Students across Ontario say they would have voted in a majority NDP government in Ontario’s 2022 Election, after this year’s mock election from Student Vote Ontario.
Each election, Student Vote Ontario asks elementary and high school students across the country to participate in a mock election to learn more about democracy, the parties and their platforms and to help guide students to learn more about the future of the province.
In Ontario, the NDP took 28.6 per cent of the popular vote and won 75 seats, which would have formed a majority government under leader Andrea Horwath. Meanwhile, Horwath says she plans to step down as leader of the party after her loss in the real 2022 election, her fourth loss as leader of the party.
In the mock election, the Liberals would have formed the official opposition with 28 seats and had 22 per cent of students’ overall votes. This left Ontario’s actual majority government, the Progressive Conservatives, in third place with only 17 seats and 18.7 per cent of the popular vote.
In the Kenora Rainy-River riding, the PC’s Greg Rickford was re-elected in both elections, but it was a much closer race with student votes. Rickford won with 162 votes, just edging out the NDP’s Joanne Formanek Gustafson who had 156 votes, with turnout from 9 area schools. In the real election, Rickford dominated with an over 6,000 vote lead by the end of the night.
In the Kiiwetinoong riding, the NDP’s Sol Mamakwa was re-elected by local students just as he retained his seat in the provincial election. Mamakwa received over 50 per cent of Kiiwetinoong students’ votes, with turnout from 7 area schools.
Across both ridings, Fort Frances High School had the largest voter turnout with 229 students participating.