If elementary and high school student mock ballots determined the outcome of Monday’s election, Guelph would be represented by the NDP in Ottawa this term rather than a re-elected Liberal incumbent Lloyd Longfield.
Of the 4,187 ballots cast throughout the city in the parallel Student Vote initiative, the winner was Aisha Jahangir. She received 27.82 per cent of local student support, compared to 21.2 per cent in the general election.
Longfield came in second in the Student Vote with 25.38 per cent, followed by Conservative candidate Ashish Sachan at 15.35 per cent and Michelle Bowman of the Green Party at 14.03 per cent.
People’s Party candidate Joshua Leier attracted 6.75 per cent of student support, with 5.51 per cent and 5.17 per cent for Tristan Dineed (Communist) and Karen Levenson (Animal Protection Party) respectively.
Twenty-three Guelph schools participated in Student Vote, with the largest contingent of mock ballots cast at John F. Ross Collegiate Vocational Institute with 1,050.
Similar to the official election, students across the country chose a Liberal minority government, with an NDP official opposition rather than the Conservative Party.
