On October 19, Canadian adults will vote in a federal (across-Canada) election. Their votes will help to decide who becomes the next Prime Minister.
There are four main people in the running; one of them is most likely to become the PM. Each of the four leads a “political party.” Each political party has a group of ideas or values that they believe in.
Stephen Harper is Canada’s current Prime Minister and has been in that position since 2006. He leads the Conservative Party. Justin Trudeau leads the Liberals, Tom Mulcair leads the NDP, or New Democratic Party and Elizabeth May leads the Green Party.
Justin Trudeau is the son of a famous Canadian. His father, Pierre Elliott Trudeau, was Prime Minister for 15 years (from April 1968 until June 1979 and again from March 1980 until June 1984).
Canadians 18 years or older can vote in the election but they don’t vote directly for the prime minister. They vote for local MPs (Members of Parliament). The party with the most MPs voted in, wins the election and that leader becomes the Prime Minister of Canada.
There are 23 registered political parties in Canada, including the Bloc Quebecois and the Forces et Democratie (Strength in Democracy) parties. There are even parties called the Rhinoceros Party and the Pirate Party of Canada (which has to do with the “sharing (or “pirating”) of digital information,” not the kind of pirates that are on boats).
The United States is also in the midst of an election campaign. Their election will be held November 8, 2016. Their system of voting and electing leaders is quite different from Canada’s. (See Related links).
Related links
There is more information about the Canadian party leaders in an article written by TKN’s Joyce Grant in the October edition of OWL Magazine.
You can find out more about the American voting system at congressforkids.net.
The Elections Canada website has detailed information about the 2015 election.
The Parliament of Canada website provides information about all of the current Members of Parliament.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
People under age 18 cannot vote in Canada. Do you think kids should be allowed to vote? Why or why not?
If you’re a kid and you cannot vote, how can you get involved in the election?
Reading Prompt: Extending Understanding
Each party takes a position on important issues, such as taxes, the economy, health care etc. In your opinion, what are other issues that are important to Canadians?
Junior
Extend understanding of texts by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Intermediate
Extend understanding of texts, including increasingly complex or difficult texts, by connecting the ideas in them to their own knowledge, experience, and insights, to other familiar texts, and to the world around them (OME, Reading: 1.6).
Language Feature: Parentheses
Parentheses ( ) are punctuation marks that allow you to insert additional information, explanations or clarification into a sentence without disrupting the flow. For example, in the following sentence, “On October 19, Canadian adults will vote in a federal (across-Canada) election” the journalist used parentheses to define the word ‘federal’.
This article uses parentheses multiple times. How does the use of parentheses change how you read and understand the article?
Now try to re-write the following paragraph from the article without using parentheses. Try to include all of the information in the paragraph in your new version. “There are 23 registered political parties in Canada, including the Bloc Quebecois and the Forces et Democratie (Strength in Democracy) parties. There are even parties called the Rhinoceros Party and the Pirate Party of Canada (which has to do with the “sharing (or “pirating”) of digital information,” not the kind of pirates that are on boats).”
