Bloc campaigns on platform of Nunavut independence

While people in Nunavut and the rest of Canada voted Oct. 14 for a new federal government, students at Kiilinik High School in Cambridge Bay held their own mock vote Oct. 10.

To cap a week-long campaign, student leaders for Canada's five major parties – the Conservatives, Liberals, NDP, Green and the Bloc Québécois – spoke to a poster-waving rally last Friday morning.

Student activities included caucus meetings to elect party leaders and fine-tune political platforms. A vote among the school's 150 students followed.

In a surprise, the New Democratic Party ended up forming the new student government, when NDP leader Rebecca Rowan, a Grade 12 student, scooped up 28 per cent of the vote with a message based on improved housing, action to lower the cost of living, and better education.

"The NDP had more to do with the North than the other parties," said Rowan, speaking by telephone from Cambridge Bay.

Rowan – a party supporter since Grade 7 – also met the real NDP candidate in Nunavut, Paul Irngaut, when he stopped by the school on a campaign visit to the community.

Liberal Party leader Colin Crockatt, a Grade 10 student, came in second with 24 per cent of the school ‘s vote.

Campaigning was no problem for Crockatt who said he's never nervous about meeting people.

"I'm just a funny guy," he said. "I want to show my self-confidence."

Crockatt said he did a lot of individual campaigning, asking fellow students to come up with reasons why they wouldn't vote Liberal.

"I got a really good message out," he said. "I even got some teachers to change their minds."

Crockatt promised more money for literacy, adult education, the arts and housing.

"The Liberal Party is a very socially-conscious party," Crockatt said.

Rachel Chenier of the Greens came in third with 23 per cent of the vote, followed by Conservative Party leader Ashley Elias with 13 per cent and Mathew Pederson of the Bloc Québécois with 11 per cent.

Chenier, who said Nunavut's Green candidate Peter Ittinuar and the party's environmental platform impressed her, wore a green shirt and green earrings as she delivered her speech to the final rally, which included a call for Canada to get out of Afghanistan.

The Conservatives' Elias said her party would provide more housing, more money for preschools, more jobs in education and higher pay for teachers, by cutting – not raising – taxes.

Were there any questions about how her government could cut taxes and spend more money? "No comment," said Elias, who admitted to being so nervous during the speech that she was shaking.

The Bloc took a Nunavut-twist on its nationalistic stance saying it would back Nunavut's separation from Canada and work to strengthen Inuit language and culture.

The Oct. 10 mock election was Kiilinik's third. In comparison to previous school campaigns, teacher Patti Bligh said more older students seemed to embrace the political process and assume roles of leadership in the parties.

But the school-wide campaign and election didn't just help students learn about politics, she said.

A teacher who had never cared much about politics also started to learn more the federal election and was ready to vote for real Oct. 14, along with several Kiilinik students who are already over 18.