Canadians under the age of 40 make up 33 percent of the Canadian population, but just 16 percent of Members of Parliament. Why are youth so underrepresented in politics? Drawing on an extensive dataset of more than 3000 candidates in Canadian federal elections from 2008 to 2021, we document the presence of young people in the candidate pool and parliament to understand the stage at which their underrepresentation begins. We show that young peoples’ numerical underrepresentation is not a function of voter discrimination. Rather, it is because only a small number of young candidates come forward.
We find that limited youth representation in the candidate pool translates into low representation rates in parliament. These results suggest that efforts to ameliorate youth underrepresentation in politics must be attentive to supply-side issues, including party gatekeeping, resource constraints, political ambition, and the motivations for running for office.
Citation:
Daniel Stockemer, Kaitlin Gallant, and Erin Tolley. 2024. Limited Supply: Youth Underrepresentation in the Canadian House of Commons. Electoral Studies 88: 102747. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.electstud.2024.102747
