believe voting is incredibly important, I can’t blame other people my age who feel frustrated with the system and don’t want to take part in a process that doesn’t make them feel represented. 

And that’s why I’m incredibly excited to have these conversations with our guest today, Aliya Hirji (they/she) Hirji. Aliya Hirji (they/she) is a community organizer, environmentalist, and researcher based in Vancouver. They are the Campaigns and Events Coordinator here at SUTE and are a huge advocate for community-centred policy and equitable access to natural spaces. We’re going to talk about some of the issues that come from calling a snap election, what this means moving forward, and their advice as a long-time organizer. 

Welcome, Aliya Hirji (they/she), to an episode of Establish. 

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Hi. Thank you for having me. 

Asha Swann (she/her)

Thank you so much for joining me today. Now, first, I want to talk about the election that happened yesterday. Were you up all night like me, watching it like live?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

So I was actually working at a polling station in my riding so I was up until like nine or 10 counting, and then I immediately went home to bed, but I did have a look before I slept. I think a lot of my family on the east coast was like texting me at like 12 or 1am their time, pretty nervous about the outcome, but it was a really interesting and unique experience for me.

Asha Swann (she/her)

Yeah, that actually brings me into my first question. Well, so you were working at a polling station in your riding, and you’re in BC, correct?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yes, so I’m in Vancouver. I was in Vancouver Quadra, which is like West Bank, Western Vancouver, and so I worked as a deputy returning officer for this election, which is like, you know, when you go into vote, the person who checks all your IDs and hands you your ballot and helps you make your vote and put it in the box.

Asha Swann (she/her)  

Did you have any concerns going into working this job at the polling station?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

So I did get a few emails ahead of time from my supervisor letting me know that in a lot of the advanced days, there were extremely long lines, and the polling stations were quite understaffed, and so it was quite difficult for the people working there to meet the demand of the people who wanted to vote and serve everyone who had come. You know, that’s ultimately what we want to do, but when there’s so few people, and we have, just like so many procedures we have to go through anytime you help someone vote, it can be really difficult, so I was a bit concerned about that coming into the first day. Fortunately, our polling station was not too hectic, and we managed to help everyone that came in that day.

Asha Swann (she/her)

Okay, that is really good to hear. And I know that in my area as well, like there were huge, huge lines for advanced polling. But actually, thankfully, when I went to vote on election day yesterday afternoon, there actually wasn’t too many people in line. I think there’s only maybe one or two people in front of me, so it was actually pretty clear on my end going to vote, which was good, because I heard so many horror stories of people being stuck in the advanced polling lines for like, an hour or an hour and a half (15).

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yeah, there were a lot of stories like that. And I think I’ve heard from a few people working in different ridings, and this — this isn’t a claim that all of them were like this — but a lot of people have had the same experience where I was quite busy in the early you know, we had some historic turnout for early voting, but then on the day of things were a bit calmer in certain ridings.

Asha Swann (she/her)

Yeah, that definitely makes sense. And so one of the reasons why I wanted to talk to you on the show is because you have such a great experience as an organizer. So can you tell me a little bit about how you got started in this, like in the organizing space?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Absolutely. So I grew up in Toronto, and that’s where my organizing started. I think probably at about 12 or 13, I would write for small little magazines around me, like about issues of social justice. I was quite passionate about issues in my community, and then, eventually, I think, when I was 14, I started getting involved in planning the climate strikes in Toronto, and then it kind of just spiralled after that. You know, I was really passionate about environmentalism and also really passionate about my community and the young people in my community and the things we had to say and the ways we could mobilize. And then, you know, I started getting into campaign planning and divestment campaigns, and now here I am.

Asha Swann (she/her)

Okay, that sounds actually like a really amazing way to get started, and I think you have a really great perspective being a young person who is in the organizing space. Because I hear conversations a lot, especially like myself, I work in a newsroom, I was hearing a lot of conversations from young people who feel very not — I don’t want to say apathetic — but I think that there are a lot of young people who feel very frustrated with the system, because they feel either like their voices aren’t being heard, or maybe their vote doesn’t matter as much. Were those also conversations that you were hearing as we went into this election cycle?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Absolutely, I actually have a word for this, because I agree, like, I don’t want to call this voter apathy — apathy being like a lack of investment into it, or a lack of emotional attachment to it. But I kind of want to discuss it as, like, voter overwhelm. You know, we’re having, like, we’re in an area where we have so many overlapping, intersecting crises going on. We have a lot of political parties making different promises and that they have historically backed out on and just being so, like, disillusioned and so frustrated with the political system is making a lot of young people feel frustrated around the concept of voting, particularly those who was like, their first time eligible, or even those who are not able to vote. Just this overarching overwhelm with our political system is definitely something that I’ve seen coming into this election, and also something that I’ve definitely felt myself.

Asha Swann (she/her)

Yeah, and I think that overwhelming is actually like a really good way to put it, because in conversations that I was having, like some of the people who feel very frustrated with the system, they aren’t apathetic in nature. Like they care deeply about politics, but they feel very frustrated when they want to vote, but they feel like they, quite literally, end up feeling like their vote means nothing.

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yes, so there’s actually a theory on this. Naomi Klein is kind of like bringing this into this new idea of the shock doctrine, which is basically like people are being overwhelmed with negative information and all this, like political news, to the point where they are immobilized out of fear in being able to do things (16). And I don’t see that as apathy. I think that’s like an extremely empathetic thing that you’re caring about all these issues that are happening. But do you know the world is pushing itself against you and making you feel immobilized. And throughout my organizing life, I’ve felt so many moments in where I felt incredibly immobilized by this kind of fear. It’s very real. And I think calling it apathy sometimes ignores the problem that’s there.

Asha Swann (she/her)

I think that is a really good point, and I totally, totally agree with what you’re saying as well. So when we went into this election cycle, it was kind of a really, really hectic time. So we had the resignation from former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and then we went into this very quick election period, and it was only 37 days. So with the snap election being only 37 days, or like almost six weeks, five weeks – what are some of the issues that you find as an organizer when these election cycles are so short?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yes, so I think when we have snap elections, you know, it is difficult for the parties to put together their platforms quite quickly, but it is really frustrating when you receive the full party platform just a week before the election, especially when people are going in for early voting, mail in voting. These things happen a lot earlier than election day, and so these late party platforms make it difficult for individuals who want to make educated votes to do that thoroughly. I mean, I voted a few days after the party platforms came out. I didn’t have time to read, you know, hundreds of pages going through every party’s platform, which was very frustrating for me, and organizations also find it difficult to create resources that reflect the contents of this platform and reflect the needs of the people that they work for and want to help. 

As well as someone who works at a polling location, they are so difficult to plan. There’s so many different processes that go into it, especially this year, since we had the new drawing of divisions because of the new census, like having to find all these locations to host, having to hire all these people. Like the clear issue of there not being enough people working in specific areas was definitely made an impact on on how people were able to vote.

Asha Swann (she/her)

And I think that that impact on how people are able to vote also really speaks about accessibility. So I’ll use my own family, for example. So my grandmother is legally blind, and she’s primarily house bound. Her partner, my grandfather, passed away a couple years ago, so she really does rely on other people in the immediate family and the immediate area to help her get around. And so when I went back to visit her in Ottawa before the election, one thing that she was saying was she was like, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to be able to vote,’ because she cannot, she can’t read the pages on the ballot. She can’t read what her options are. 

So I told her, you know, there’s some options of phoning your polling office and maybe requesting an accessible ballot, but then the concern is, she does not understand braille because she went blind later in life. So then her options, at least, she felt like very overwhelmed. And so she ended up voting and requesting a ballot, a ballot to vote by mail, so she was able, through other members of my family, have someone read out the candidates, and then have her literally, like, take her hand and be like, ‘Okay, here’s where you can X off where you want to vote.’ But I think that there are definitely some accessibility issues that come from these snap elections, because it just gives people, like, so much less time to plan. Do you know what I mean?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yeah, I mean, this is kind of an upsetting thing to say, but I’m just going to start by saying that voting isn’t accessible to everyone. Like, that’s just the reality of it right now. And as many efforts as there are, like you said, like, we have braille available, we have magnifying glasses, we have, we try to have people in both bilingual speakers in the polling places. But you know, people speak other languages. People lose their visions at different ages. People’s mobility decreases. And we can’t predict — with such a short timeline to plan on election — you can barely plan the voting itself for abled people, without accounting to all of the needs of this disabled community. And I was very frustrated when I was working there, because I was, you know, as a disabled person, these things are really important to me. And even working there, you know, people, people around me were really supportive in giving me the space I needed when I needed some accommodations. 

But I was speaking with an elderly woman, and she was like, ‘You have a ramp to this polling station, but it’s awful, like, it’s really hard to use in my walker.’ And I was like, ‘You are 100% right, and I completely agree with you. And I’m gonna, like, file my own complaint, because this is unacceptable.’ But 37 days is a really short timeline to plan and pick specific places, especially like, you know, with the boundaries being redrawn, like find places that are accessible to everyone. 

And you know, the people working in polling stations, like in my experience, have made every effort they can to accommodate anyone that comes in. Luckily, we had several people who spoke different languages, and we were able to help as much as we could, and we served everyone in the end that came in with any needs that they had, but that’s not the case everywhere, and it’s very, very frustrating for a lot of people, and I completely understand, I again, like I don’t have any solutions with this. I think that we need more funding and more resources and more time if we actually want to make an accessible vote.

Asha Swann (she/her)

I heard young people talk about frustrations they had with the federal government in the months leading up to former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation between different calls from members of parliament as well as members of the public calling for a change (17). So with that in mind, what were some of the strong feelings you had, if any, going into this federal election?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yeah, I think it was quite, I mean, I’ll say that like this is one of the things that overwhelmed me a lot. I understand why people in the party were calling for resignation. I understand why an election was called, specifically around the election being called. I think it was called without acknowledging how difficult a snap election is for the people, and I think that I felt a lot of people in my community were quite frustrated by it. You know, it’s unexpected. It’s just over a month to make your decision and to figure out all these avenues and for Elections Canada to solve everything. And so it can be quite, quite frustrating and quite overwhelming for a lot of people. And I know a lot of the people that I was talking to were like, ‘I just want something different. I just want some change. I just, I can’t handle, you know, the same thing as it is, you know, business as usual.’ And that’s something that I’ve been feeling, regardless of what political party we have and what area I live in, is like, business as usual is not working for Canadians. We are we have continued to suffer under the climate crisis. We’ve continued to suffer under cost of living. You know, our health systems struggling like business as usual is not working for us, and I think that speaks to a wider need within the community for. Or more systemic change and more change that reflects the needs of the communities and not the needs of the parties or the political system. 

Asha Swann (she/her)

Do you feel like your feelings changed at the start of the election campaign compared to the end?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

I think that what changed my view was actually strategic voting. It is kind of a little off topic, but I struggle a lot with the concept of strategic voting. You know, in my opinion, I should be voting for the person that I believe best represents me, and not based on who I don’t want to represent me, you know, like I want to vote based on what’s in my heart, what’s in my mind. And so this concept of strategic voting has always been really difficult for me, and I think that while dealing with that and having to have conversations with my family members about, you know, like, what is this? What is strategic voting? How do we vote strategically? Like, what does all of this mean? It made me feel as an individual, really frustrated with our political system, because, you know, we were promised electoral reform nine years ago (18), and we never got it. And so I never expected to have to strategic vote anytime in my life, like I never expected that to be a topic for me once I was old enough to vote, and it still is. And to me, that was quite frustrating. So at the end of the election period, you know, while I was making that vote, that’s what, that’s the feeling. I was feeling obviously, it was just a big frustration with our political system at that moment.

Asha Swann (she/her)

I was having a lot of the same conversations, to be honest with and as a journalist, I don’t think it’s fair for me to endorse one style of voting over another. So I like I’m not endorsing anything, but I think that it’s important for people to know what their options to vote are and whether they I think there’s positives and negatives to every system, but I also think that there was definitely a lot of conversations from young people who were feeling almost like pigeon holed during the election process, which I also feel like is almost undemocratic in a way, if that makes sense. 

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yeah, absolutely. I think we also saw this in the U.S., and we’ve seen it in elections before. It’s like, you know, scapegoating at the end, like ‘You didn’t vote strategically, so that’s why we have XYZ, like, that’s why we have this outcome or that outcome.’ And this isn’t to speak on any political party or to endorse anything, but I want my vote to represent my views, and that’s something that I think a lot of young people feel, especially like this is their first election, they’re coming into this with a lot of passion. This isn’t something they’ve done before, like this isn’t a routine thing. This is a big moment in our lives, being able to do our civic duty to our country. And I think that it can be so frustrating to be forced to make decisions, or feel like we’re being pressured to make decisions we don’t want to make for, you know, because we feel scapegoated, or because we feel pressured by certain political parties or certain views. And I think that’s definitely a lot of young people are big on electoral form right now, because I can see this, you know, this federal election really bringing up to the surface a lot of frustrations young people have with not specific parties, but just the system in general.

Asha Swann (she/her)

Yes, I completely, completely agree. And you brought up the U.S., which is something that I definitely think we have to talk about, because I found that from the start of the election period, the U.S. was a huge, huge topic of conversation among all party leaders the there was this huge idea of, okay, what is U.S. President Donald Trump going to do with this tariff situation? He’s making posts on social media about Canada being the 51st state. And as the election was going through this cycle, I found that there was a really big response from the Canada side of almost, like, not quite a rise in nationalism, but certainly there was a huge feeling of like, okay, Canada pride. How do we fight this? Let’s sort of like, keep it in Canada type of thing. As an organizer, were you concerned that any of these Canada pride comments were veering into nationalism?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Absolutely, I definitely viewed them as like a rise in nationalism. And the way that I perceive this idea, you know, almost this resurgence of, like this American-first movement in the U.S. You know, this idea to solve domestic issues first, and everything else comes second. Or to, you know, divide itself from the global movement. It’s an idea that’s existed for decades. It’s an ideology that’s been around, and it’s definitely something that I think is coming up in these comments and this rhetoric coming from the U.S., this idea of prioritizing domestic profits and, you know, through these tariffs and kind of almost a form of isolationist nationalism, like really isolating the country itself and fortifying that nationalism internally, whether it’s working or not, you know, like just this ideology. 

And the threats of annexation are real, right (19)? They’re scary, and I want to acknowledge that, but the response to isolationist nationalism in the U.S. should not be isolationist nationalism in Canada, right? It shouldn’t be doing the same thing, prioritizing, you know, profit and privatization and everything in Canada just to avoid these U.S. threats, what we should be investing in? What this idea of nationalism, what really is this idea of what makes people proud to be Canadian and not American? 

For a lot of people, it’s things like our social systems, our cultural systems, like health care access, access to the natural environment, and our ideals of multiculturalism. And what we really need to do if we want to, you know, not become the 51st state is to invest in what a lot of Canadians are proud of, which is a lot of our sociocultural systems, instead of reinforcing, you know, exploitation and and a lot of ideals in nationalism too, that that are based on settler colonialism, right? Like, we need to take a step back and look at how engaging in nationalism further disadvantages people who nationalism doesn’t encompass and doesn’t represent, and take a step back and, you know, reflect on what it means to exist in the settler colonial state, what it means to be a Canadian, what it means to be in allyship with people and be in community and being committed to the people around you. So as an organizer, that’s the type I want. That’s the community that I’m hoping to foster, not this ideal of prideful nationalism, that kind of cuts people off from community.

Asha Swann (she/her)

I think that having that idea of community in your space and like lifting each other up, I think, is so important. I think that where the line gets can get crossed into a potentially toxic or like nationalism worth criticizing when it becomes tearing other people down, or, like trying to put yourself and yourself first. Because again, like you mentioned, Canada has a very long history through the colonial system, where, you know the majority of us, you go even one generation two generations back — we’re people from another country. Canada, quite literally, did build on colonies and settlements. So that is also like a history also that we cannot ignore. 

But I also do have to wonder was, do you believe that part of this newfound Canadian pride mentality was what pushed more people to go to advanced polling? Because with over 7 million people in the advanced polling, this is such a huge number compared to previous years.

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yes, obviously I don’t have like the data or anything for this, but based on conversations I’ve had I definitely think it did. And so it’s a difficult nationalism was always a difficult thing for me, you know, as like a child of immigrant, as someone who has been, like grown up being told, you know, like, ‘Go back to your own country,’ or ‘You don’t belong here,’ or ‘Your people are the reason we have all these issues.’ Like, I have always struggled with nationalism, and I’ve always struggled with my identity and what it means to me to be Canadian, but I also do think that a lot of people engaging in our political system and being able to make a vote and contribute to our political system does come from this place of nationalism, but also this, this nationalism that’s fostered because of threats from U.S. rhetoric.

Asha Swann (she/her)

Yeah and I think those are, like, all conversations that are definitely worth having and worth engaging. Because again, like I said, having this historic voter turnout when we’ve had so many years of really low voter turnout compared to other countries, like, obviously, we want to get more people out to vote. So some of the stats I was looking at this morning from Elections Canada said that Canada had an incredibly high voter turnout, its highest since 1988 (20). Elections Canada is still tabulating the last ballots, but it currently says around 18 million people voted out of approximately 28 million eligible voters. This means that just under 70% of people showed up to vote. So how does this make you feel?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yeah, I obviously think it’s amazing that so many Canadians are engaging in our political system and showing up for our civil response civic responsibilities here. But I also hope that people take this further than voting, right? I think even the way that civics is taught to us in high school is that, you know the time comes, it’s an election, you vote and then you wait for the next one, right? That’s not what politics is, and that’s not what being committed to your community is. It’s about showing up every day. It’s about investing back in the people that you care about and the people that surround you. So I’m really hoping that this high turnout will foster a higher. Involvement in communities as an organizer, that’s something that I would really love to see. And I think that those of us who are already organizers need to take this opportunity to welcome people into this space.

Asha Swann (she/her)

I definitely agree with that. And I think, well, I think that at the end of the day, an election, while historic, is still an election. And I think that, in my opinion, having community involvement is really what gets people motivated for change. So with that in mind, how do we keep this energy up? How do we make sure people are mobilizing in their communities?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Absolutely, yeah, you know, elections are just the start of engagement in the political system. They are absolutely just the beginning here, and so I think that I’d encourage voters to reflect on why they voted for a political candidate they like and discover what causes are they passionate about in their own communities. And honestly, there are so many community groups that already exist. You can get involved in new communities, in new organizations that exist. You can just start by having conversations with your neighbours, conversations with people around you, and start to learn about what issues your community space and figure out how you piece into this movement. Everyone is needed when it comes to this, like every single person can benefit their community and benefit their movement. You just need to get involved. And I’d really encourage people who are ready organizers to foster an inclusive and open space, to bring people in, bring some education, some empowerment in, and take advantage of this opportunity.

Asha Swann (she/her)

Now, with that in mind, with I’m sure that there are going to be a lot of people now, especially young people, who are looking to get involved and join spaces. So you mentioned fostering a community from other organizers. Are there any other pieces of advice that you have for people who are just getting into these community mobilizing spaces?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Yes, I mean, here at Shake Up The Establishment, we just launched our Infiltrate the System program, which is a pan-Canadian network to host spaces for youth-led climate activists to collaborate on increasing participation in our democracy. And so like this concept of radical collaboration between different groups across the country will strengthen our community groups or grassroots groups, and make a space where more young people can join and sustain this movement that we have.

Asha Swann (she/her)

So Canada has elected a Liberal government with 168 seats, meaning the party was just three seats shy of a majority, but it’s still technically a minority government. So how do you see a minority government playing out for youth who want to see overarching progressive change?

Aliya Hirji (they/she)

Sure. So I guess on the larger scale, the difference between a majority and minority government, basically, if you have a majority government, it’s much easier to put through the legislation that you have, because you have over 50% of seats in support. If your whole party supports, this can be seen as more effective and quicker to put legislation through. But when you have a minority government, you’re required to collaborate with other groups, which is not necessarily required when you have a majority government for every piece of legislation, whereas in a minority government, you really have to collaborate and also work with people across party lines (21). 

I think Canadians here voted for what they need. They need people to collaborate across party divisions, and I hope that having a minority government is going to lead to more policy that better reflects the perspectives of Canadians, and also encourages Canadians to cross party lines when coming up with community or political solutions in their own communities as to progressive climate policies. I’m going to admit I was, I was just generally uninspired when it came to this election, based on the platforms that were put through. However, this doesn’t mean things can’t change. I’d really encourage young people to continue meeting with your elected officials, advocating for specific policies. You know, even if they don’t hold the same beliefs as you or you didn’t vote for them, they are your representative now, right? 

And that you have a right to have conversations with them and understand what’s being voted for and have yourself represented. So I’d really encourage young people to still push their representatives, regardless of if they agree with their party or not, and and really encourage more progressive policies, and then also build that community engagement like we talked about, like, build that capacity within your community, so that you can collectively continue to push for progressive climate policies. You know, regardless of how long this government has, or regardless of what party is in, is in leadership, you know, ensuring that what you believe is as climate justice or social justice is being pushed for, regardless. 

Asha Swann (she/her)

I think that is really well put. And honestly, I think that’s a perfect spot to end this, and I think it gives a great piece of advice for young people who are looking to get involved. 

So with that being said, I want to give a warm thank you to Aliya Hirji (they/she) for joining me for this very special post election episode of Establish. Join us on the next episode as we continue these important conversations about climate justice. For more information on Establish the podcast and to access the shownotes for this episode, which includes a transcript and sources for everything we discussed, visit our website at shakeuptheestab.org/podcast 

This episode of Establish has been produced by Mike Redston with music provided by Greg Markov. Thanks for listening.

References:

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