If it were up to students in the Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge electoral district, there would be an NDP MP heading to Ottawa following Monday’s federal election.
Twenty seven schools across the district participated in Student Vote Canada 2019, including two independent facilities in Surrey.
John Mogk, with the NDP, received 29 per cent of the student vote – 1,542 votes, followed by Ariane Jaschke, with the Green party, who received 25 per cent of the student vote – or 1,336 votes.
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Marc Dalton, with the Conservatives, received 22 per cent of the student vote with 1,169 votes. Liberal Dan Ruimy followed with 18 per cent or 944 votes. Independent candidate Steve Ranta got four per cent or 233 votes and Bryton Cherrier with the People’s Party got three per cent or 176 votes.
According to the Student Vote Canada, the NDP would have won 25 seats across the province, the Conservatives nine seats and the Green party eight, with the Liberals coming up empty.
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In B.C., 212,175 students participated in Student Vote Canada 2019, from 1,456 schools.
Nationally, the vote indicated a Liberal minority with the incumbent party winning 112 seats. However, the NDP fared much better than in the actual election, winning 98 seats, while 93 seats went to the Conservatives, 27 to the Green party and 12 to the Bloc Québécois.
Like the actual election, the Conservatives beat the Liberals when it came to the raw numbers, with 288,401 student votes compared to the Liberals at 256,760. The NDP got 285,733 votes.
Student Vote is a learning program that provides students with the opportunity to experience the voting process firsthand. Students are encouraged to follow the election campaigns of the local candidates.
It is open to any elementary, middle or high school and there is no cost to participate.
Once schools register, they receive a package including teaching supplies for print and online, posters and election supplies.
The program is aimed for those students in grades 4 through 12.
On vote day, students take on the role of election workers and coordinate the vote within their school while others cast ballots for candidates running in the school’s electoral district.
Official Elections Canada results from the actual election on Monday, show Marc Dalton winning the riding with 36 per cent of the vote or 19,501 votes, with incumbent Liberal candidate Dan Ruimy winning 30 per cent of the vote with 15,957 votes.
That was followed by NDP candidate John Mogk winning 24 per cent of the vote or 12,802 votes, the Green party’s Ariane Jaschke with eight per cent or 4,259 votes, Bryton Cherrier with the People’s Party with one per cent, or 726 votes and independent candidate Steve Ranta also with one per cent or 462 votes.
cflanagan@mapleridgenews.com
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