THUNDER BAY -- The library and study rooms at Confederation College were full at lunch on Monday and a constant river of students flowed past the event in the Student Lounge.
In the eye of that hurricane, federal election hopefuls engaged only about a dozen students in a question and answer session.
Monday's session was the second of four Pizza And Politics sessions, where the SUCCI student union facilitates face-to-face meetings with candidates, asking questions submitted online and in boxes around campus.
"I'm willing to try anything to inform voters, to try to get them to be engaged voters and to get the youth voting turnout up," said SUCCI president and event moderator Chris Cartwright.
"As we all know, it's a low percentage and I thought hosting the candidates would spur some interest on campus, maybe inspire some people to get more involved in federal politics."
Students working or socializing within earshot of the forum claimed they either didn't know the event was happening or felt studying was more important.
"I went for the pizza, then I left. It just doesn't really interest me," said Meagan Breukelman.
"No one ever goes to these things unless they're really entertaining," said Desirae Gilberns. "Nobody cares about politics unless it involves themselves."
Computer programming student Sasha Dorval volunteered to help with the event. He feels all political parties are focusing on aging demographics in their messaging. That leaves young people disconnected, even when politicians literally bring their message to students.
"A lot of the issues that are being talked about here do not directly relate to students and some of the issues that are being brought up by the students -- although some of them are covered well -- the politicians don't have direct views on them so they avoid going into the depth of why they make those decisions," he said.
"Obviously, there's a lot going on that Apstudents should care about. Whether they should or not, it's not interesting enough."
Two more sessions are planned over the coming weeks.
