The Citizen, 2018-6-14, Page 12PAGE 12. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2018.
Huron -Bruce students vote PC, buck NDP trend
A big decision
Morgan Deitner, the Grade 5/6 teacher at North Woods
Elementary School, made sure her students had all
relevant information going into their Student Vote election.
After the class voted in favour of PC incumbent MPP Lisa
Thompson, she explained the results of both the student
election and the actual vote to the students. (Dennyscottphoto)
By Denny Scott
The Citizen
If students under the voting age
decided how Ontario would be run,
the NDP Party would have claimed
victory during last week's election.
Student Vote is a program
designed to encourage students to
learn about and paricipate in politics.
Through the program, schools across
the province were polled and the
results differed from those of their
adult counterparts.
Those who participated felt the
NDP should have won a majority
government, earning 68 seats and
32.35 per cent of the vote. The
Progressive Conservative Party
came in second with 45 seats and
Having his say
Caleb Koch was one of
who participated in the
voted alongside their
incumbent MPP Lisa Tho
the many students province -wide
Ontario Student Vote. His class
adult counterparts, electing
mpson. (Photo submitted)
26.71 per cent of the vote, the
Ontario Liberal Party earned 10
seats and 18.79 per cent of the vote
while the Green Party took the
remaining two seats.
While students across the province
may have voted differently from
their parents, students in Huron -
Bruce voted very similarly, electing
PC MPP Lisa Thompson with an
overwhelming 41.11 per cent of the
3,578 votes cast.
Second was Jan Johnstone of the
NDP with 26.77 per cent and third
was Liberal Don Matheson who
earned 13.53 per cent, edging out
fourth -place finisher Nicholas
Wendler of the Green Party who
captured 11.77 per cent of the votes.
Ron Stephens of the Libertarian
party earned 4.44 per cent of the vote
while Gerrie Huenemoerder of the
Alliance Party finished last with 2.38
per cent of the vote.
North Woods Elementary School
was one of the 29 schools that
participated and, as Grade 5/6
teacher Morgan Deitner explained,
the vote was as real as possible.
On Monday morning, Deitner read
out the class results of the vote,
noting that some students' ballots
were spoiled by not following
instructions.
Just like adult voters needed to
mark their votes with an 'X',
students were had to use blue ink.
"Several didn't," she told her
class. "It made for a more authentic
vote as we had some rejected
ballots."
Students asked if anyone declined
to pick a candidate, to which Deitner
said no, though she noted there was
serious debate about that option
leading up to the election.
Deitner's class voted in Johnstone
of the NDP to be Huron -Bruce's
MPP with 12 of 17 admissible votes.
Incumbent Thompson earned four
votes and Huenemoerder of the
Alliance Party received one.
Liberal candidate Matheson struck
out due to the only vote he received
being spoiled.
Neither Stephens nor Wendler
received any support from the class.
When asked why they thought the
class had voted differently than the
rest of the electorate, students had
some interesting responses.
"The Conservatives got so many
votes because they had a good
platform," James Armstrong said.
"They presented good information."
Tony Enns said that the NDP
worked on their platform and took
their time, but it just didn't pay off.
Braydon Ridley said that everyone
thought the PC Party was going to
win, which led to more momentum
going to the polls.
As for why Thompson won
Huron -Bruce, Hudson Marshall felt
that the PC Party found support
because it wants to focus on smaller
towns and rural areas.
When students were asked if the
results of the election overall were a
surprise, their reactions varied.
Caleb Koch, for example, said it
didn't surprise him.
"I follow the PC Party," he said. "I
knew they were going to win Huron -
Bruce. They do stuff about problems
in small towns. They also said they
were going to change a lot, like the
gas prices."
Koch went on to say that PC Party
leader Doug Ford's promise to
reduce gas prices may have been a
game -changer for the party.
"That change would help a lot of
people because of transportation and
it will help a lot of farmers because
farming uses gas," he said.
When asked about the "Blue Tide"
in Toronto, which saw many urban
ridings in the centre switch from
Liberal to Conservative
refpresentatives, Enns said it showed
that people wanted Liberal Premier
Kathleen Wynne out.
"They wanted a change because of
what the Liberals were doing," he
explained.
Ridley said Toronto residents may
have wanted a change because the
Liberals were in power for so long.
"The things they were doing made
everything harder for Canadians," he
said.
Ethan Van Beek said that gas
prices probably played in to the
decision, with Ford's promise to
drop it gaining him support. Several
other students agreed, saying that the
price of gas was likely a key issue
for people in Toronto because of the
amount of time on the road.
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