Weekly Round-Up: September 20

Each Friday, CIVIX provides a digest of the major events in Canadian politics. For ongoing updates, follow us on Twitter at @CIVIX_Canada.

Canada’s Democracy Week

The third annual Canada’s Democracy Week began on Monday and runs until September 23rd. Organized by Elections Canada, Democracy Week is a civic education initiative that promotes the importance of democratic involvement and voting. This year’s theme is “Connect with Democracy.”

We’re proud to be taking part. CIVIX President Taylor Gunn will be in Ottawa to take part in a discussion on civic education on Monday, and we have coordinated more than 20 Rep Day visits in schools across Canada during Democracy Week (with more taking place throughout the fall). Rep Day is a civic education initiative that allows high school students to connect with their elected representatives for a dialogue on current political issues.  

How can you get involved? There are a number of Democracy Week events taking place across Canada, and you can also enter the National Democracy Challenge for a chance to win prizes. You should also read Chief Electoral Officer Marc Mayrand’s column on how to get young Canadians voting.

The Nova Scotia election campaign continues

It was another busy week in the Nova Scotia provincial election campaign. The Green Party and Atlantica Party both released their platforms, and the NDP, Liberals and PC are busy preparing for Wednesday’s televised leaders’ debate.

Springtide Collective launched their VoteSmartNS website, which provides plain-language party platforms (a great resource for teachers), a “commitments catalogue,” a blog summarizing the latest campaign news, and other election information.

We’re still hard at work preparing for the Nova Scotia Student Vote program. 225 schools representing all 51 electoral districts have already registered, and there is still time to sign up! Global News published and broadcast some great coverage of the Student Vote at Gaetz Brook Junior High.

Adrian Dix steps down

BC Opposition Leader Adrian Dix announced this week that he will be stepping down as soon as a new leader can be selected. He will stay on as the MLA for Vancouver Kingsway, and plans to run again in 2017. Dix was elected as leader in 2011.

Despite a large lead in the polls, Dix and the NDP lost the May 2013 provincial election to Christy Clark’s Liberals. However, Dix won his seat – and a majority government – in the Student Vote parallel election.

Nunavut prepares for an election

Nunavut heads to the polls for a territorial election on October 28^th. The legislature assembly sat for the final time before the election this week, and several MLAs have begun to announce whether or not they will be running again. Current Premier Eva Aariak will be running again in Iqaluit East, but she will not be putting her name forward for premier.

The territory will soon have a new premier, and it also has named three new members to the Order of Nunavut. Louis Angalik Sr. of Arviat, Davidee Arnakak of Pangnirtung and Jimmy Akavak of Iqaluit were honoured at a ceremony at the legislative assembly this week. The Order of Nunavut was created in 2010.

Newfoundland and Labrador municipalities head to the polls

Newfoundland and Labrador voters will be electing their mayors, councillors and school trustees on Tuesday, September 24th. Visit your municipalities website for more information on how to “Make Your Mark.”

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