Peggy Revell
Newly-elected NDP candidate John Rafferty would be happy to hear that alongside those over the age of 18 who cast ballots for him yesterday, students across the riding also chose him as their MP according to mock elections held last week.
Called “Student Vote,” participating schools in the riding gave youths the chance to have their own voice heard as they learned about elections, politics, and the people who want to represent them.
With roughly 4,000 schools participating nationwide, students painted a very different picture of what they see the federal government consisting of. National results show students only gave the Conservatives 100 seats with only 26.8 percent of the popular vote.
The NDP was second with 66 seats (23.7 percent), followed by the Liberals with 54 (19.3 percent), the Green Party with 44 (25 percent), and the Bloc Quebecois with 24 (1.1 percent).
As of 10 p.m. (EDT) last night, John Rafferty came out on top in schools across this riding with 743 votes, followed by Liberal incumbent Ken Boschoff with 446. Coming in third were the Conservatives with 262 votes, followed very closely by the Green Party (241).
Within Fort Frances, four schools participated in “Student Vote.”
At J.W. Walker, the NDP came out on top with 27 votes, followed by the Liberals (10), Conservatives (nine), and the Green Party (four).
At St. Francis, the NDP again came out on top with 56 votes, followed by the Liberals (15), Conservatives (10), and none for the Green Party.
Robert Moore also saw the NDP win, with 115 votes, followed by the Liberals (36), the Green Party (27), and Conservatives (10).
While local Green Party candidate Russ Aegard came in fourth during yesterday’s election, he seemed to be a popular candidate at Fort Frances High School, coming in second place with 155 votes to the NDP’s 202 votes.
The Liberals came third with 73 votes, followed by the Conservatives at 41.
“It’s kind of like a parallel vote to the adult votes,” explained Fort High teacher Priscilla Simard, who had been organizing the local student vote at the high school.
“It gives them kind of an idea, not only on the importance of getting involved, but also what it’s like to actually be a candidate and the issues that they see as important,” she added.
She hopes the “Student Vote” project will help create an awareness that if students don’t start voting once they turn 18, then someone else will be speaking for them.
Simard’s own Grade 10 classes was busy studying local candidates and doing research on the issues and parties.
“What they’re doing is looking at the local candidate and his position on certain things, and also looking at the federal candidates and what the federal people are saying,” she noted.
Students set up display boards, campaign posters, even having blurbs on the morning announcements to encourage students to get involved with the election. One of the students even got local NDP candidate John Rafferty to come in and speak with the students for 20 minutes.
When asked, the majority of students in Simard’s class said they planned on voting when they turned 18. A majority also said their own parents vote.
But fewer said their parents were discussing this current election at all, and there was a resounding “no” when asked whether or not their parents ever discussed politics with them.
But it’s also the election happening south of the border that has caught many students’ eyes. Many felt the American election campaign was much more exciting and interesting, and an election they would participate in if they had a vote.
“You hear more about the American one,” noted student Andrew Valenzuela, “It’s everywhere, even on the Canadian TV.”
“It’s more interesting to talk about,” echoed Andre Gobeil.
A sentiment echoed by many of the students locally was that many parties aren’t targeting the next generation of voters, but only adults.
“The things they run for don’t really have anything to do with us,” said Katelyn Shortreed.
“It will affect us when we’re older, but not so much when we’re younger,” noted Jillian Mainville.
But that doesn’t mean there aren’t issues that are important to these students.
“I think that [candidates] should address more of our issues,” said Mackenzie Paxton. “Such as tuition and the environment.”
Tuition, student housing, affordable textbooks, and even the transportation costs that come from the nearest university being in Thunder Bay or Winnipeg are all things that worry students, said Paxton.
Paxton noted her dad gets paid for travelling the distances he has to go for his job, and suggested students also should get something similar since they’re getting an education.
Another issue Simard said students zeroed in on was the Conservative Party’s proposed changes to the Young Offenders Act, such as taking away the ban on publishing the names of youth charged with a crime.
“I don’t think that names should be published on TV,” said Steven Halverson.
Publishing names don’t just have an effect on the young offenders, noted Paxton, but also their siblings and families, as well.
“[It was important] to get informed about the candidates and to vote when you’re older, and to learn about your vote before you vote,” explained student Keely Jolicoeur.
Now because they’ve looked at the candidates, Jolicoeur said they know which candidates have addressed the issues that are important to them and what candidates have the answers they agree with.
“It’s important for students to talk about it now, so they aren’t clueless when they actually can vote,” stressed Shortreed. “Some people are interested, some people aren’t, but if you don’t know about it then you can’t be interested.”
