The tyranny of the baby boomers is over. But is generation X done as a political force too?
It was great to be part of a winning election campaign for the first time in my electoral life, but I can’t help wondering if it might just be the last time my demographic is considered part of the swing vote.
While Naheed Nenshi’s victory means different things to different people, as his ability to reach out to diverse communities was no doubt one of the reasons he was able to garner support across the city, the thing I will be watching closely is to see which political generation is now in the ascent.
It would be easy to suggest that the baby boomers are passing the torch to generation X, but that is not necessarily true. One of constant points of frustration for my generation has been the fact that we are outnumbered by both the boomers and the millennials. Thus, while it was clear throughout the campaign was that Naheed Nenshi dominated support among 18-35 year olds and a few reports even implied that anyone under 40 was part of the generic “youth” movement. The fact of the matter though is that there are two distinct generations throwing their weight behind Nenshi - the so-called generation X and millennials.
Over at The Daily Wenzel I’ve speculated that real political change could only occur once the millennials came of age, simply because of their numeric superiority. As with all generations, there may be lot of division over beliefs, but many of these beliefs are not being addressed in any meaningful fashion by the major parties, leading to their perceived disengagement in the political process. Nenshi has proven that they are ready and waiting. If I were a provincial or federal politician, I would be watching these results with a view to see where the support for Nenshi was coming from and comparing that with other elections happening today.
If the day really does belong to the millennials, then Stelmach and Harper have a lot to answer for.
It was great to be part of a winning election campaign for the first time in my electoral life, but I can’t help wondering if it might just be the last time my demographic is considered part of the swing vote.
While Naheed Nenshi’s victory means different things to different people, as his ability to reach out to diverse communities was no doubt one of the reasons he was able to garner support across the city, the thing I will be watching closely is to see which political generation is now in the ascent.
It would be easy to suggest that the baby boomers are passing the torch to generation X, but that is not necessarily true. One of constant points of frustration for my generation has been the fact that we are outnumbered by both the boomers and the millennials. Thus, while it was clear throughout the campaign was that Naheed Nenshi dominated support among 18-35 year olds and a few reports even implied that anyone under 40 was part of the generic “youth” movement. The fact of the matter though is that there are two distinct generations throwing their weight behind Nenshi - the so-called generation X and millennials.
Over at The Daily Wenzel I’ve speculated that real political change could only occur once the millennials came of age, simply because of their numeric superiority. As with all generations, there may be lot of division over beliefs, but many of these beliefs are not being addressed in any meaningful fashion by the major parties, leading to their perceived disengagement in the political process. Nenshi has proven that they are ready and waiting. If I were a provincial or federal politician, I would be watching these results with a view to see where the support for Nenshi was coming from and comparing that with other elections happening today.
If the day really does belong to the millennials, then Stelmach and Harper have a lot to answer for.
