[1]With just seven weeks left until the Ontario election, Damian Sommer [2], a student at George Brown College [3], has developed a video game [4] where the player must dodge obstacles like tuition fees, debt and apathy to tackle a ballot box. The game is part of the Canadian Federation of Students [5] – Ontario [6] ‘Take It Over [7]‘ campaign and can be played online [4].
“Drawing on the skills of our members, this game was designed to be a fun way to engage Ontarians about voting on October 6,” said Cindy Brownlee, Director of Education and Equity for the Student Association of George Brown College. “George Brown students, like students across Ontario, are struggling to pay high tuition fees and high levels of debt, so it’s important for us to encourage students to vote.”
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“As students face another year of a five per cent tuition fee increase, we decided to offer them some relief from the stress that growing student debt causes through this game,” said Sandy Hudson. “The ‘Take It Over’ campaign has several components that are interactive and we hope that Ontarians will take the chance to tackle the ballot box through our game, and then vote in the fall.”
The Nintendo-style game launched this morning as a browser game and will be available as a mobile app in the next few weeks. To date, students have released seven videos, held actions across Ontario and talked to hundreds of students about the importance of voting and the promises being made by the political parties to reduce the costs of college and university education.
The Canadian Federation of Students – Ontario [6] unites more than 300,000 college and university undergraduate and graduate students studying at post-secondary institutions in all regions the province.