IRHS's Upcoming Student Vote

You may have noticed, while walking down the hallways, one poster that is seemingly everywhere. Depicting a maple leaf and an enumeration of some Canadian rights and responsibilities, this poster is advertising an important event coming up soon- the student vote.

The student vote is a Canada-wide program parallel to the national election designed to introduce students to the voting process. A group of students and teachers are trying to engineer and raise awareness for the vote at IRHS.

Ms. Gazan has been involved with the vote at IRHS since the initiative started in 2003. She says that it’s a great learning opportunity for students which promotes engagement and civil responsibility. “It’s educational, and that’s what I do!” she says, laughing.

The vote is going to take place on Wednesday, October 14. There will be polling stations, manned by student and teacher volunteers, set up in the “street” for different ridings- we have a large presence in our school of two separate ridings- Oakville and Oakville North-- Burlington. Teachers are encouraged to make time for their classes to vote sometime during the day. Students will be assisted, if needed, with finding their ridings, and then can go to the appropriate polling station. They will be encouraged to show their student ID cards, like in the main election, and then will be given a ballot to fill out.

So why is the student vote held? As previously stated, it’s meant to introduce young people to the voting process. This is meant to hopefully increase youth voter turnout- in the 2011 election, fewer than 40% of voters 18-30 voted compared to about 60% of all voters. With student votes happening all around the country, young people would hopefully be more used to voting.

“It’s also a great opportunity to bring up important political issues,” brings up Ms. Gazan. She says her favorite part of the election is discussing its implications in class. Also, the student vote might hopefully prompt conversations between students and their parents about the election, encouraging parents to vote, as well.

All in all, the student vote is a great opportunity to get involved in the political process and familiarize yourself with voting. So come out and vote!


Oakville Candidates:

• Terence Young - Conservative Party
• David Doel - Green Party
• John Oliver - Liberal Party
• Che Marville - New Democratic Party (NDP)

Oakville North--Burlington Candidates

• Effie Triantafilopoulos - Conservative Party
• Adnan Shahbaz - Green Party
• Pam Damoff - Liberal Party
• David Clement - Libertarian Party
• Janice Best - New Democratic Party (NDP)

1. Block, Clayton, Daniel Larrivée, and Stephan Warner. "National Turnout Estimates by Age and Gender." Estimation of Voter Turnout by Age Group and Gender at the 2011 Federal General Election. 1 Apr. 2012. Web. 7 Oct. 2012.
2. "Student Vote: About." Student Vote. CIVIX. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.
3. "Candidates in Your Electoral District." Elections Canada. Elections Canada. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.