Huron Expositor, 2007-10-24, Page 6s.
Page 6 The Huron Expositor • October 24, 2007
News
Local students elect Green candidate in Student Vote 2007
Jennifer Hubbard
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Hundreds of students across the
province - including CHSS and St.
Anne's - voted for a greener
Ontario during Student Vote 2007.
Provincewide, students elected a
total of 18 Green Party candidates
during an in -school vote that aims
to teach elementary and secondary
students about the electoral
process, voting procedures and the
importance of voting through
hands-on participation.
"It's exciting. Young people don't
see things from a partisan view-
point. They're looking more
towards the future and practicali-
ty," said Victoria Serda, Huron -
Bruce Green Party candidate and
deputy leader of the Green Party
of Ontario.
"The Green Party is often a pop-
ular choice with young voters
because they actually understand
what we are saying. We give them
straight answers and integrity."
In the 2003 Ontario Student
Vote, only one Green Party candi-
date was elected.
When the results of all the par-
ticipating Huron -Bruce schools
were tallied, Liberal incumbent
Carol Mitchell was re-elected by a
mere 46 vote margin over Serda.
The CHSS race went the other
way however, with Serda recording
a two -vote win over Mitchell.
And while the trend of young
voters is encouraging, Serda said
the Green Party has consistently
been gaining popularity across the
board.
"People are starting to under-
stand more and more the impor-
tance of protecting the environ-
ment as a basis for quality of life
and health," she explained.
"We used to be seen as marijua-
na smoking, granola eating, back-
woods people, but now we're actu-
ally being seen for who we really
are, pragmatic and practical peo-
ple who want to plan for the
future."
In this month's provincial elec-
tion Serda drew 33 per cent of the
Huron -Bruce votes, up 20 per cent
from the federal election last year.
Of the 484 ballots cast at CHSS,
New Democratic Party candidate
Paul Klopp was a close third with
99 votes, Dennis Valenta
(Independent) had 81 votes,
Conservative Rob Morley had 49
votes, Dave Joslin, of the Family
Coalition Party had 10 votes and
Ronald Stephens (Independent)
had nine votes.
Twenty-two ballots were spoiled.
"Although Carol Mitchell won
the riding, at our school she lost by
two votes. If you look at it, the top
four were really close...within
about 25 votes," said Shane Taylor,
whose Grade 10 civics class coordi-
nated the CHSS Student Vote.
"The whole idea is to give stu-
dents in high school the experience
of voting, so that they'll be more
likely to vote when they turn 18."
Taylor noted the CHSS Student
Vote experience was a realistic
one, involving the entire school.
Civics students helped to organize
an all -candidates meeting, made
posters for each of the candidates,
acted as polling clerks at eight sta-
tions throughout the school and
helped to .count ballots.
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"Voter turnout across the
province was the worst to date, but
if you look at our numbers at the
school we saw a significantly high-
er rate of voters than the province
and the riding of Huron -Bruce,"
Taylor added.
St. Anne's also participated in
the Student Vote program, on a
smaller scale.
With 194 ballots cast, Mitchell
won a close race against Klopp by
just six votes at 58. Morley was
third with 42 votes and the Serda
had 30 votes.
The riding's two independent
candidates drew 14 ballots and
Joslin had six. •
Six ballots were spoiled.
Partnering with Elections
Canada, Student Vote ran parallel
to the provincial election cam-
paign. More than 275,000 Ontario
students participated.
Student Vote results from across
the province were announced on
CBC during the first hour of elec-
tion coverage on Oct. 10. Although
votes were cast at CHSS on Oct. 2,
Taylor could not announce the
local poll results
until after the
election.
The actual
results of the
Oct. 10 election
saw a much
more dominant
win with 20,461
votes - 46 per
cent by
Mitchell.
Morley cap-
tured 13,566
votes, Klopp had
5,927 votes,
Serda earned
2,910 votes and
Joslin received
1,044 votes.
Independent
candidates
Valenta and
Stephens took
home 394 and
201 votes,
respectively.
A total of
71.5 per cent of
those who voted
in Huron -Bruce
voted against
the proposed
Mixed Member
Proportional
(MMP) system.
But just over
half, 58 per
cent, of the
CHSS voters
choose the cur-
rent `first past
the post' system.
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