While eligible Ontario voters voted a Progressive Conservative majority Thursday night, students across the province went another way, electing the New Democrats instead.

More than 280,000 elementary and high school students made sure their voices were heard in the 2018 Ontario Student Vote — a province-wide program run by Civix, a national education charity, that aims to foster greater civic engagement among youth.

Students at 2,166 schools representing all 124 provincial ridings cast their ballots between May 31 and June 7 in a mock election that ran parallel to the real one.

The student vote saw the NDP win a majority with 66 seats and 32 per cent of the vote. The PCs became the official opposition, winning 45 seats with 27 per cent of the vote.

Unlike in the real election, the students voted to let the Liberals keep official party status, with 11 seats and 19 per cent of the vote.

The students voted to let party leaders Andrea Horwath and Doug Ford win their respective districts, Hamilton Centre and Etobicoke North, but Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne lost her long-time seat representing Don Valley West to the riding’s NDP candidate.

While the Green Party made history with its first seat in the real election, the party gained two in the student vote: One in Guelph — where leader Mike Schreiner also won on Thursday — and another in Parry Sound—Muskoka.

Thirteen per cent of the students voted for the Green Party.

The real election saw the PC majority win 76 seats, the NDP 40, the Liberals’ seven and one for the Greens.

That result came as a surprise to young voters from East York Collegiate Institute, in a riding the students handed to the NDP.

“I think the results were different because in our school the kids are looking at issues such as free prescriptions and PCs did not get a lot of votes because they are taking stuff away from us,” said Ryan Tiano, 17. “Older and rich people don’t see it as their problem so they vote PC.”

Angelica Archibald, 17, said she wished the students’ votes counted in the real election. “If young people had the chance to vote the outcome definitely would not have been the same,” she said.

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“Kid tend to vote less strategically,” Frédérique Dombrowski, outreach and stakeholder manager at Civix, said. “Kids tend to vote with their heart rather than calculate who can best win in their electoral district, as adults do.”

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“They vote with their values rather than what is the best route to take.”

It was the twelfth time a mock election took place in Ontario and the fifth provincial election in the program’s fifteen years. Student participation increased by 60 per cent this year compared to the 2014 provincial election, when the students elected a Liberal majority.

Dombrowski said the mock vote helps kids learn the electoral process. “By the time they’re 18, they’ll have voted four or five times,” he said.

The issues that mattered to the students this year were the same as those that mattered to Ontario voters, said Michelle Munk, a math teacher at City View Alternative School who has participated in every Ontario Student Vote since it started.

“The questions they asked were about affordable housing, the impacts of climate change, abortion and how to make it more accessible,” she said. “They asked if parental consent was necessary for abortion for minors.”

At Munk’s school, the students from Grade 4 to Grade 8 had full control over the electoral process. They invited the candidates, come up with their own questions and serve as moderators, time keepers and general facilitators of the process.

Munk talks to them about what makes a good question and what kind of issues are provincial issues. A student-made selection committee chooses a select number to take to the candidates.

This year, of the 280,691 ballots cast, 7,103 students opted to reject their ballots, 2,562 declined and 2,935 left theirs unmarked.

“Students are very excited and engaged,” Munk said. “They’re excited about the idea of voting and following a campaign. It’s not just about showing up and checking a box on a ballot but about learning about the issues, following along with the news, finding out the differences between candidates.”

Munk said the mock election is about learning the responsibilities of a good citizen. “The purpose of school and education is to learn how to become involved in the world around you and voting is a part of that.”

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