CALGARY—When Steve Durrell, the 29-year-old NDP candidate in Airdrie-Cochrane, found himself the focus of a video circulating on social media where Jason Kenney called him a 19-year-old, he was surprised to say the least.

But Durrell’s surprise turned to disappointment, not at being targeted or misrepresented, but instead for Kenney’s insinuation that being young should be considered a negative factor in politics.

“I like to think that having young people involved in politics is a good thing,” Durrell said.

“I don’t really think that it was something worthy of a punchline for a cheap laugh.”

The video, which has caused a stir online and received some backlash, shows the United Conservative Party leader speaking at an event and referring to Durrell as a 19-year-old, drawing laughter from the crowd. On Saturday, UCP spokesperson Matt Solberg said Kenney had been misinformed about Durrell’s age and hadn’t intended any offence.

Instead, Solberg said Kenney merely meant to draw attention to the “gulf of experience” between Durrell and the UCP’s own candidate in this riding, Peter Guthrie.

But Durrell also challenged that notion. He cited his work managing and volunteering on other campaigns, his familiarity with his hometown of Cochrane, and the fact that Jason Kenney was the same age when he was first voted into parliament, all arguments he had in favour of his level of experience.

“When (youth) are mocked for getting involved in politics and entering the political field, it is definitely a barrier,” Durrell said. “When people throw up a wall in front of them, it discourages them from getting involved.”

But Kenney’s comments don’t reflect the entire group of candidates that will run for the party this spring. Hannah Presakarchuk, the 24-year-old UCP candidate in Edmonton-Rutherford, said she couldn’t speak to Kenney’s comments, but that she herself felt supported by the party and had noticed many other young people getting involved with the UCP.

“As far as talking with them, they haven’t found barriers. They’ve been supported, they’ve been encouraged. I think there’s more of a grassroots movement going on and young people are hopping onto that,” Presakarchuk said.

But the connection between age and experience that Kenney’s comments implied did bother Sam Goertz, a 21-year-old City of Edmonton Youth Council member. He said connecting the two is often unfair.

“I think we’re more experienced than ever as young people, but that hasn’t caught up with older folks. And I think that’s just ageism for young people. If you’re looking at the number and not the candidate’s experience, I think that’s such a huge problem,” Goertz said.

Goertz also sits on the University of Alberta senate and works for an Edmonton city councillor. He said in his experience, he often tries to downplay his age, having experienced how some won’t listen to what he has to say if they know how young he is. But Goertz said it’s important for young people to be represented in politics to truly voice his generation’s concerns.

“This is a demographic that’s often underserved by the government and you’re not going to hear about their concerns necessarily in such a fulsome way through polls,” Goertz said.

“That’s something that you get by having young people in the legislature, in councils, in parliament, and that’s not really something you can get through an opinion poll or Facebook Live. I think the politics of presence matters.”

Thomas Dang knows firsthand about the doubts people can have for young political candidates. The Edmonton—South West NDP MLA had just turned 20 years old when he was elected to office and remembers meeting people when he was door-knocking in 2015 who told him they wanted to vote NDP, but wished the party had found an older candidate instead of him.

But since 2015, Dang said he believes his age has provided him with a valuable perspective to bring to the legislature. In his work, he strives to talk about issues young people care about that have far-reaching impacts on Alberta’s future and to engage more young candidates to run for office.

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“Too often, politics is relegated to the old boys club, and it’s something that happens far away,” Dang said.

“But really being able to engage youth and say these issues affect your life and not just right now but for many years in the future, getting people to understand and feel encouraged they can make that difference is something we can all do a better job of talking to people about.”

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