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YOUTH, OR EVEN middle age, seems sure to be absent from the presidential ballot when Americans vote in November 2024. Joe Biden, the oldest president yet, is 80; his likely rival, Donald Trump, is 77. Both are well past the median age for the world’s heads of government, which is just 62. Only eight of the 187 leaders in an analysis by the Pew Research Centre are older than Mr Biden (see chart 1). Both Americans are also much older than most of their predecessors: the median age of presidential nominees and presidents since 1900 is 55.5.
They would be less out of place in Congress. For many years, America’s lawmakers have been getting less youthful (see chart 2). In 1900 people in their 40s made up 38% of the House and Senate. Now they account for just 20%. This could in part be explained by changes in life expectancy in America (it was 47 in 1900 and is 76 now), but structural factors, such as incumbency advantage and party leaders’ bias towards recruiting established politicians as candidates, favour older people.
In midterm elections in 2022 the Senate continued to get older. But the median age in the House of Representatives edged down from 58.9 to 57.9. Now four senators and 11 House members are in their 80s, down from seven and 14 before the midterms. The proportion of Congress’s members older than 70 fell from almost a quarter to less than a fifth. That is partly because 64% of newly elected members were under 40. They include 26-year-old Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democrat from Florida, who is the first Gen-Z member of the House. Still, octogenarians soldier on: the 83-year-old former House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced she will run again in 2024.
Does the ageing of Congress matter? Some would say experience brings wisdom; others worry that Washington’s gerontocracy is slow-moving and backward-looking. Some of the oldest senators, including Mitch McConnell, the leader of the Republican minority, and Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, have looked infirm in public. Polls show that nearly three-quarters of Americans favour an age limit for elected officials; 77% think Mr Biden is too old to serve effectively. But in practice Americans seem to care little about age. Research suggests that it does not sway their votes. Age is certainly not hindering Mr Trump in his quest to win the Republicans’ presidential nomination. He has an enormous lead over Ron DeSantis, his closest competitor, even though he is old enough to be the Florida governor’s father.■
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
