More than 900,000 students across Canada chose a Conservative minority government in a mock federal election held alongside the 2025 campaign.
For Airdrie-Cochrane, they elected Conservative Blake Richards with 58.48 per cent of the vote, higher than the national average for Conservatives.
Liberal Sean Secord was a distant second with 16.94 per cent, NDP candidate Sarah Zagoda captured 14.74 per cent of the vote, Libertarian David Sebine secured 5.17 per cent of the vote, and CHP candidate Christopher Bell got 4.66 per cent of the vote.
Across the electoral district, 6,689 students cast ballots, including 11 schools in Cochrane. The majority of students from St. Timothy High School and Cochrane High School were provided ballots. At St. Timothy, 57 per cent of students voted, while 27.7 per cent of Cochrane High students cast ballots.
In other schools, it was limited to a portion of the student population, such as one grade or one class.
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Student Vote: St. Tim's students cast their ballots
Bringing democracy to life in classrooms
Elementary, intermediate and high school students participated in Student Vote Canada, casting ballots for the official candidates running in their school’s electoral district after learning about democracy, researching party platforms, and debating the future of the country.
As of 7:30 p.m. ET on Monday, April 28, 870,340 votes were reported from 5,900 schools, covering all 343 electoral districts. This includes 30,453 rejected ballots.
Students elected the Conservative Party to a minority government with 165 seats and 36.4 per cent of the popular vote, while the Liberal Party, with 145 seats and 31.7 per cent support, will form the official Opposition.
Pierre Poilievre won his seat in Carleton, Ont., and Liberal Leader Mark Carney won in Nepean, Ont.
The Bloc Québécois won 18 seats, the NDP 13 seats, and the Green Party two seats.
Student Vote is a program of CIVIX, a non-partisan registered Canadian charity dedicated to strengthening democracy through civic education. CIVIX programming focuses on elections, government budgets, elected representatives, public discourse and digital media literacy.