While Canadians are technically a year removed from the next federal election, 2024 has provided plenty of opportunities to look at the way other countries are selecting their leaders. We have been exposed to significant media coverage of the democratic processes in Mexico, India, France and the United Kingdom, and are headed for two months of seemingly endless discussions about the state of the presidential race in the United States.

In the early stages of this year’s electoral campaign in the United Kingdom, the then-governing Conservative Party proposed the return of mandatory national service. The proposal called for all 18-year-old residents of the country to either take a full-time military placement for one year, or to volunteer one weekend a month performing community service for one year.

When we asked Canadians about this idea last month, 50 per cent supported its implementation in Canada, while 42 per cent were opposed and eight per cent were undecided. Majorities of Canadians who voted for the Liberal Party (57 per cent), the Conservative Party (55 per cent) and the New Democratic Party (NDP) in 2021 endorsed the notion of a Canadian mandatory national service.

The country’s youngest adults are keener on adopting the idea of Britain’s Conservatives (55 per cent) than their counterparts aged 35-54 (47 per cent) and aged 55 and over (48 per cent).........

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