It appears many students in Chatham-Kent follow their parents’ political leanings.
Thousands of students in both the St Clair Catholic and Lambton Kent District School Board took part in the Student Vote Canada mock election over the past week.
Delivered by CIVIX, in collaboration with Elections Canada, officials say Student Vote Canada provided students with a meaningful way to experience the democratic process firsthand. Participating schools received extensive learning materials and authentic voting supplies — including ballots, boxes, and voting screens — to replicate the full experience of an election.
Locally, officials say 3361 students from 26 schools in the riding of Chatham-Kent-Leamington took part in the vote, choosing Conservative incumbent Dave Epp as their preferred candidate with 46.65% of the vote. Liberal Keith Picard came in second with 22.79% of the vote.
Nation-wide, 928,862 ballots were cast from more than 6000 schools as students elected as Conservative minority government with the Liberal Party forming the official opposition.