06 | 07 | 2018 VOLUME 23 | ISSUE 23
ROBIN’S BACK IN THE HOOD ON SAT. IN ELMIRA THE ARTS PAGE 21
COMMENT PAGE 8
OUR CYNICISM IS PART OF LOW VOTER TURNOUT
COUNCIL / WOOLWICH
Improvements to Snyder’s Flats Road, parking lot likely tied to plans for Bloomingdale subdivision
Democracy in practice Not yet of age, local students get an introduction to Ontario’s electoral system in mock vote this week FAISAL ALI WHILE ONTARIANS OF VOTING age were making their choices at polling stations, future voters were being introduced to the electoral process this week. The kids were casting their ballots through Student Vote, a parallel election that is being run in schools across the province. Participating classrooms, including Grade 5 students of Linwood Public School, as well as the civics students at EDSS, will be going through the entire process, and casting a ballot for their preferred candidate in their riding. EDSS also opened the polls to the rest of the school, with volunteers manning the polling stations to assist their peers. “As part of our Grade 5 social studies curriculum – which is government – we talk about rights and responsibilities and the levels of government, but we also talk about elections and voting,” explained Tanya Clarke, a Grade 5 teacher at Linwood PS who, along with fellow teacher Laura Lim, helped prepare the students. “Student Vote is a way to actually make it real [for students]. We get ballots that have the candidates for our riding on it. We have voting screens and ballot boxes and the kids learn about all the roles on election day, and we hold a vote.” For the EDSS students, many of them on the cusp of the legal voting age, taking part
STEVE KANNON IF IT’S ALL OR nothing, then nothing may be the best bet when it comes to paving a portion of Snyder’s Flats Road in Bloomingdale – at least for now – as Woolwich council ponders the priorities. A decision has been put off until at least June 19. In response to Coun. Larry Shantz’s regular requests to pave the parking lot at the Bloomingdale Community Centre, engineering staff has suggested doing that as part of a $1.3-million upgrade to a 400-metre stretch of the roadway running off of Sawmill Road. The upgrades have been on the books as part of a long-discussed subdivision planned for a site across from the community park. The proposal, which would see the township pay most of the costs up front before eventually recouping some from the developer, met with mixed reviews from councillors meeting last week. The hesitation increased when staff noted that advancing the Bloomingdale project would mean postponing plans for improving High and George streets in Elmira. BLOOMINGDALE | 6
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EDSS and Linwood PS were two of the schools in the riding participating in Student Vote. Top is Grade 5 student Blake Frede, who was manning the voting booth at Linwood PS on Monday. Bottom left, Ruby Rose hands a fellow Linwood student her ballot. EDSS opened up voting to the entire school on Tuesday (bottom right). [FAISAL ALI / THE OBSERVER]
STUDENT VOTE | 6
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