Why do I say things when Rick Mercer always says them so much better?

Here are two Rick Mercer videos, one yesterday's rant, the other a promotion for the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA)'s Students Need to Vote website. Mercer is talking about why it's so vitally important that young people (and particularly students) vote. Everything he says is spot on, as usual. Transcripts below (anglais seulement).





Rick's Rant - Vote

So there we have it, we are heading into an election or, as Stephen Harper calls it, a dangerous and unnecessary exercise. Because as we all know, Canada is one of the world's greatest democracies and the greatest threat to that democracy is that we get to vote. But vote we will.

So that means if you live in a retirement home, prepare to be targeted. Because these days it’s all about targeting the vote. All the major parties have well publicized plans to target the ethnic vote, the women's vote, the blue-collar vote, the corporate vote. If there were more then five paraplegic lesbian Inuit women in Labrador they would be a target.

Everyone is targeted, except for one group, the youth vote.

There are more than three million young eligible voters in this country and as far as any of the political parties are concerned, you might as well all be dead. In fact in some elections, in Quebec for example, the dead have a higher voter turn out.

It is the conventional wisdom of all political parties that young people will not vote. And the parties, they like it that way. It's why your tuition keeps going up.

So please, if you're between the age of 18 and 25 and you want to scare the hell out of the people that run this country, this time around do the unexpected. Take 20 minutes out of your day and do what young people all around the world are dying to do.

Vote.

Get out to vote students!

Hello students, I'm RIck Mercer. You know, throughout my career, I've had the opportunity to meet many of the men and women who represent us in the House of Commons. I've heard a lot of divergent views on the direction that this country should, or should not, be heading. But there is one issue where all the major parties seem to agree. Students don't vote. According to the major political parties, you might as well be a prisoner doing federal time, because they believe you don't vote and never will. Now I know very well that politicians are not always correct--if they were I wouldn't have a job--but on this particular issue, I hope they're wrong. There are one million students in this country and believe me, if you showed up to vote, your tuition would never go up again, and post-secondary education would finally become a priority. So the next time we have an election, please deliver some shock and awe to the powers that be. Show up and vote, and you may end up with a government that's on your side.