Just as registered voters took to the polls for the 2021 election, so too did Canada's students.

The student vote is held parallel to each election and is organized by CIVIX alongside Elections Canada.

This year saw over 700,000 votes from students across the country.

Like the official federal election, students elected a Liberal minority, though with only 117 seats compared to the 158 they ended up securing.

The New Democratic Party followed with 107 seats and won the popular vote, while the Conservatives ended up with 91 seats.

Several local schools took part, including École Secondaire Foothills Composite High School, which also hosted a candidate forum.

Typically, students would organize and moderate the forum as well as prepare the questions, but COVID protocols meant they were only able to cover the questions this time around.

The forum featured the riding's Conservative, NDP, and PPC candidates.

It was also broadcast to classrooms rather than being held with a live audience, again due to COVID protocols.

Social studies and English teacher at the Comp, Cameron Campos, was please with how students engaged with the forum.

"Two of the things we got from students is how well [the candidates] presented their ideas... I think our students are used to being told to over-prepare for things. So when a candidate comes in and couldn't quite speak to the issues or the questions, the students were critical of it in a way that I don't know would happen in a forum for the general public. The students knew which candidates knew their platforms."

"The other thing the students notice is whether or not the candidates spoke to them as students, whether or not they addressed them as an audience of high school students as opposed to the general public. Changing the way to address them and speaking to the issues our students will have, post-secondary affordability, housing affordability, that sort of thing."

A large focus for the students, according to Campos, was the energy sector.

It's a topic that's always of interest to those in the region, though Campos noted that students were concerned not only with the jobs and economic facets of the industry but also the sustainability side of things.

Grade 11 student Eve Merrian says there are a few issues she'd have liked to ask the candidates about, including the restrictions on blood donation for gay men and affordability for students heading into post-secondary education.

"As a young person looking at the current status of things, the idea of ever owning a house seems impossible, or of paying for college and still having opportunities to have a leisure life and afford things like dental care and stuff... There's a lot of issues with the economy right now."

Campos was impressed at the level of engagement from younger students.

"Normally we see it at the Grade 12 level, as they're 17, 18. If this election was in May, we'd have a large portion of our students who actually could vote. So we always see it with Grade 12s, but what I saw this year is the level of engagement with our Grade 10s was a lot more. My Grade 10 students, they knew the questions they wanted to ask. When I asked for feedback from the forum, they knew what it was they're looking for. I think that speaks to maybe a growing political engagement."

Students in the Foothills riding elected John Barlow, who garnered 54.42 per cent of the vote, with NDP candidate Michelle Traxel following behind with 17.5 per cent.

National results, as well as results by riding and school, can be found on the Student Vote website.

 

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