A petition asking Drake to publicly encourage young Canadians to vote ahead of the October 19 federal election is taking off online.
Started by Vancouver artist Karilynn Ming Ho, the petition asks the Toronto rapper to film a short, non-partisan PSA urging Canadian youth to register and vote.
“Drake, will you ‘Make Us Proud’ and make a video PSA to get Canadian youth out to vote?” the petition reads. “The video need only be 30 seconds and could be easily recorded with an iPhone, computer or next to that very nice Bugatti. Because Drake, only you can make Canadian civil liberty sexy!”
So far, her plea has garnered more than 8,000 signatures.
About 38 per cent of eligible youth between 18 and 24 voted in the 2011 federal election, according to Statistics Canada.
However, there may be cause for optimism even if Drizzy fails to Come Thru. A Stats Can report published October 7 suggests the youth vote may go up this year.
According to a 2013 survey on civic engagement, 47 per cent of first-time voters under 20 said they were “very likely” to vote in the next federal election.
Incidentally, the report also said Canadian youth were more likely to sign a petition than older Canadians. In 2013, 26 per cent of youths between 15 and 19, and 35 per cent -between 20 and 24 had signed a petition within the preceding 12 months, compared with 22 per cent among those 65 to 74 and 14 per cent of those over 75.
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