Image Credit: Student Vote
October 21, 2015 - 9:00 PM
KAMLOOPS - If students in the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo riding had their way, Liberal candidate Steve Powrie would be our member of Parliament.
Elementary and secondary schools throughout the region, from Kamloops to Barriere to 100 Mile House, participated in mock elections facilitated by Student Vote; an organization that holds parallel student elections with federal, provincial and municipal ones.
Following the federal trend, students voted in Liberal candidate Steve Powrie with roughly 37 per cent of the vote. Powrie was followed by New Democrat Bill Sundhu with 28 per cent, Conservative Cathy McLeod with almost 22 per cent and Green candidate Matt Greenwood with 13 per cent of the vote.
Forty-three schools in the riding participated in Student Vote including Kamloops' Sahali and Westsyde Secondaries. Both schools actively participated in the 2015 election, with Sahali holding a mock debate where three of the four federal candidates attended and Westsyde actively engaging candidates on social media using Twitter handle @BlueWaveSS.
According to their website, more than 850,000 students from 6,000 schools across Canada participated in the Student Vote mock elections. Nationally, students voted nearly identical as voters of age, electing the Liberal Party with roughly 38 per cent of the vote. The Liberals were followed by the Conservatives with 26 per cent, New Democrats with almost 20 per cent and the Green Party with 12 per cent of the vote.
According to the Student Vote website, the goal is to create citizen engagement in the democratic process.
“Studies have also shown that habits of voting and non-voting persist over time, so if young people don’t vote now, there is good reason to believe that they won’t become voters later in life.”
To contact a reporter for this story, email Dana Reynolds at dreynolds@infonews.ca or call 250-819-6089. To contact an editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015