Grade school students swing to Poilievre, even as he falls short in federal election
OTTAWA — While Conservatives weren't quite able to beat the Liberals in Monday's federal election, they can take some solace in the fact that grade school students brought it home for Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the 2025 Student Vote.
Article content
Article content
The students' votes led to a Conservative minority government, with Pierre Poilievre's party earning a hypothetical 165 seats from 36.4 per cent of the vote. This is a major jump from the 2021 Student Vote results, where the Conservatives placed third. The Liberals earned the second most seats among students this time around, securing 145. Essentially, the results between the main two parties were flipped from the current real-world projections.
Article content
While the NDP had a disappointing election, they performed better in terms of seat count among student voters. The NDP won 13 seats, with 14.5 per cent of the vote to barely hold onto official party status in the student vote scenario.
Article content
Article content
This is far from a positive for the NDP's future though, as they lost hypothetical 95 seats from the 2021 Student Vote. They previously earned 108 hypothetical seats, which was only ten fewer seats than the governing Liberals.
Article content
The Bloc Quebecois did slightly worse than their projected seat total, earning 17 seats from 2.19 per cent of the vote. The Green Party earned 7.5 per cent of the students' votes, giving them two seats, with longtime party leader Elizabeth May and Kitchener Centre incumbent Mike Morrice maintaining their spots in the hypothetical Parliament.
The Student Vote is an initiative run by CIVIX, an organization dedicated to 'strengthening democracy through civics and citizenship education for school-aged youth.' For the vote, they polled over 900,000 students across the country, with representation in each riding.
Article content
Article content
CIVIX, in collaboration with Abacus Data, also ran the Student Budget Consultation between December 2024 and March 2025. This consultation surveyed students about what the government's financial priorities should be. The most important issues per surveyed students were the cost of living, housing and health care.
Article content
National Post
Article content
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
7 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Mark Carney's minority government has an unexpected partner in the Conservatives — for now
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, left, and Liberal Leader Mark Carney talk following the English-language federal leaders' debate in Montreal on April 17, 2025. Christopher Katsarov The Canadia
Toronto Sun
12 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
GOLDSTEIN: Prepare for more billion-dollar boondoggles
Reports by financial watchdogs of government spending suggest there are major concerns about how public infrastructure projects will be approved Get the latest from Lorrie Goldstein straight to your inbox Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks as he attends a tour of the Fort York Armoury in Toronto on June 9, 2025 in Toronto, Canada. Photo by Cole Burston / Getty Images What happens when Prime Minister Mark Carney's promise of massive new federal spending on public infrastructure and speedy approval of 'nation building projects' runs into the fact the federal public service routinely ignores the rules for spending public money and approving such projects? This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The answer, potentially, is the waste of mega-billions of public dollars on projects that are so poorly administered, some may never be completed. The issue isn't the policies themselves. Carney's Liberals and the official opposition Conservatives agree with streamlining the process for green-lighting projects such as pipelines, mines and other forms of energy infrastructure, if they are endorsed by the province and Indigenous groups where they occur. That was evidenced by their rapid approval of Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act on Friday, before Parliament adjourned for the summer. Liberals and Conservatives passed the legislation intended to boost the Canadian economy given the damage caused by President Donald Trump's tariff war and the fact the U.S. is no longer a reliable trading partner or ally of Canada. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The legislation is now headed to the Senate, scheduled to sit until June 27, for final approval before Canada Day on July 1. Read More But recent reports by Parliament's two financial watchdogs of government spending – Auditor General Karen Hogan and Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux – suggest there are major concerns about how these projects will be approved. Hogan reviewed the Liberal government's approval of the notorious ArriveCan app that was supposed to cost $80,000 and ended up costing about $60 million, as well as 106 other professional services contracts awarded by 31 federal departments and agencies and one Crown corporation to IT staffing firm GCStrategies Inc. from 2015 to 2024. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. They totalled up to $92.7 million – of which, $64.5 million was paid out. Hogan found a widespread failure within the federal public service to follow the rules in awarding these contacts intended to ensure taxpayers get good value for money. She said the same thing happened when she examined 97 contracts awarded by 20 federal departments agencies and Crown corporations valued at $209 million, with $200 million paid out, to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, from 2011 to 2023. 'I said it back then and I'll repeat it now – I have no reason to believe this is unique to two vendors and that's why I believe the government needs to take a step back and look at why this is happening,' Hogan warned. Hogan took the unusual step of not making any recommendations on her findings, saying the problem isn't a lack of rules but the federal bureaucracy ignoring them. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In a separate report, Hogan estimated the cost of replacing Canada's aging fleet of CF-18 fighter jets with 88 new F-35s, increased by almost 50% within two years – from $19 billion in 2022 to $27.7 billion in 2024. In addition, another $5.5 billion will be needed for infrastructure needed to make the new jet fighters fully operational, because the government relied on outdated data and failed to develop contingency plans for managing financial risks associated with the project. She also noted a long-standing shortage of trained fighter pilots. In a report released Thursday, parliamentary budget officer Yves Giroux said because Carney has delayed the federal budget until fall, he can't determine whether his claim he will balance the federal operating budget by 2028-29 is credible. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Nor can he determine whether Carney will achieve his commitment to increase federal spending on defence to the NATO target of 2% of GDP this fiscal year, and whether the government's overall financial plan is fiscally sustainable. In his election platform Carney's outlined $130 billion in new spending over four years with total deficit spending of $224.8 billion. That's 71% higher than the $131.4 billion in deficit spending the Trudeau government predicted during the same period last December. The problem, Giroux said, is that Carney is claiming he can balance the operating budget, the cost of running the government, within three years, while financing new capital spending on infrastructure with more public debt. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'There is no commonly accepted definition of what is defined as 'operating' or 'non-operating capital' spending,' Giroux wrote, meaning he 'is unable to assess whether the government's recent policy initiatives presented in Parliament … are consistent with achieving its new fiscal objective … This means the government could achieve its fiscal objective and yet be fiscally unsustainable.' Unless the federal government addresses the concerns of the auditor general and parliamentary budget officer, expect for more billion-dollar boondoggles of the type we've seen so often in the past. lgoldstein@ Columnists Toronto & GTA Columnists Toronto & GTA Sunshine Girls
Edmonton Journal
15 hours ago
- Edmonton Journal
Bell: Carney gets Bill C-5 win but will Danielle Smith get schooled by the PM?
Article content Question for premier But a big question remains. Did Alberta Premier Danielle Smith get what she wanted? Did Alberta get what it wanted? Unlike Carney, both Smith and Alberta will have to wait for the big win, if there is one. Carney is asked the big question after his big win. Will the first projects to be fast-tracked be in the energy field? Will those projects be considered initially? The reporter mentions Premier Smith and pipelines. Smith wants a bitumen pipeline to the B.C. port of Prince Rupert. Smith backed Carney on Bill C-5. 'Well, that's a very good question,' says Carney. You know when someone says it's a very good question you might not get a very good answer. 'It depends. To be perfectly honest that's the only answer,' continues the prime minister. Carney says there are transmission line projects and there are a number of possible pipeline projects, gas pipelines or oil pipelines. Article content Article content But …. 'At the same time there are major projects that are very attractive. For example, a project in Quebec that's very attractive,' he says, in French. Sinking feeling Carney mentions a potential energy corridor at Grays Point in Nunavut. There is a potential project in Manitoba and Saskatchewan as far as Churchill. 'Those are projects that could lead to the development of other projects involving critical minerals.' If you're experiencing a sinking feeling it's not the pizza you ate last night. Carney says there are other projects not on the list put forward by the provinces 'in terms of AI infrastructure.' The prime minister talks about what a project has to have in order to be picked for the express lane of approval. 'It has to be in the national interest,' says Carney. 'There has to be some probability they can actually move forward. Article content 'We have to have the agreement of the Indigenous peoples.' Here is a line for you. 'They also have to be consistent with our climate goals in Canada.' When will the first so-called nation-building projects be picked? 'We'll see,' says Carney. Premier Smith has already said she wants Carney and the Liberals to be dealing with her demand to scrap nine anti-oil and gas and anti-development Liberal laws by the fall. You know, getting rid of the oil and gas emissions cap, the tanker ban, rewriting or scrapping the No More Pipelines law, tossing the net-zero power regulations, to name the ones that always come up. A few days ago, Smith backed Carney in the hopes of getting the pipeline built as a first step. Then with her pipeline on the prime minister's VIP list, the Very Important Project list, Carney could then take the hatchet to the bad for Alberta laws cooked up in the 10 years of Trudeau. Article content But, just saying, what happens if Carney doesn't come through with Smith's bitumen pipeline? What happens if Carney doesn't deal with most of Smith's demands? One of the premier's demands is for Carney to scrap the Liberal goal of having no new gas vehicles sold in 10 years. Carney is not changing course on that one. Meanwhile, the federal Conservatives also backed Carney. They also wanted the nasty Liberal laws holding up development to be scrapped. They campaigned on it in the last election campaign. They voted with Carney on Bill C-5 since something was better than nothing. They didn't want to be seen as standing in the way of something moving forward. When the vote was over Carney went over and shook some Conservative hands. It is easy to shake hands when you won the game. Devin Dreeshen, Smith's point man on transportation and economic corridors who is hoping real hard for that bitumen pipeline, weighs in on a worst-case scenario. 'If the kind words from the Carney government ring hollow because there are no projects in Alberta being fast-tracked we are right back to Square 1 where we have a federal government that says it is Team Canada but is doing everything to not help Team Canada win.' Latest National Stories
