Election fever gripped students at Langford’s Spencer Middle School who took park in a mock federal election.
At the ballot box, over 300 Spencer Middle students cast their vote in the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford riding, choosing between NDP's Alistair MacGregor, Conservative Jeff Kibble, Liberal Blair Herbert and Kathy Code of the Green Party.
Coming out on top with 129 votes (41.48 per cent) from Spencer Middle students was Kibble, followed by Herbert with 77 (24.76 per cent), MacGregor 55 votes (17.68 per cent) and Code 50 votes (16.08 per cent).
And it was the same result across the riding with Kibble winning 36.61 per cent of the vote, his closest rival being NDP’s MacGregor with 26.39 per cent of votes tallied.
The school was one of more than 7,100 across all 343 electoral districts who took part in ‘Student Vote Canada’, organized by the national civic education charity CIVIX. The mock election encourages Canada's youth to engage in the political discussion about which party should lead the country for the next four years.
The national results of the student vote brought more good news for the Conservatives, with 165 seats turning blue. Liberals trailed behind winning 145 More than 900,000 elementary, intermediate and high school students participated.
When casting their vote, health care, housing and the rising cost of living were front and centre in the minds of many of the Spencer Middle students.
“My mom works in health care, so I kind of worry a lot about that,” said 13-year-old Taylor Cain. “From what I've heard, it's not in good shape right now … my mom's been telling me about how they're really short staffed ... and it's really slow, so I think that definitely needs improvement.”
A sentiment echoed by 13-year-old Abigail Okobi, who wants people to have access to the help they need sooner. “The wait time to get help [in emergency] is quite crazy,” she said.
Canada's trade war with the U.S. was another pressing issue for students, with many worried about the impact of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs and his comments that Canada should become the 51st state of America.
"He wants to take over our country and I'm a patriot," said 12-year-old Dryden Lynn pointing to the slogan on his baseball cap, which says "Canada is not for sale.”
As for the official result of Canada’s federal election, Spencer Middle students predict good news for the Liberal Party – not the Conservatives, who had little support among the students interviewed by Goldstream Gazette.
“We had to read up on some of the things they [Conservatives] stand for on different issues like housing and health care, and I don't really agree with what they're saying,” said Natalie Bodman.
“I think Liberal would be pretty great if they would win,” added Lori Garnet, who praised the party’s proposal to introduce legislation to protect children from online exploitation and sextortion.
Comparing party leaders Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre, Grade 7 student Cain thinks the Liberals have the advantage on the Conservatives.
“I think Carney would do better because he's an economist and he knows how to manage a crisis,“ he said, pointing to Carney’s time as Governor of the Bank of England, which coincided with the U.K.'s exit from the European Union. “Where Poilievre is more of a spirit rallier – he knows how to get people patriotic.
“But I think right now we need more of a person who can actually get things done.”
