Over 1.1 million young Canadians cast their ballots last week in a mock election, choosing a Liberal minority government.
Liberal won 22 per cent of the votes with 109 seats, NDP won 25 per cent with 98 seats, Conservative won 25 per cent with 94 seats, Green Party won 18 per cent with 28 seats and Bloc Québecois won one per cent with nine seats.
In Saskatchewan, 44,341 students elected 11 Conservative and three NDP candidates.
Student Vote Canada is a program of CIVIX, a registered Canadian charity dedicated to increasing democracy among school-aged youth. The program is made possible with the help of Elections Canada, an agency that reports directly to Parliament.
Elementary and high school students got the opportunity to engage in political discussions, research party platforms, evaluate party leaders and pose questions to their local candidates.
Between Oct. 15 and 19, youth were guided through a realistic voting process. They also learnt what it’s like to work an election by setting up polling stations, supervising voting and counting ballots.
Over 9,500 schools representing all 338 ridings participated, including 47 schools in the Prince Albert riding.
Three of them were Carlton Comprehensive High School, St. Mary High School and W.J. Berezowsky School.
The Conservative Party’s Randy Hoback won nearly half the votes among Carlton students at 49.71 per cent with 344 votes. Behind him was NDP candidate Harmony Johnson-Harder, who received 161 votes at 23.27 per cent.
Hoback received 112 votes among St. Mary students at 41.33 per cent. Harder was next in line with 90 votes at 33.21 per cent.
Hoback also took the most votes at W.J. Berezowsky School. Twenty-one students voted for him at 26.92 per cent. Harder and People’s Party of Canada (PPC) candidate Kelly Day were close behind with 18 votes and 23.08 per cent each.
Randy Hoback was elected for the Prince Albert riding with 1,420 votes at 42.66 per cent.
“We are grateful for all the teachers that dedicated time and energy to cultivating the next generation of voters,” said Taylor Gunn, President and CEO of CIVIX Canada.
“This program is one of the ways we educate future voters and help raise active citizens,” added Chief Electoral Officer of Canada Stéphane Perrault.
For further results by riding and school, visit https://studentvote.ca/results/canada2019/.
