The KSA Plans to Join Get Out the Vote Campaign

With the federal election just around the corner, the KSA is ready to help you cast your vote.

The Kwantlen Student Association is more than just a non-profit organization designed to assist you with your basic needs as a student. It is also committed to guiding you through the mysterious and confusing world of politics.

KSA President and Vice President of External Affairs David Piraquive speaks highly of the Get Out the Vote campaign and all it has to offer Kwantlen Students.

The Get Out and Vote campaign is actually a coalition of many student unions, created by the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA). CASA is a non-partisan, not-for-profit student organization which has a membership many student associations from throughout Canada. KPU is not a part of CASA. However, the KSA’s members saw the value of the Get Out the Vote campaign and decided to participate in it because they believe that student votes matter.

“[Students] sign the pledge, and we follow up with information about the election in hopes that they go out and vote,” says Piraquive.

The KSA will also be hosting voter-oriented activities before the election to give students the opportunity to learn about candidates from different parties.

Piraquive believes that the student vote matters “because, at the end of the day, politicians don’t listen to people who [don’t] vote.”

Piraquive is planning to set up meet and greets, like the one they hosted on Oct. 10 with local candidates in the hopes that they will provide information on what they will do specifically for students.

“It’s really important that politicians listen to us,” says Piraquive. “We’re the largest voting bloc in Canada. [Parties] can will elections just by focusing on us.”

According to CASA, the 2019 election will be the most competitive election in recent history. In the 2011 federal election, less than 40 per cent of eligible young voters actually cast their vote.

With the population of eligible young voters being 5.5 million, some believe they may have the potential to have our opinions and concerns represented in government.

If students at KPU have any concerns with the current student debt crisis arising in Canada, the instability of the job market many are preparing to enter, or the issues surrounding the rights of Indigenous people in Canada, Piraquive encourages them to “become lifetime voters and engage with the political process.”