In fact, if Canada's students were the only people allowed to vote during this year's election, there could be an entirely different prime minister.
More than 900,000 elementary, middle, and high school students participated in Student Vote Canada 2025, an initiative run by CIVIX to help young people get a taste of democracy.
Students cast their ballots after weeks of learning about the official party platforms, discussing the candidates, and flexing their political muscles.
In their fake election, students elected a Conservative minority government with 165 seats and 36.4% of the popular vote. The Liberal Party snagged the official opposition spot with 145 seats and 31.7% of the vote.
Meanwhile, the Bloc Québécois picked up 18 seats and 2.1% of the popular vote, the NDP secured 13 seats and 14.5% of the popular vote, and the Green Party managed to secure two seats and 7.5% of the popular vote.
Students elect Conservative Party government in nationwide vote.Student Vote Canada
It's a pretty different picture to the real election results.
As of early Tuesday morning, the Liberals were projected to win another term — although whether that'll be a minority or majority government remains unconfirmed. As of around 8 a.m., they had 168 expected seats and 43.5% of the popular vote.
The Conservatives will be the official opposition with 144 expected seats and 41.4% of the popular vote.
Meanwhile, the Bloc Québécois has gained more ground than the youth vote predicted, with 23 seats and 6.4% of the national vote. The NDP is struggling, with only 7 expected seats and 6.3% support, and the Greens are even further behind — projected to get just 1 seat and 1.2% of the vote.
While student voters kept Pierre Poilievre alive and kicking in his Ontario riding of Carleton, real-life projections suggest the Conservative leader will actually lose his seat.
In line with what's actually happened, students voted for Mark Carney in the riding of Nepean and for Yves-François Blanchet in the riding of Beloeil—Chambly.
In both scenarios, Jonathan Pedneault lost in the riding of Outremont, and Elizabeth May won in Saanich—Gulf Islands.
Unfortunately for Jagmeet Singh, both Canadian students and IRL voters cast their votes elsewhere, meaning his Burnaby South seat was lost in both realities.
However, students may not have been able to predict that Singh would subsequently step down as NDP leader, with the party failing to get the 12 seats (in real life, anyway) needed for official party status in the House of Commons.
Not only do this year's student results differ from the actual results, but they've also shifted since the last federal election.
In 2021, students handed the Liberals a win with 117 seats and 24% of the vote. The NDP came in close with 107 seats and actually led in the popular vote at 29%. The Conservatives followed with 91 seats and 25%, while the Bloc and Greens picked up 20 and 3 seats respectively.
In short, if the next generation of voters had the final say, Canada's political landscape would already look pretty different!
You can read more about the projected election results, Mark Carney's dramatic victory speech, and more, at MTL Blog's election hub.
