They can’t vote on June 2, but some schoolchildren across northwestern Ontario will be casting ballots for who they think should be the next premier.
It is part of the Student Vote Ontario program.
It was established in 2003 as a civic education program to teach kids about democracy and voting.
Ruth Matthew of Civix Canada says over two thousand schools and 480,000 students are taking part in the program this election.
“The teachers register their schools for Student Vote that sends out free learning resources, as well as voting materials to prepare their class. Then the students actually go through the process of researching the candidates and the issues in their local writings. That fosters dialogue and discussion amongst their peers and with their families later on. They also engage with the campaign through different things like candidate forums and leaders debates,” says Matthew.
The program includes a class or school-wide vote for the candidates running in the provincial election. The results will be released on the night of the election.
“One of the main objectives of Student Vote is to create lifelong voters so it goes to skills and habits of active citizenship. Since voting is a habit, there’s actually research that shows that if somebody casts a ballot the first time they go to vote, they will actually become a lifelong voter.”
Sixty-six schools in northwestern Ontario in all four area ridings are among those taking part in the program.
