Election 2015: students watch as red wave rolls across country

Over soft drinks and sushi, U of T political science students watched the election results roll in at U of T's Hart House. They had a rollicking good time. 

The decidedly-pro Liberal group watched CBC as the Grits steadily climbed toward a majority government. But they also got a kick out of watching a YouTube version of Last Week with John Oliver, during which the comedian deemed Canada's 78-day election “adorable” and called Prime Minister Stephen Harper “an alien disguised as a human.”

The laughing stopped when they turned back to the CBC, and a hushed South Dining Room heard Peter Mansbridge say Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau would be Canada’s next prime minister at 9:40 p.m. Other networks called the Liberal win at the same time.

Arjun Gandhi, a second-year political science student on the executive of U of T's Political Science Association, organized the event, during which he would occasionally call out the score of the Toronto Blue Jays playoff game. 

Gandhi, who voted Liberal in his Vaughan-Woodbridge riding, said the change in government is about “defining who we are as a country, both domestically and on the world stage.” Harper, Gandhi said, may have been good on the economy but “on social issues we were falling back, things like (the treatment of) aboriginal women and the Niqab issue.”

When the Liberals hit 100 seats one student raised her arms in the air, and when they reached the magic number for a majority government – 170 – students clapped as Mansbridge talked about the “red wave” sweeping the country. 

Downstairs at Hart House, in a more subdued Arbor Room, Aisha Cuadir watched the results with a certain sense of bemusement. She had never voted in a Canadian federal election before but, as a dual citizen, voted for Barack Obama for president in 2012, in Florida.

The third-year astronomy and physics student voted Liberal in the Rosedale-University riding. She said “Canadian politics are a lot calmer than American. There is less negativity here, not as much slandering of opponents. People stress the positives here.”

Sitting at her table was Eric Shore, who voted Liberal in his York Centre riding. “I personally believe voting should be mandatory,” he said.  “It’s that important.”

Like many other students who live off campus, Shore said he wouldn’t be staying late to watch the results. “I have a long commute up to Bathurst and Finch, so I need to get home,” he said.

Patrick Laberge sat with several engineering students who watched both the results and their laptops with equal fervor. Laberge said he voted by mail for a candidate in a Montreal riding, though he wouldn’t say for whom. But he said over the last four years the Canadian economy has been tied to the price of oil, which has hurt the Canadian dollar.

Another student, who didn’t want to give her name or say how she voted, simply said, “I’m here because I don’t have a TV at home.”