In the 2000 federal election, 25 per cent of young adults and 61 per cent of all Canadians exercised their right to vote. Today, different results are expected, as many groups have urged citizens to exercise their responsibility to vote over the last month while political leaders and area candidates have been out in full force trying to recruit support in what has been a very tight campaign since the Governor General dissolved Parliament on May 23.

To encourage students to cast their ballots, the McMaster Students Union (MSU) and the Graduate Students Association (GSA) sent postcards to 14,445 full-time undergraduate and graduate students who are both Canadian citizens and 18 years of age as of Election Day. To further intensify a voting blitz, the MSU launched www.macvotes.ca, an inaugural Web site dedicated to providing students with information on how, when, and where to vote, along with political party platforms with a post-secondary education focus, as well as questions and answers from the candidates running in McMaster's new federal riding of Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale (ADFW). It is expected that McMaster's provincial electoral district will be reconfigured to align itself with ADFW in the next provincial election given the legislation passed under the Harris government.

Federal government issues that are of particular interest to students across the country include tuition levels and the regulation and deregulation of said tuition, student financial aid, the development of a dedicated education transfer payment to provinces currently found within the Canada Social Transfer (CST), and bursaries and scholarships coordination with provinces. Other issues which raise student eyebrows include the environment, equal rights, and international studies.

In order to vote, one must be a Canadian citizen, 18 years of age, and a voter card from Elections Canada. In the event that one does not have a voter card, photo identification and a lease or bill that has one's name and address must be brought to the polls. Visit www.elections.ca/home.asp?textonly=false to find out where you vote in your electoral district, which in most areas, is open until 9:30 p.m.

In alphabetical order, the candidates in the Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale (ADFW) area are: Gordon Guyatt (NDP), David Januczkouski (Green Party), Russ Powers (Liberal) and David Sweet (Conservative).