Mock student vote ‘elects’ Liberal minority government, NDP opposition

​Editor’s note: This story originally stated the student vote resulted in a majority government for Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. The student vote would actually result in a minority government. Global News regrets the error. 

Students across the country cast their ballot in a mock election and as a result, elected a Liberal minority government with the NDP making up the official opposition.

More than 1.1 million elementary and secondary school students from more than 9,600 schools participated in this year’s Student Vote Canada. The Liberal party took 22.3 per cent of the popular vote and 109 seats, re-electing Justin Trudeau for a second term as prime minister.

The NDP would form the opposition with 98 seats and 24.8 per cent of the popular vote.

Both Trudeau and Singh won their respective ridings.

Andrew Scheer also won his riding and the Conservative party came in third place with 25 per cent of the popular vote and 94 seats. The Green Party exploded in size to 28 seats with 18.2 per cent of the popular vote.

Bloc Quebecois leader Yves-François Blanchet was the only leader not to win his seat, but his party received 1.3 per cent of the popular vote and earned nine seats.

Maxime Bernier’s People’s Party of Canada received 48,033 votes, but didn’t win any seats across the country.

Ontario saw the highest number of students participate, followed by Alberta and then British Columbia.

Breakdown by province/territory

British Columbia – 206,676 students cast their ballot and elected 54 Liberal, 35 NDP, 27 Conservative and five Green MPs
Alberta – 207,898 students voted and elected 30 Conservative, three NDP and one Liberal MP
Saskatchewan – 44,341 students participated and voted in 11 Conservative and three NDP MPs
Manitoba – 38,189 participating students elected six NDP, five Conservative and three Liberal candidates.
Ontario – 456,129 participating students elected 54 Liberal, 35 NDP, 27 Conservative and five Green Party candidates
Quebec – 102,722 participating students elected 35 Liberal, 21 NDP, nine Bloc Québecois, nine Conservative and four Green Party candidates
Nova Scotia – 38,461 participating students elected five Liberal, four Green Party and two NDP candidates
New Brunswick – 37,295 participating students elected five Green Party, three Liberal and two Conservative candidates
Newfoundland and Labrador – 21,837 participating students elected five Liberal and two NDP candidates
Prince Edward Island – 8,079 participating students elected two Green Party and two Liberal candidates
Northwest Territories – 2,114 participating students elected one Liberal candidate
Yukon – 1,937 participating students elected one NDP candidate
Nunavut – 1,829 participating students elected one NDP candidate

Before each provincial and federal election, CIVIX — a non-partisan charity that works to educate school-aged youth about democracy — and Elections Canada hold the mock election as a way to get students interested in the democratic process.

“Elections Canada is proud to have helped make Student Vote Canada 2019 possible,” Stéphane Perrault, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada said. “This program is one of the ways we educate future voters and help raise active citizens.”

The program has students learn about the electoral process and research the parties platforms before casting their vote. Students cast their ballots for the official candidates in their riding.