APPLICANT: Will Raymond Olscamp be the Young & Free Alberta Spokesperson?

Raymond Olscamp is our sixth applicant. He is 17 years old and lives in Calgary, Alberta.

Here is Raymond's video application:

 
Here is Raymond's current situation:

"Hey Everyone! My name is Raymond Olscamp aka RJ Johnson (the first one is the legal one!) I am currently a full time student at Mount Royal College studying to get my BA in Policy Studies with a minor in Political Science. My ultimate goal in life is to become Prime Minister and am now working on the stepping stones so that one day I can achieve it. I am currently a dancer for Calgary’s Team N.E.W, which is a dance team that performs at events in Calgary. I just graduated high school in May from Western Canada High School and with that I had to leave my school’s newspaper and Youthink magazine because I was too old. It was a bitter sweet ending and I really learnt a lot form the position and now I am ready to achieve bigger and better things."

Here is Raymond's blog post:

"Just vote damnit. With the election coming up, this seemed like something that NEEDED to be said. I am very tired of these people and their lame excuses as to why they won't vote. I heard this guy say he doesn't vote because he “doesn't know enough about the parties and has no time to do so.” I thought to myself of all of the times that I went online and saw quick blogs and announcements on what the party plans to do and how they will do it. The man was obviously just looking for an excuse because he just didn't want to vote. Why could he not take ten minutes in one day to look at the main parties, then scroll through and pick a party! He had time to do the interview, so instead of doing that he could have been out reading about the parties.

The worst part is when the non-voters complain and say it is unfair how government is imposing certain laws on them. How can you complain about something, if you didn't take part in it? It is frustrating to have to hear these people and their rants on how they're unrepresented in parliament, and I simply say "Well, did you vote?" and that's where it ends. If you don't vote, you deserve no say in anything government. "I don't vote because my vote doesn't matter." Okay so now this is usually what us youth say because we truly feel that one vote will not be properly represented in parliament, and don't deny it! :) In Canada we have representation-by-population, so your vote actually does matter significantly. You vote in the riding you live in and whoever gets the most seats their wins. Since there are less people in ridings versus the entire population, your vote DOES matter!

I am seventeen and that is what makes it even worse that I have to deal with people like this. They have the right to vote and they purposefully give it up. I don't get it. I would do anything to be able to vote because I follow the elections in Canada so closely. So PLEASE before you decide not to vote, think of what you're giving up."

Great job Raymond!

Jere

Update 10/15/2008: Raymond's application blog post is currently being featured on the Nexopia.com homepage and has more than 80 comments.

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