Sixteen-year-olds shouldn't be expected to vote.
I know, lederhosen-clad Austrian 16-year-olds and their Brazilian counterparts vote, as do young teens on British islands named after cows (Jersey and Guernsey).
And, of course, the participation of 16- and 17-year-olds in the recent Scottish referendum has emboldened the forces of teenie liberation.
But just because 16- and 17-year-olds got a wee say in the Scottish "indy ref" doesn't mean that Canadian 16-year-olds need electoral emancipation. The recent Scottish referendum was a one-off. It was probably appropriate to allow younger citizens a say on a single question affecting Scotland's political configuration - and their futures.
But while many 16-year-olds are intelligent and knowledgeable enough to vote, most are not developmentally ready for general suffrage.
It's not their fault, it's a physiological thing. Their pre-frontal lobes are still developing. That's the part of the brain that helps them see how their behaviour affects others. It's the lobe that develops social conscience and helps with impulse control.
That's a lot for them to absorb and learn, and 16-year-olds are developing this part of their brain at various speeds and with various levels of success.
They need time to do this, to develop as their own person, not just an appendage of their parents. They need to be able to make a few boneheaded decisions in a gentle, non-confrontational milieu.
They don't need to be rushed into adult stresses like mortgages, high-stakes competition or partisan politics. They need to strain at the leash at their own pace - to gossip, break curfew and listen to loud music (which stimulates development of their frontal lobe).
My faux progressive colleague says that by lowering the voting age and enlarging an already indifferent group of young voters, we'll boost voter turnout.
We won't. Unless we offer free Slurpees at polling places.
Insisting that 16-year-olds vote isn't the next, inevitable imperative of the digital age, it's more like enrolling your five-year-old in a child beauty pageant.
Leave them alone, let them mature on their own timetable and with our support instead of constantly hectoring them to be adults.
Not only are most 16-year-olds not screaming for the vote, they never will - unless someone tells them they can't have it.
