VOTE 2014: Lalas wants to bring youth voice to Council table

February 19, 2014 · 0 Comments

By Brock Weir

Throughout Alice Lalas’ time at Queen’s University seeking her bachelor’s degree in Political Science, a common refrain bemoaned the lack of youth involvement in civic life.

Unlike many, however, content to watch from the sidelines and simply complain, Ms. Lalas, 22, has decided to do something about it.

Ms. Lalas, is one of the latest candidates to jump into the Municipal Election, seeking a spot at the table as Councillor. She registered Thursday as the third candidate following Svetla Topouzova, and Councillor John Abel, and was followed on Friday by fourth candidate, business owner Anthony Pullano.

“During my studies, things always came up about youth involvement and I thought what better way to show youth involvement than getting involved with Town Council in my hometown?” says the life-long Aurora resident, who graduated from Cardinal Carter Catholic High School in 2009.

“I believe youth are just completely uninvolved in politics and have no say in it. On the one hand, there is a lot of motivation for older people to point out that youth are not involved. On the other side, there isn’t a lot of push to get their voice in. I think it is important to have their voice on Council.”

Over the next few weeks, Ms. Lalas says she is going to get down to business seeking out some of the underlying concerns facing youth in the community and trying to bring that voice at the table should she be elected.

“I am incredibly ambitious and I still have that very strong youth drive,” she says. “I don’t want to say in a clichéd way that I would like to make a difference, but I just really want to put forward youth involvement, which is incredibly crucial at this point, especially in politics.
“Youth are the future and I will make sure that is relevant and a part of my platform.”