A mock federal election held within schools across Canada found that elementary and high school students voted overwhelmingly for a Conservative government, despite a Liberal win during Monday’s election.
More than 925,000 students in elementary, intermediate and high school participated in the mock election held by Student Vote Canada, which coincided with the federal election.
The mock election resulted in the Conservatives winning a minority government with 162 seats, meanwhile the Liberal party won 149 seats, The Bloc Quebecois won 17, The NDP won 13, and The Green Party won two.
Mirroring Monday’s election, the mock election resulted in NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh losing his seat and Green Party Co-Leader Jonathan Pedneault also failing to win a seat.
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Student Vote Canada says more than 6,000 schools participated nationwide.
The results of Monday’s election are staggeringly different due to the Liberal Party’s win with a minority government and a Conservative opposition.
However, some experts do point out that an increase in support for Conservatives amongst younger Canadians does come as a shock.
“Normally the student votes, results tip more in the progressive direction, so stronger towards, you know, the NDP and Greens and then the Liberals,” Dennis Pilon, chair and professor in the Department of Politics at York University, said to Now Toronto on Wednesday.
Pilot says that the outcome of the mock election is “strikingly” different from what’s been observed during past elections.
While it comes as a surprise to some, the support for the Conservatives can be attributed to many different factors, according to Pilot, such as younger people attaching most of their problems to the Liberals.
“They may connect some of the challenges that we’re facing around inflation, housing, homelessness, or crime with the government in power,” he said.
Professor Emeritus in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University Myer Siemiatycki, says Pierre Poilievre presented himself as a “rebel with a cause” during his campaign which strengthened his connection with younger Canadians.
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“He was pretty mad as heck and not going to take it anymore. And I think that vibe would be appealing to younger people, I can even call some of them in the age group children,” Siemiatycki said.
Siemiatycki says that Poilievre may have also benefitted from being the youngest leader of a major party in this federal election.
“He was the youngest of the lead candidates who kind of projected himself and could be seen as being kind of a big brother rather than a father, or God help them, a grandfather belief figure,” he said.
SHOULD THE VOTING AGE BE LOWER?
While many school-aged Canadians were casting mock ballots, it raises the question for some whether or not the voter age should be lowered, to which Siemiatiycki says should only be done under the right circumstances.
“It should be based on principles of participation, inclusion, belonging, rather than some kind of strategic plan, ‘Oh, they’re going to vote this way or that way,’” he said
Pilot says that arguments have been made for both sides of the discussion, and that a reason against it is that young people may not be politically engaged.
“They may not have much at stake in the outcomes of elections. And of course, there are those who feel that young people will just be manipulated by those figures of authority that they encounter,” he said.
Pilot went on to say that arguments that support lowering the age suggest it could result in stronger voter turnout, which has decreased over the years.
“It would serve to enforce the duty of voting, that it would basically create good habits for democratic citizenship,” he said.
