In the Blog
Feeling Blue?
So, the eleection results are in, and they aren’t great but they could have been worse. But, before we turn our attention to the final American presidential debate tonight, let’s take a few more minutes to talk about Canada.
Thanks to Student Vote, there was a second vote yesterday, a mock election that took place in schools across Canada and involved more than 400,000 elementary and high school students.
The idea is that if you get young people interested in politics when they’re young, they’ll be more likely to vote when they’re older. We held a mock election at my high school one year, with students running as representatives for the parties, and everyone got really into it.
What’s really interesting is the results, Ontario’s in particular. In Ontario, the Greens and Conservatives tied at 31, Liberals 25, and NDP 19. These results are roughly in line with the actual outcome, except for that overwhelming Green support. Is this a sign that today’s youth (and tomorrow’s voters) are more concerned about environmental issues than older generations?
It makes sense. Having come of age during the climate change crisis, and the spotlight on green issues that has followed, today’s teenagers don’t need to be convinced about how crucial these things are to our survival (or, at the very least, to the possibility of continuing to live roughly in the manner to which we are accustomed).
Let’s hope this really is an indication of elections still to come.
