On September 20th, as adults across Canada cast their votes in the federal election, students from Grade 5-8 were doing the same thing in the Junior School. The students were participating in the Student Vote program run by CIVIX. After spending hours researching the major political party platforms and meeting with the five candidates for the Northumberland Peterborough South riding, the students put together an informative slide deck to educate their peers about each candidate. Once the ballots were cast – with 100% participation (putting the adults to shame!) – the Grade 5 and 6 students counted each vote.
Here are the results of the student vote:
- Philip Lawrence – Conservative: 31 votes
- Alison Lester – Liberal: 25 votes
- Kim McArthur-Jackson – NDP: 18 votes
- Christina Wilson – Green: 13 votes
- Nathan Lang – PPC: 3 votes
As it so happened, Philip Lawrence won the riding in the “real” election. Many thanks to each of the candidates for making themselves available to the students despite their busy schedules and for making politics come alive for our young people!
- By Ms. Heather McClure, Grade 5 homeform teacher
