Millennials Descend on Canada's Parliament

If Laurin Liu could run the country, she'd fight to lower college costs. As a member of Canada's Parliament, that's what she plans to do. "Tuition should be accessible," says Liu, 20, who pays C$2,067.90 ($2,130) a year to attend Montreal's McGill University. Now she's putting her education on hold to make $157,731 a year as a rookie politician in Ottawa. She'll be joined by three fellow students from her campus political club, in addition to a McGill doctoral student, all of whom campaigned under the banner of Canada's New Democratic Party in May 2 elections. "To be honest, I agreed to run as a favor to the party," says Liu. "I didn't expect to win."

Much has been made of the comfortable majority Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper will enjoy when Canada's new Parliament convenes on June 2. Yet the election also produced big gains for the NDP, which captured 103 seats, up from 36. The result may be the youngest and most eccentric official opposition in the country's history. Along with the so-called McGill Five, voters elected an NDP slate that includes a 19-year-old political science student from another university and a bartender who spent part of the six-week campaign in Las Vegas. Some of the newbie politicians have barely set foot in the districts they represent. Liu, for one, spent most of her time stumping for another NDP candidate and only learned of her victory via a text message from a friend on election night.