Caleb Nickerson
FORT COULONGE
Nov. 1, 2017
With the province in the midst of municipal elections, students at a local high school got a chance to get in on the excitement.
On Nov. 1, four of the five candidates for warden of MRC Pontiac along with Mansfield mayoral candidate Gilles Dionne gathered at École secondaire Sieur de Coulonge to speak with the future voters about issues affecting their community.
The candidates began by laying out their platforms before the floor was opened up to questions from the audience. One student asked the candidates to explain the respective roles of the positions they were running for. Another asked when work on the Marchand Bridge was scheduled to start.
In addition to hearing from the candidates, the student body held their own election on Nov. 2 and got to compare their choices to the actual results.
Martin Roy was one of the teachers that organized the exercise and said that it is a program that is offered in English and French during elections of all levels to teach students about governance.
“All the schools in Quebec, it’s possible for them,” he continued. “I’m not alone but yes I’m the one who subscribed to that activity.”
Roy said that they also held mock elections during the last federal election and it was a good opportunity to engage the student body.
“It is taken seriously,” he said.
Not only could students cast their votes, but some also acted as elections officials, running the mock polling station and counting up ballots afterwards.
“We try to involve the kids as much as possible with all the aspects of the project,” Roy said. “Most of them are part of the student council as well.”
Though the school’s vote took place on Nov. 2, the results were only released the morning after the elections.
With 156 students casting a ballot, the results were as follows: Jane Toller (92 votes, 67 per cent), Pierre Fréchette (25 votes, 16 per cent), Raymond Durocher (17 votes, 11 per cent), Charlotte L’Écuyer (six votes, four per cent) and Linda Davis (five votes, three per cent).
