CFS Official Intervenes in CSU

A senior official with Canada’s largest student lobby group has become involved in the dispute over the legitimacy of a petition to recall the CSU executive. Brent Farrington, deputy national chair for the Canadian federation of students and acting chair of the CSU council has asked the CSU’s judicial board to dismiss a complaint by petition organizer Patrice Blais seeking to overturn former council chair Jessica Nudo’s rejection of the petition.
In a 10-page response, filed with the board on Friday, Farrington asked them to reject the petition on the grounds that it did not comply with new CSU rules for petitions, introduced just days before it was filed.
Adding that the fact the rules were changed just a few days before the petition was filed is not relevant. ”
Farrington’s response also illuminates how exactly Nudo, who resigned shortly after, determined the majority of the signatures on the petition were not valid, a charge that Blais disputes. Farrington also argues that because the CSU’s electoral period, from the beginning of campaigning to the end of voting is 28 days, voting in a possible recall election would coincide with the beginning of the campaigning in the upcoming CSU general election.
But Blais disagrees. “Their argument is saying that if there’s a recall election it’s going to be too close to the general election,” he said. “Should we forgo the rights of 3,600 hundred members because students are probably too stupid to understand that there’s a difference between a recall election and an annual general election?”
Blais said he thinks the CSU is using delaying tactics. “The longer they can stay there, the longer they can justify being in office because if there’s any sort of election they know they will lose.”

Comments are closed.

Related Posts