The Green Party’s message seems to have resonated with the youth in the Kamloops-North Thompson riding, particularly at Clearwater Secondary School.
In a vote by students held the day before the recent provincial election, Green Party candidate Dan Hines netted 55 per cent of the 106 ballots cast at CSS.
Peter Milobar of the Liberals, who won the actual election, came second in the student vote with 26 per cent.
Third place in the student vote went to Barb Nederpel of the NDP with 13 per cent.
Communist Party candidate Peter Paul Kerek got eight per cent of the students’ ballots.
“I would attribute the Greens success at our school to the team of students who ran the campaign for their party; however, the results were very similar to those of the other schools in the riding, so there is more at play,” commented teacher Sylvain Menard.
At Barriere Secondary, Peter Milobar placed first with 36 per cent of the votes cast. Dan Hines came second with 33 per cent. Third place went to Barb Nederpel with 19 per cent. Peter Paul Kerek came fourth with 11 per cent.
Across the Kamloops-North Thompson riding, the vote in the participating schools was Dan Hines in first place with 38 per cent, Peter Milobar second with 28 per cent, Barb Nederpel third with 24 per cent, and Peter Paul Kerek with 10 per cent.
In the province-wide results, the student vote said the NDP would form government with 60 seats and 39 per cent of the vote. The Green Party formed the Official Opposition with 14 seats and 24 per cent of the vote, and the Liberals won 12 seats with 25 per cent of the vote. One independent candidate was elected.
About 1,092 schools reported their election results, representing all 87 electoral districts in the province. In total, 170,238 ballots were cast by student participants; this includes 163,923 valid votes and 6,315 rejected votes.
