Every election in Canada, and currently for the municipal elections in Ontario, there is a parallel student vote. This was begun by people who recognized that voter participation was low, and especially so among young people. The reasoning is that by engaging kids even earlier than they can officially vote we may create more participation for life! If you are interested in knowing more, here is a link.
But figuring out who to vote for is complicated!
So today we began to look at the websites and media interviews for various mayoral candidates. (Tomorrow we’ll look at councilors and the next day try to make sense of the trustees–it’s a lot!)
Our general questions in forming our own views are:
- What would you keep the same?
- What would you change?
- What could be improved?
- What needs to be fixed or built?
We were also on the lookout for the candidates’ opinions about jobs, taxes, housing, roads, environment and development. Obviously these are pretty grown-up ideas, but hey, we’re growing up!
To give you more chance to discuss this at home–and especially for those who were out of class today for the Fort Henry race or any other reason–here are the links we looked at today. The very first one may be the easiest, as it has films of each candidate being interviewed.
Mayoral Candidates
All Candidates:
https://globalnews.ca/news/4530158/kingstons-mayoral-candidates-walk-and-talk-with-bill-hutchins/
Bryan Paterson:
http://www.bryan4mayor.ca/platform-2018
Vicki Schmolka: