Prince George, B.C. – Young people with an interest in local government are invited to take part in a Twitter chat today.

It’s being hosted by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and will stretch across the country.

Prince George City Councillor Garth Frizzell

Prince George City Councillor Garth Frizzell chairs FCM’s Standing Committee on Municipal Finance and Intergovernmental Arrangements, and says the goal is simple.

“The next generation has to get prepared for taking over. The demographics show that we’re rapidly aging as a country and we have to get more young people involved.”

He says today’s chat begins at noon (Pacific) and is expecting a good response considering the last time they did this “it got so much engagement we had it trending as a topic across Canada.”

Frizzell says you can participate through #fcmchat and says there will be a group of youth engagement people from across the country who will be responding to questions or building a conversation on helping to promote the Municipal Youth Engagement Handbook.

“It has examples from all across Canada on how different cities have encouraged students to get involved. So whether it’s a local government week, a simulation of a municipal council, a city website, or a Tweet-a-thon, there’s these different groups that have really come on board.”

He notes it’s even stretched to Prince George where the mayor has created the Standing Committee on Education and the Standing Committee on Students.

“It’s timely and it fits in with some of the directions the city is going in here.”