City of Toronto hosts 'Kids Vote' campaign during advance voting weekend

We're here at the Warden Hilltop Community Centre on the last day of advance voting, where the adults in the community aren't the only ones casting their ballots. Let's go inside. Congratulations! Thank you for voting! In a new initiative to get the next generation interested in elections, the city organized a Kids Vote campaign, taking place at early voting stations across Toronto. Much like a real voting process, kids are given a ballot. Five pre-candidates are in the running, each with their own campaign promises. The kids vote with a privacy screen and drop their ballots to be counted. The city says the idea is to make it feel as much like a real voting experience as possible, including teaching kids about how to choose a candidate that represents their interests. I was surprised how much information was involved on the candidates, the different tree candidates. The basswood offers shade, the paper birch grows big forests, the red oak has acorns, the maple has its syrup, and the white pine gives wildlife shelter. I think I like the maple trees because they have stuff inside the trees. I voted for the white pine. A few things that it cleans the air. It also helps animals all year round. This Toronto ecologist says it's a great way to get kids to care about their communities in more ways than one. At a high level, sometimes it's nice that kids can get into civic action in a way that's not overtly political. It's just kind of good for everybody and I think that's a really strong point of Trees and Nature is that it benefits everybody. And the vote will have real community impact. At least 1,000 saplings of the winning tree is set to be planted throughout the city once announced. Getting kids used to the process and having them feel like their vote matters for something or counts for something is cute. It started to show, even from a young age, what choice and civic service and things like that mean in a concept that they could really easily grasp, so it was really nice. I hope my tree wins. The 2027 Tree of the Year winner will be announced shortly after Election Day, October 26th. Mercedes Gastambide, CBC News, Toronto.