BARRHEAD - Canadian voters have spoken, and the governing Liberal Party eked out a minority mandate, winning 169 seats compared to 144 for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), 22 for the Block Québécois, seven for the New Democratic Party (NDP) and one for the Green Party.
However, the Conservative Party of Canada would have taken the top spot if the vote had been up to Canadian elementary and high school students.
In CIVIX's Student Vote, over 7,000 schools participated in a parallel mock election where students nationwide could vote for their local constituency representative.
CIVIX is a non-partisan registered charity dedicated to strengthening democracy through civic education. Their programming focuses on elections, government budgets, elected representatives and digital media literacy. Participating schools receive free learning materials and election supplies such as activity guides, posters, an election manual, ballots and ballot boxes.
Barrhead-area schools mostly mirrored the results of the election Peace River — Westlock constituency, with the incumbent CPC candidate Arnold Viersen winning the riding in convincing, but not always quite the overwhelming fashion of Peace River — Westlock. Viersen and the CPC received over 76 per cent of the vote, with 47,027 votes and more than 34,000 votes over the second-place finisher Luke Markowski of the Liberals, who had 6,314 votes.
In Busby, Viersen narrowly won the election, taking the election by two votes, 16 to 14, over his closest rival, Landen Tischer of the NDP, with Independent candidate Darrell Teske and Liberal Luke Markowski with nine and eight votes, respectively.
At Barrhead Elementary School, with only Grade 6 students participating, Viersen and the CPC's margin increased slightly, defeating his second-place Independent rival Teske by seven, 32 to 25 votes, with Tischer coming in third with 23 votes and Markowski in last with nine.
At the Barrhead Outreach School, Viersen received eight votes compared to two votes each for Tischer, Markowski and Teske.
Barrhead Composite High School (BCHS) students cast the most ballots, with Grades 7 to 12 participating.
Again, CPC incumbent Viersen led the voting, receiving just over 56 per cent of votes at 168 compared to rivals Teske at 55, Tischer at 47 and Markowski at 29.
BCHS Grade 9 social studies teacher Graham Schole arranged the mock vote for his school. It was his third time organizing a student vote at a school. His first was the 2019 federal election when he was at Redwater School; his second was the 2023 Alberta provincial election for BCHS.
"This one is a little bit different," he said, adding he organized the mock vote with the help of Grade 9 social studies students. "It is the perfect fit as they learn about Canada's electoral system, the House of Commons, Parliament and the Senate."
However, he admitted they did have to do some refreshing because the section on Canadian elections is early on in the curriculum.
"But they know their stuff, and this group of Grade 9s are particularly engaged and love to talk and debate about politics," Schole said.
Barry Kerton, TownandCountryToday.com
