A couple of schools in the region conducted their own student votes for the federal election. The two schools, Grand Forks Secondary (GFSS) and Christina Lake Elementary (CLES), were pretty close to the actual vote.
After learning about the voting process and Canada’s electoral system, students from Grades 1 through 7 at CLES took part in a nation-wide student vote.
The Grade 6/7 class presented platforms from each of the five candidates running in the South Okanagan - West Kootenay riding. After the student body listened to the speeches, they then voted in an actual simulated vote using all of Election Canada materials including voting screens, ballots, and ballot boxes with seals, polling stations and designated election officials.
The following was the result of the 59 CLES students who participated.
CLES Vote Summary:
Richard Cannings — New Democratic Party = 18
Connie Denesiuk — Liberal Party of Canada = 13
Brian Gray — Independent = 8
Marshall Neufeld — Conservative Party of Canada = 4
Samantha Troy — Green Party of Canada = 16
Total number of valid votes = 59
Total number of rejected ballots = 1
Here is a summary of the actual vote in our riding from CIVIX Student Vote: www.studentvote.ca/results/district_results/7/1/59029.
At GFSS, all the students in the school from Grade 8 to 12 voted on Oct. 15 for their favourite candidate. The students had to a chance to hear from four of the five candidates (except independent Brian Gray) during their own all-candidates forum on Oct. 7.
GFSS Vote Summary:
Richard Cannings — New Democratic Party = 41 per cent
Connie Denesiuk — Liberal Party of Canada = 33
Samantha Troy — Green Party of Canada = 14
Marshall Neufeld — Conservative Party of Canada = 11
Brian Gray — Independent = 1
The national results for the Student Vote, which involved 6,000 schools and 850,000 students, saw the Liberals win a majority with 223 ridings won. Conservatives were second with 69, while NDP held 40 and the Green Party four.