While Pierre Poilievre won the majority of country-wide student votes, MP Rebecca Alty took the lead in N.W.T. for the Student Vote Canada’s election.
In N.W.T. nearly 2,000 student ballots were tallied from 26 schools who participated. And across the country, over 900,000 elementary, intermediate and high school students participated in Student Vote Canada.
“As of 7:30 pm ET on Monday, April 28, 870,340 total votes were reported from 5,900 schools, with results from all 343 electoral districts. This includes 30,453 rejected ballots,” said Dan Allan, who is the chief program officer.
N.W.T. students who participated, selected Rebecca Alty, Liberal MP candidate, who also won the official election and was just announced as the new N.W.T. MP. Alty received a total of 808 or 47. 6 per cent of votes cast. Kimberly Fairman, Conservative MP candidate received 457 or 26.9 per cent of votes, Kelvin Kotchilea, New Democratic Party candidate, received 277 or 16.3 per cent of votes cast, and Rainbow Eyes, Green Party candidate received 157 votes or 9.2 per cent of votes cast.
At the country-wide level, students elected a Conservative Party minority government, with the Liberal Party forming the official opposition.
- The Conservative Party won 165 seats and 36.4 per cent of the popular vote, forming a minority government. Pierre Poilievre won in the riding of Carleton, ON.
- The Liberal Party won 145 seats and 31.7 per cent of the popular vote, forming the official opposition. Mark Carney won in the riding of Nepean, ON.
- The Bloc Québecois won 18 seats and 2.1 per cent of the popular vote. Yves-François Blanchet won in the riding of Beloeil—Chambly, QC.
- The NDP won 13 seats and 14.5 per cent of the popular vote. Jagmeet Singh lost in the riding of Burnaby South, BC.
- The Green Party won 2 seats and 7.5 per cent of the popular vote. Jonathan Pedneault lost in the riding of Outremont, QC, and Elizabeth May won in Saanich—Gulf Islands.
Anyone who would like to see the complete results can head to the results page of the Student Vote Canada website.
This year, students from École St.Patrick High School, Range Lake North School, Echo-Dene School, Thomas Simpson School, Mackenzie Mountain School, École Itlo, Angik School, Charles Yohin School, Chief Jimmy Bruneau Regional High School, Chief Paul Niditchie School, East Three Secondary School, École Allain St. Cyr, École Sir John Franklin High School, École St. Joseph School. Helen Kalvak School, Jean Wetrade Gameti School, Kakisa Lake School, Liidlii Kue Elementary School, Mangilaluk School, Mildred Hall School, Moose Kerr School, N.J. Macpherson School, Princess Alexandra School. the K’alemi Dene Community School of Ndilo, Weledeh Catholic School and William McDonald School all participated in the student vote.
Last week, students from École St.Patrick High School cast their votes at polling stations set up at the school
Thea Campbell told True North that the ESPHS Student Vote results were as follows:
Rebecca Alty — Liberal Party of Canada = 132
Rainbow Eyes — Green Party of Canada = 10
Kimberly Fairman — Conservative Party of Canada = 82
Kelvin Kotchilea — New Democratic Party = 25
Don Reid, who is the school’s principal told True North that the school has been participating in the program since it was first initiated in N.W.T. in 2004.
“We’ve been doing student vote for as long as it has been around, for all federal elections and usually for Territorial and municipal elections,” said Don Reid, who is the school’s principal.
Reid said that this year 249 students at the school cast a ballot in the student election.
“We feel it is important for students to see that democracy is something we can all engage in, that all voices matter, that voting is an important part of that, and it’s something that is pretty simple to do. People who have never voted before are sometimes intimidated by voting because they think it might be complicated, and there is sometimes anxiety about the unknown. So, having students participate in Student Vote helps them feel more comfortable with the process so they won’t be intimidated and will hopefully vote in “real” elections when it’s their turn to do so,” said Reid.
Allan told True North FM that the program is popular among many students across the territories and country.
“I think it gives them a chance to kind of engage and learn about the political process and voting in Canada.”
The program gets youth talking about important issues that affect their communities.
After learning about democracy and elections, researching the parties and platforms, and debating the future of the country, students cast their ballots for the official candidates running in their school’s electoral district.
Allan said that what he has heard from different students across the country is that the outcome from this campaign is going to be very meaningful.
“I think a lot of students are kind of picking up on the fact that this is very important,” he said.
