Calgary high schoolers take part in student vote ahead of election day
Posted Apr 25, 2025 7:09 pm.
Last Updated Apr 26, 2025 10:48 am.
While election day is on Monday, students at Calgary’s Central Memorial High School are marking their ballots ahead of time.
Like their adult counterparts, the issues for these voters range from the cost of living to tariffs.
“I think our relationship with the United States should be a big part of it, and different campaigns have different ideas on how to deal with it,” says student voter Claire McFaull.
Another voter says housing and employment should be the top concern.
“I think most recently for me it’s the housing crisis and then also the job crisis,” says Clementina Browne. “It’s really hard for young people to get jobs.”
Student voter Owen Searancke believes healthcare is a top priority.
“Healthcare–especially that we’ve seen on the provincial level and even at the national level now–a lot of people on the conservative side are trying to more privatize healthcare,” he said. “I think it’s really important to protect that and strengthen that system.”
Central Memorial has been running student votes for all three levels of government for at least a decade, a way to show young people the importance of participating in elections.
“What we are trying to do is inform students, so that when they are 18, they know how to vote, they know the process, and they have already done it–they practiced, essentially,” says teacher Nicole Cameron.
The student vote at Central Memorial is part of a broader vote put on by the charity CIVIX, happening in more than 7,000 schools across the country, with around 800,000 votes expected to be cast.
The civic education group says that, at times, the results of the vote can mirror real life, like in the 2021 general election.
“The Liberal party was the one that won the election, but the big difference was that the opposition party that the students voted for was the NDP,” says Dan Allan, Chief Program Officer with CIVIX.
Students from across the country will vote until Monday, with results released after polls close.
