BY HEIDI ULRICHSEN
He's not even old enough to drive, let alone cast a ballot in next week's federal election, but Len Van Denbrock, who attends Grade 8 at Pius XII Catholic School, knows a surprising amount about politics.
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Sudbury Conservative candidate Kevin Serviss enjoyed hanging out with Grade 8 Pius XII student Justin Thomas, who represented the Conservatives for his school's Student Vote Election, during a question and answer session with local candidates Wednesday morning. |
The most important issues of the election are helping homeless people and increasing access to post-secondary education, he says. And he thinks the NDP is the only party that can solve those problems.
Van Denbrock was the student representative for the NDP in his school's Student Vote mock election, which was held Thursday morning.
The boy has been making presentations over the school's PA system each morning since coming back from the Christmas break to garner the support of other Grade 4 to 8 students.
Classmates representing each of the major federal political parties have also been doing the same thing.
More than 3,000 schools across the country, including several in this city, are participating in the Student Vote program during the election.
"I'm definitely going to vote when I'm older. I think it's important to vote because you are voting for your future. It's just not - 'Who cares?'' It's going to affect you in a big way," says Van Denbrock.
The students got a chance to pose questions to several real life federal election candidates Wednesday morning.
Liberal incumbent Diane Marleau and Conservative candidate Kevin Serviss were at the event, but NDP candidate Gerry McIntaggart, who had a prior commitment, sent riding association vice-president Chris Kivinen-Newman to speak on his behalf.
Their pint-sized audience didn't pull any punches, asking about everything from introducing a pharmacare program in Canada to keeping election promises.
Marleau says she doesn't mind taking time out of her busy election campaign schedule to speak to school groups.
"I always like to come to schools like this, because the kids are really neat, and they always ask good questions. I've never been disappointed once," she says.
"It really prepares children for later on. It gets their attention, and they realize just how important what we do is. I think that's great, and they'll probably encourage their parents to vote."
Grade 8 student Peter Pesce, who represented the Liberals and sat next to Marleau during the question and answer session, says he's had a lot of fun participating in the mock election.
"I learned a lot of the issues for the Liberals, and how hard it is to work in politics because there's so much pressure," he says. "If I could vote, I would vote for the Liberals because they seem to have a very good grasp of the issues that affect us."
Perhaps these children will remember the Student Vote program and the federal election of 2006 when they are old enough to vote, says Pius XII vice-principal Carmela Pitman.
"This is an experience they're definitely going to remember. They'll remember meeting the local political leaders, and will be more likely to vote when they're older," she says.
"We have to develop habits, and this is one of them - the habit of civic participation."
