Here's Aslam's story:
For the 19-year-old University of Western Ontario political-science student, this will be the first election in which she is legally eligible to vote and she said she was looking to inform herself in the best way possible.
"I thought a really cool way would be to go see each of (the leaders) speak," she said.
She got her first chance March 31, at a Liberal party rally in London, Ont., where she watched Michael Ignatieff speak and had her picture taken with the Liberal leader.
Monday night, she went to see Jack Layton at an NDP rally, and can be seen in a photo behind the leader as he shakes hands with the crowd.
Sunday was her chance to see Conservative party leader Stephen Harper make his stump speech.
Here's what she told Postmedia about her reaction to the experience:
"I'm a second-year political science student; this is the first federal election that I'm able to vote in; so I really just wanted to be informed on what was going on before I cast my ballot.
"I think it's really discouraging, especially for young voters, because we're always being told that we need to come out and vote and we need to start participating in political events.
"This is an attempt at me trying to get informed and I end up being kicked out," she said.
I mean, she's a polisci student! Getting to meet political leaders is like every polisci student's wet dream. I have a lot of friends who study polisci and you should see them at election time. They LOVE elections. They even watch the results come in at the bar. It's like a giant party of democracy and electoral politics. (At the American election in 2008 I even heard that they were doing red shots when a state went Republican and blue shots when a state went Democrat, but I'm highly skeptical as I don't think anyone could survive 50 shots no matter how colourful. But that's another story.)
Anyhow, there seem to be some apologies coming from the Conservative camp, although nothing yet from Harper.
Meanwhile, another young woman claims she was barred from entering a Conservative rally even though she was registered:
Joanna MacDonald, an environmental science student at the University of Guelph, said she pre-registered for the event online, as was required, giving her name, address and email address. When she showed up, she said she was not allowed in.
"'Your name has been flagged, so you're not allowed into this event,'" she said she was told by officials running the rally. One of the officials told her it was likely because of her affiliation with some environmental groups.
"I'm still upset and disappointed," MacDonald said in an interview with Postmedia News. "I mean, just because I feel passionately about issues on the environment and climate change, I don't think it's any reason to be denied to see the prime minister speak. To be barred from an event is really upsetting."
She found it unnerving to have had people looking into her background before she came.
"My rights have been just kind of pushed aside," said the 21-year-old.
MacDonald thinks she was targeted because she identifies as an environmental activist, although she has never been involved in disruptive actions.
All this is a bit unnerving. Are Conservative staffers background-checking everyone who signs up for their rallies, or are they focused on suspicious young people (who, everyone knows, don't care about politics but love to make trouble)?
I try to be nonpartisan on this blog, because I'm trying to encourage youth to vote for a candidate/party of their choice. But I find the Tory reaction to young people trying to learn about their party more than a bit disturbing.
For a more humourous take on the Tory Facebook creeping, here's the Liberals:
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