Students in Bruce Madore's Grade 9 social studies class are organizing an all-candidates forum to be held on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the TransCanada Theatre.
The forum dovetails well with the students' curriculum of learning about the federal political parties and the ideologies they represent, Madore said, noting that both Olds-Didsbury-Three Hills MLA Richard Marz and Wild Rose MP Blake Richards talked to the students earlier this semester about their duties as political representatives.
“The whole idea of meeting their representatives face to face (is good). What we've been trying to do is get the kids involved … in the democratic process,” he said.
Madore said the election gives the students an excellent opportunity to learn about how the political process works.
Madore contacted all the candidates to make sure they would be attending the forum, and the students have taken it from there, organizing all of the details.
The plan is similar to what Jana Kemmere did with her students in 2008, Madore said.
Quade Smith, one of the students in the class, said all the students have worked well to put everything together for the forum. He said the group has learned how to organize a large-scale event and take politics down to the local level.
“It's been quite a workload but it's lots of fun,” he said.
Maria Pettyjohn said the students have been learning the differences between the various parties so the students could formulate good questions for the candidates.
“It's taught me a lot more about politics. Now I understand more about the different parties and the way you pick someone to vote for. You should always match it with what you believe and if your ideology connects with their ideology,” she said.
The public is asked to bring an item for the Mountain View Food Bank to the forum.
"The whole idea of meeting their representatives face to face (is good). What we've been trying to do is get the kids involved ... in the democratic process." Bruce Madore, Grade 9 social studies teacher, OHS
