In 2012, hundreds of thousands took to the streets to denounce a controversial policy and a government they were dissatisfied with. After 14 years of leading the Quebec Liberal Party, Jean Charest resigned.
In 2011, The Charbonneau Commission came to life, shedding light on alleged illegal awarding of municipal contracts in Montreal. Two mayors have since resigned due to allegations of corruption, and Montrealers are invited to the polls on Nov. 3 to initiate more change.
Voter turnout has reached record lows in recent years. In 2009, Gerald Tremblay was re-elected as mayor with only 39.4 per cent of Montrealers casting a ballot. However, as a result of the amount of attention that has been given to the scandals by the media,the city’s visibility has increased, so perhaps this time will be different.
Concordia Journalism professor, James Mclean, said that because candidates have used the corruption scandal as their central campaigning theme and due to increased media coverage of municipal affairs, the upcoming election voter turnout might be an anomaly.
“Usually what you get is political parties looking for a way of differentiating themselves from the other candidates, what we’re getting here is a great source of emotionality, this thick pride has been tarnished,” said Mclean.
“Having said that I’m not so sure how that’s being accepted and circulated among people who are 18 to 35.”
It’s been said that the younger generation is the most challenging to engage come election period. In the 2011 federal election, only 38.8 per cent of Canadians aged 18 to 24 cast a ballot, while 45.1 per cent of the 25 to 34 age group voted. Lack of interest in politics, lack of time, lack of information, and lack of confidence have been cited time and time again as justifications for the 18 to 35 age group to abstain from voting.
Mclean also said that because the municipal government collects most of its revenue through property taxes, and that people who are 18 to 35 for the most part don’t own property, it makes it so they don’t feel directly affected by municipal politics.
This may not be the right mentality for young eligible voters. Ever wonder why rent goes up every year? That’s because property taxes go up. Montreal’s commercial-to-residential ratio reached 4.40 per cent in 2013, compared to Vancouver at 4.35 per cent and Toronto at 4.07 per cent.
Alison Houle, an Anthropology major at Concordia University, said she hasn’t taken the time to look at the different candidates’ platforms since the beginning of the campaigns in September.
“I’m not optimistic about the ‘change’ that will happen when one of these candidates is elected,” she said.
“I feel as if temptation is too strong for those in office to do the right thing for the city, as opposed to the right thing for their pockets.”
That has been one of the biggest challenges of the current mayoral candidates: to gain voter confidence back. Whether or not they’ve succeeded in regaining public trust, and whether or not they deserve it has yet to be revealed.
The vast mobilization that occurred during the student movement demonstrated the power that younger generations have to shape change in the province of Quebec. Why not do the same at the municipal level?
Having the privilege to actually have influence over the city’s future shouldn’t be taken for granted. Everyone that is eligible should go out and vote. It’s important to take the time to get informed about the people who are competing to run our city. Political candidates need to appeal to the interests of young voters, but it’s also up to the younger demographic to mobilize over the issues that matter to them.
Those who choose not to vote shouldn’t be allowed to complain about the pitiful state of Montreal roads, the language issues, the costs of their parking tickets, and rent being high. There’s no guarantee things will improve with this new mayor, but we won’t know unless we try.
With the Concordia Student Union elections beginning Tuesday and running until March 28, the on-campus debates held at both campuses last week gave potential executives a last-minute platform to discuss relevant issues.
During the two events, topics like student apathy, improving communication with the student body and developing student space such as the Hive Café or the recently-rebranded student centre project were discussed.
Candidates fielded questions about their platforms as well as issues they hoped to address in the upcoming year, such as the perceived disconnect between students at the John Molson School of Business and the rest of Concordia.
The lack of any functioning CSU website all year was an issue addressed by presidential candidate Melissa Kate Wheeler, who said that a new website was needed for a number of reasons.
“There’s no clear place to go for any kind of specific question that any student might have and information is kind of scattered all over at the moment,” she said. “As well, there’s the fact that it doesn’t work. So yes, I think we will have to rebuild the website from the ground up. I think it’s needed not only on an IT level but also in terms of the logical flow and division of information which needs to be examined.”
The debates also gave the two VP finance candidates, Scott Carr, with CSYou and Pierre Tardivo, who is running independently, a chance to compare their ideas for issues like getting JMSB and engineering students involved with the CSU. Carr in particular spoke of his hopes of bridging the gap between JMSB students and the CSU.
“A lot of the times JSMB [students have] no respect for the CSU,” he said. “If they see an email from the CSU they’ll delete it right out of their inbox, it’s come to that point. When I was approached to run I discussed it with my peers and they said ‘Why in the world would you want to do that to yourself Scott?’”
Despite both coming from JMSB backgrounds, the two candidates had plenty to disagree about over the course of the two debates, with the subject of Reggie’s being the most contentious issue by far.
Carr claimed that Reggie’s problems began at the top with CUSACorp’s Board of Directors, saying that the students sitting on the board had no experience running a bar and no vision for the future due to the constant turnover. Tardivo expressed an interest in extending the mandates of directors to increase the board’s institutional memory and reduce the amount of information lost during turnover periods.
On the issue of increasing profit at Reggie’s, Tardivo expressed an interest in potentially serving food there, saying that in the past when it was tried, it proved very profitable for the bar, but Carr insisted that it was not a possibility as it would infringe on the exclusivity contract the school currently has with Chartwell’s to exclusively sell food on campus.
The debates also gave the potential executives a chance to discuss long-term goals beyond their mandates. Carr and Tardivo spoke about reducing Reggie’s debt and making it profitable, respectively, while James Vaccaro, the VP internal and clubs candidate discussed expanding sustainable food options on campus. Crystal Harrison, the candidate for VP Loyola, said that she hoped to put in motion the Hive Café and that it would continue to grow after her term was up.
“I actually hope that the Hive Café extends past my mandate because I want it to be a sustainable long-term investment that lasts for many years to come,” she said. “We’re going to lay down the framework and let it keep growing from there because I think it has so much potential.”
Melissa Kate Wheeler – Presidential candidate
Caroline Bourbonnière – VP external and mobilization candidate
James Vaccaro – VP internal and clubs candidate
Katrina Caruso – VP student life candidate
Crystal Harrison – VP Loyola candidate
Gene Morrow – VP academic and advocacy candidate
Benjamin Prunty – VP sustainability candidate
Scott Carr – VP finance candidate
Pierre Tardivo – VP finance candidate
The Concordia Greenhouse Project is reaching out to students by asking for the approval of a fee levy in hopes of securing a budget in the wake of potential closure.
The Greenhouse is asking that students approve a 12 cents per credit fee levy in a referendum this month to provide funding for a wealth of services and locally grown veggies on the 13th floor of the Hall building and several community gardens.
While the Greenhouse has been around for 50 years after the merge of Sir George Williams University and Loyola, the sciences eventually moved to Loyola Campus and abandoned the initiative. When plans were made to tear it down eight years ago students, faculty and Sustainable Concordia moved in and brought it back to life under an expansive rejuvenation project.
“In a really quick amount of time we started writing grants, we created more positions, we opened up all the rooms,” said Marcus Lobb, a co-ordinator of the City Farm School. “There are all kinds of different community projects that are taking up the different rooms and we do a huge ceiling production each year. There’s a lot to it, it’s really vast.”
The Concordia Greenhouse is now looking for permanent funding. In the last academic year its expenses totaled $90,846. If the fee levy is accepted it would raise approximately $75,000 during the 2013-2014 academic year. The rest of their funding would be found through grants for sustainability programs, private donations and fundraising initiatives.
Fee levies often provide programs and infrastructure to students; many students consider them to be an effective means to provide valuable opportunities, though not every student has a chance to benefit directly from the endeavor.
Those who may not want to pay for services in which they don’t personally have a stake in have options. Every year there is an opt out period providing ample opportunity to those students who may disagree.
“I feel that [the Greenhouse] is kept a little secretive and a lot of people . . . would be thinking ‘why am I paying two dollars towards this when I didn’t even know it existed,’” said Dillon Crosilla, a geography student at Concordia. “So I can see some hesitation from people there.”
During the last two years students across the anthropology, sociology, engineering, geology and economics departments have engaged in the Greenhouse’s offerings. The Concordia Greenhouse also supplies food to Cafe X, Frigo Vert and on-campus markets for healthy and inexpensive produce.
In order to oversee operations and ensure an ethical use of the students’ investment, the Greenhouse will be forming a Board of Directors that will comply with the Concordia Student Union’s standing regulations. An annual general meeting is also held every fall where students have the binding authority to approve or reject the proposed budget.
The vote will be held across March 27, 28 and 29, between 10:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.. A 50 per cent plus one majority of votes is needed to decide on the initiative. If passed, full-time students can expect a $3.24 yearly fee added to their tuition fees.
Similarly, Sustainable Concordia will also be holding a fee levy referendum in hopes of expanding student contribution to 15 cents per credit starting in fall 2013.
The Arts and Science Federation of Associations is holding a vote for positions in the 2013-14 academic year this week from March 6 to 8.
This year, there are only seven candidates vying for the seven positions available as ASFA executives — not a single candidate is running opposed. Here is The Concordian’s guide to ASFA’s candidates for the upcoming year.
Paul Jerajian – Presidential candidate
Experience
-Former VP external and sustainability of ASFA, 2011-12
-President of the mathematics and statistics students’ association
-John Molson School of Business councillor for the Concordia Student Union
-CSU events committee, Loyola committee, Sustainability Action Fund
Goals
“A lot of my presidential goals for ASFA include structural and procedural changes. A lot of ASFA’s operations are not clear and not recorded. Reports, FAQs and templates should be implemented as transition, and institutional memory have always been a big concern for associations in general at Concordia. There needs to be a focus on initiatives geared towards new demographics as the student population is very diverse and multicultural.”
Strengths and weaknesses
“My strengths include my experience, my determination and hard work. I will do whatever I can in my power to ensure the association thrives and continues to thrive for years future years. My biggest weakness is my stubbornness, though I have made it clear to myself and my future executive that ASFA is going to function as a team.”
Justin Occhionero – VP external and sustainability candidate
Justin Occhionero – VP external and sustainability candidate
Experience
-Independent councillor for ASFA, 2012-13
Goals
“I believe primarily, ASFA needs some structural changes. In regards to my position, this would mean re-working ASFA’s sustainability annex in order to improve ASFA’s commitment to organizing events that promote a culture of sustainability. Externally, ASFA should strive for open communication between itself and external student unions such as the CSU and the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec. It is important that ASFA and its members communicate with these entities and collaborate on initiatives together. The rights of Arts and Science students need to be properly represented at higher levels of student governance and this can only be achieved if ASFA, its members and the above mentioned entities communicate with each other efficiently.”
Strengths and weaknesses
“My biggest strength is probably my enthusiasm. I always tackle new challenges with the highest of hopes and I think this attitude is what has made it possible for me to achieve some of my greatest goals. As for weaknesses, I think that sometimes I can harp on one idea for too long, even if it has proven to be weak or unnecessary. Having said that, I think my year working within ASFA has taught me that this is not always the best approach.”
Sean Nolan – VP social candidate
Sean Nolan – VP social candidate
Experience
-Independent councillor for ASFA, 12-2013
-Organized, promoted and DJed for hometown events
Goals
“My ultimate goal for ASFA is to make the social experience more beneficial for our students. I plan to do so by improving our orientation week, increasing the amount of social outings hosted by the association, hosting ASFA sports tournaments to engage students in fun and stimulating activities, and establish a better connection with the rest of Concordia. I plan on having MA booths available to students on the first day [of orientation] in order to help them become better acquainted with their new school as a whole.”
Strengths and weaknesses
“In terms of my strengths, I am organized, prompt as well as extremely committed to anything I put my mind to. I also feel that I am very personable and easily approachable by anyone and therefore very easy to work with. My biggest weakness, however, would be my determination when it comes to completing projects.”
TingLi Lucia Lorigiano – VP academic and Loyola candidate
TingLi Lucia Lorigiano – VP academic and Loyola candidate
Experience
-Various initiatives at Vanier College including projects to renovate the library, tutor and organizing student study groups in math, biology and chemistry
– Active member in student governance during high school and CÉGEP
Goals
“I would like to be given the opportunity to equip Arts and Sciences students with the knowledge, skills, and tools to sculpt more defined career paths. As a student who has courses are at both campuses, I myself am a frequent shuttle bus rider and am aware of the discrepancy of student services and resources available at both campuses. I want to ensure the equalization of student services and resources, as well as working towards satisfying the student body. Lastly, as the only science student in this year’s elections, I would like to introduce more extensive science career shadowing opportunities.”
Strengths and weaknesses
“Well, I’ve always benefited from being able to help others, like tutoring, or being able help foster an environment to help motivate, or inspire, students academically. The cold hard truth is that I am an optimist: my biggest strength being my ability to fuel, to drive, to motivate, myself and others to reaching peak potential. As for my weakness, I sometimes forget to schedule time in for myself. I get so caught-up with getting things done that I forget to relax.”
Francis Boyer – VP internal candidate
Francis Boyer – VP internal candidate
Experience
– VP internal of students of history at Concordia 2012-13
– Active member of the ASFA academic committee, internal committee, departmental relations committee and ASFA talks committee.
Goals
“I intend to strengthen the bonds between Member Associations as well as the bond between said associations and ASFA. Also, as the executive responsible for all annexes and bylaws, it is my intention to accurately and efficiently inform the MAs of any questions they might have pertaining to said legal aspects. I also intend to review the annexes and bylaws to ensure that they are correct and do not require correction. It is also the responsibility of all ASFA executives to best represent my peers and I will do so regardless of my personal opinions of the topic at hand.”
Strengths and weaknesses
“As far as my strengths and weaknesses are concerned, I am a very organized and committed individual. Once I begin a task, it will receive my entire attention until it is finished and, while I have never missed a deadline, I sometimes dwell too long on the task at hand before moving onto the next to ensure that it is done properly. I also need to work on knowing my own limitations as I have taken on too many tasks at once and, while it always gets done, causes strain in my personal life.”
Anne-Sophie Grenier – VP finance candidate
Anne-Sophie Grenier – VP finance candidate
Experience
-VP finance of Communications guild, 2012-13
-Former treasurer of The Word
-Pursued commerce in CÉGEP
Goals
“My first goal in general is to bring student involvement up. There’s been a lot of crap with the CSU and everyone’s been disheartened. I want to clean up finances because some things just don’t get enough money. A lot of money is spent recklessly when it should be spent more toward individual student projects and academic initiatives and not just parties.”
Strengths and weaknesses
“My weakness is sometimes I come off a little too forceful and I work hard and get it done but sometimes I have to calm down. I think despite being forceful, I am very patient and understanding. I’ve worked in a lot of different environments like math and arts, that I know how to deal with different personalities.”
Stéphanie Gagnon – VP communications candidate
Stéphanie Gagnon – VP communications candidate
Experience
-VP communications of the mathematics and statistics students’ association, 2012-13
-VP social of the mathematics and statistics students’ association, 2011-12
Goals
“My goal for ASFA is making sure we use every resource available to reach out to students whether through newspapers, social media and more. We need to promote student events, student initiatives. We want every student in ASFA to feel there’s something for them. [I also] want to improve online services, so everything is documented, everything is organized and available online.”
Strengths and weaknesses
“I’m very organized, and I’m a person that will stay calm in any circumstances, and I may not always have the answer, but I always know where to look for it. I’m a little bit of a lunatic and sometimes I have my bubbles where I’m thinking of a million things at the same time.” All photos, except for Paul Jerijian (photo provided), by Marilla Steuter-Martin
Following the volatile year that was 2012, the new year is bound to bring some interesting issues to the table in terms of higher education in Quebec and at Concordia as well. Here are some events and associations which students should remember to keep an eye on.
The education summit in February
The education summit promised by the Parti Québécois is fast approaching, but no official date has yet been set for when the government will meet with universities and student organizations to discuss issues concerning higher education. It has been loosely set for mid-February, but no official date has been given in the four months since the PQ first took office. In pre-summit talks held last month at McGill, student leaders with the Fédération étudiante universitaire du Québec and university officials disagreed over which subjects were important to discuss at the summit or what solutions were viable. The Concordia Student Union’s findings from their own consultation are due to be submitted to the FEUQ in order for them to be presented at the summit.
ECA accreditation drive
A campaign seeking accreditation for Concordia University’s Engineering and Computer Science Association will begin Jan. 14, with voting carrying on between Jan. 28 and Feb. 15. The ECA must achieve at least a 25 per cent turn-out for the votes to earn them accreditation, meaning that approximately 900 students must come out and vote ‘yes’ in order for the association to earn accreditation. Not having accreditation places the ECA in a difficult position, as they have limited powers to represent their student body, and the university is not required to grant them funding stemming from fee levies if they so choose.
An open conversation on the budget
A series of sessions that will be held this month at Concordia welcomes the community to be apart of conversations regarding the significant cut to the university’s operating grant for this fiscal year from the provincial government. Lisa Ostiguy, interim provost, and Patrick Kelley, chief financial officer, will host a community session this Monday, Jan. 14. Following an issue from the government on Dec. 11, the university’s operating grant was slashed by $13.2 million for the last four months of this fiscal year. The sessions will be small but the university does want to encourage people to register and attend these sessions. Senate will also have an opportunity to discuss the issue in their meeting Jan. 18. Registration opens Jan. 9 and more details will come from Concordia this week in the NOW e-newsletter.
The Concordia Student Union’s new council
The Concordia Student Union will have a fuller council this semester however will lack representatives from the Fine Arts faculty. The the CSU held byelections at the end of last semester to fill spaces due to the amount of resignations and empty seats. Caroline Bourbonnière, Patrick Lefebvre, Benjamin Prunty, Hardial Rosner, James Vaccaro and Ashley Walling all were elected to represent Arts and Science on council. Anja Rajaonarivelo, Pierre Tardivo Martin and Eugene Gusman were elected to the vacant JMSB seats since there were four open spots during the byelections. There are more than 30,000 students in the undergraduate student body and only 465 Concordia undergraduate students cast their votes. Although the byelections did allow the council to grow, the seats for Fine Arts on council remained empty.
MONTREAL (CUP) – At 20-years-and-seven-months-old, Léo Bureau-Blouin is the youngest candidate running in this campaign to become a member of Quebec’s National Assembly.
Bureau-Blouin became a well-known face in Quebec over the course of his term as president of one of the province’s largest student organizations, the Fédération étudianté collégiale du Québec. After completing two presidential terms on June 1, he joined the ranks of sovereigntist provincial party, the Parti Québécois.
The FECQ is one of four student unions officially representing students throughout the now seven-month long general strike against the Liberal government’s scheduled increase of tuition fees. During his two-year run as president, Bureau-Blouin represented the interests of CÉGEP students in negotiations with government officials.
Bureau-Blouin says he was approached by the PQ in late June and decided to take the party up on their proposition to assist and support him in running as a PQ candidate in the riding Laval-des-Rapides, just north off the Island of Montreal.
He was reached by phone mere days before the election. The interview was conducted primarily in French.
CUP: There’s a stereotype that executives from the student federations often use their roles as student representatives as a launch pad for their political careers. How do you respond to this considering that you are a former FECQ executive who has now joined a major political party?
Bureau-Blouin: First of all, if all I had wanted from the start were to create a place in politics for myself, I would have achieved something completely different because it’s a lot of work and a lot of energy. That is to say it is extremely difficult [for others] to interpret someone’s intent for creating a career — [it could be] because they are passionate. We need to encourage youth to be involved in politics. People who talk of these stereotypes present it as if politics are a bad thing but in many ways [political processes] are very positive.
Concerning the number of youth in politics, 10 per cent of the electorate is youth but zero per cent are present in the National Assembly. So it’s time to take part and, as for me, I wish that more young people would run in the next elections because if we want to youth to get involved in politics, it takes young candidates.
CUP: So you have not attended university — do you feel you would make a statement of sorts if you were to become a member of the National Assembly without a university degree?
BB: Regardless, I wish to finish my studies — it’s absolutely necessary to obtain my degree however already in the National Assembly there are several elected members who do not have degrees. It’s not a novelty because in this society, it’s only 20 per cent of the population who obtained university degrees — so it’s normal in governments to have representatives without degrees. But, me, I see myself getting a degree in the long-term, just not right away.
CUP: As the former president of FECQ, you were a representative for CÉGEP students. Do you feel students support you now as an electoral candidate?
BB: Yes, but students, like society, are not one unit — there are people who feel differently, there are all kinds of people who are students — but, I think, yes. I think that the majority of students are happy with what I’m doing. The objective is to demonstrate that we can continue to build in different ways.
CUP: The PQ stance on tuition in the media has been to increase fees on par with inflation — do you think students will be content with this?
BB: What we said was that we will abolish the increase of tuition fees, we will abolish the Charest government’s special law [Law 12], and we spoke of holding financial and business consultations with universities. One of the propositions that were put on the table was to have tuition fees increase at the same rate as the cost of living.
For me, I defend the students’ cause, that is to say that tuition fees should not increase. But I am pragmatic and the objective is to engage with aim to finding a consensus in this discussion and I think what the students really want is not to have a drastic [tuition] increase like what we saw with the Liberals.
CUP: You and PQ leader Pauline Marois called for students to halt any strike actions because, according to your statements at the time, the student conflict plays into the Liberal Party’s strategy. Why did you feel this way and, considering the actions that occurred earlier this week at the Université de Montréal, do you feel the same now?
BB: First of all, the call we made was to end the strike for the duration of the election campaign because the Charest government profited from the student conflict to mask its track record for the last nine years. And the call worked as CÉGEP students decided to go back to class together with universities, with the exception of two faculties at the Université du Québec à Montréal and several modules at U de M — so we’re talking less than 2,000 students.
So why did we do it? Because the Charest government’s strategy is so simple: talk about the student conflict and avoid talking about corruption and collusion, avoid bad reports and shale gas, and the least successful events during their governance. And I think it’s important to not let those issues drop.
CUP: And finally concerning statements by Marois that some characterize as racist and xenophobic —notably the institution of French test for candidates running for public office — what is your view on these statements?
BB: There is already a test for immigrants to Quebec so there’s nothing revolutionary there. It’s already there; it’s just not a standardized test. We are just asking people to have command of French because for Canadian immigrants, you must have a good knowledge of French or English. In Great Britain, you cannot work in the country if you do not have a good knowledge of English — that’s how it works in most countries all over the world. How can you integrate someone into society if you cannot communicate with that person?
CUP: Do you see an irony between the two positions you are seen to represent; being against tuition hikes but for a French test that targets certain communities?
BB: I think it’s two separate things; tuition fee hikes because we think education should be affordable for everyone but, on the other side — [and] it’s two separate things — we think that we need to have a common language to be able to talk together. In Ontario and the rest of Canada, people speak English and understand themselves in one language. If the government can’t say something to the people, we have a big problem.
Right now, there’s a problem that is that more and more people don’t speak French at home in Quebec and for us it’s a huge concern.
For the moment there is already a French test to become a citizen of Quebec, but there is no real verification, there’s no real standardized test. What we want is to make sure people have a real understanding of French when they arrive here in Quebec.
I think it’s a matter of giving the immigrants all the chances they need to be integrated into the society and to emancipate themselves, because I think many people are arriving here in Quebec and they are really frustrated because they have difficulty integrating themselves. But maybe if we were giving people more tools to learn French and if we were saying to them at first, you need to speak French to come here, I think it would be easier for them to become part of the society.
Benoit Guérin from Option Nationale (left) and Liberal candidate Dave McMahon (right)
Benoit Guérin from Option Nationale (left) and Liberal candidate Dave McMahon (right). Photos by Eveline Caron.
With only a few days before the provincial election, student associations from Concordia University, McGill University and Dawson College hosted an electoral debate on Thursday Aug. 30.
Candidates running in the Westmount—St-Louis riding from the Liberal Party, the Parti Québécois, Québec Solidaire, the Parti vert du Québec, Coalition Avenir Québec, Option Nationale and the Marxist-Leninist party were invited to speak at Concordia’s John Molson School of Business.
Tuition
At the start of the debate, some candidates began to criticize the leadership of Pauline Marois of the Parti Québécois due to her shifting position regarding the tuition increase. Liberal candidate Dave McMahon argued that Marois lacked due conviction for her platform.
“Marois has had 16 different positions in only six months,” said McMahon.
Thierry St-Cyr, of the PQ, maintained that the party’s position has been clear from the start; to cancel the tuition fee increase and to abolish Law 12, also known as Bill 78.
Benoit Guérin from Option Nationale defended the free education approach by stating that higher education for the public leads to better jobs and therefore stimulates the economy.
“Education can fund itself,” Guérin explained.
Contrary to their fellow candidates, Johnny Kairouz for the Coalition Avenir Québec and McMahon both agreed the current rate is not enough and students need to contribute more money. Both said that they would facilitate access to student loans in order to ease the tuition swell.
Language
Tensions ran high during the second part of the debate when candidates addressed language issues in the province. McMahon asked why Jean-François Lisée, a high profile candidate for the PQ, said publically that he favours a francophone from France over a francophone from China. He followed-up by asking if St-Cyr would apply the same attitude to Quebec.
“We give points to everyone, it has nothing to do with xenophobia,” replied St-Cyr. “It is how we measure the level of integration of the person.”
During this language segment of the debate, the PQ’s intent to extend Bill 101 to CÉGEPs was criticized by most candidates with the exception of Mélissa Desjardins of Québec Solidaire.
“Having a choice [to choose the language of instruction] is an important part of our culture to preserve,” said Lisa Cahn of the Parti vert.
The Option Nationale candidate said he believes that Bill 101 should remain as is and is not in need of revisions or adjustments. McMahon concluded by emphasizing his party’s belief in “linguistic peace,” saying that the the French language is not in decline.
Many undecided voters attended the debate Thursday in an attempt to have their questions answered. One audience member was Matthew Kabwe, a Concordia student studying communications and human relations. Kabwe said he came to the debate to decide who to vote for but left unsure, and he is likely not the only one.
In coordination with the Occupy Canada movement and in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street in New York City, approximately 1,000 people showed up to Victoria Square for the first day of Occupy Montreal. Participants in the ‘general assembly’ then decided to rename Victoria Square as “Place du peuple.” Occupy Montreal lasted about a month before police forcibly vacated the square.
An estimated 30,000 students protested against the provincial government’s plan to raise tuition in the streets of downtown Montreal. Despite the downpour, a Concordia contingent left from Reggie’s terrace around 1 p.m. to meet up with other students at Parc Emilie-Gamelin. After marching through the downtown core, the movement gathered outside Premier Jean Charest’s office on McGill College. By the end of the protest, some students flocked to the James Administration building to take part in a growing confrontation. Police used tear gas and pepper spray to force protesters off McGill property. According to Montreal Police, four arrests were made that day.
A group of students occupied the office of Deputy Provost for Student Life and Learning, Morton Mendelson, in protest of the administration’s decision not to uphold a referendum that would continue funding the campus radio station and a social justice organization. Students requested that CKUT and QPIRG continue to receive funding and that Mendelson step down. Administration cut off access to power and plumbing, which eventually forced students out days later.
Student governors Cameron Monagle, AJ West and Erik Chevrier quickly put an end to a meeting that had not even entered open session. The three students walked out in protest because they opposed a motion made in closed session that addressed whether or not cameras and recording equipment would be allowied during meetings. When they left, the meeting lost quorum and was therefore cancelled.
Concordia University became the first English post-secondary institution to join the student strike against the tuition increase. In a historic moment, undergraduate students voted in favour of a week-long general strike from March 15-22.
Then-executive candidates Schubert Laforest and Lucia Gallardo were disqualified from running for the Concordia Student Union by Chief Electoral Officer Ismail Holoubi. Holoubi claimed that Gallardo and Laforest were not registered students and thus not eligible to run.
Education Minister Line Beauchamp slapped Concordia University with a $2-million fine for handing out excessive severance packages and mismanaging funds. In a letter addressed to the administration, Beauchamp expressed her concern about senior administrators’ salaries and the turnover rate for those positions.
The judicial board of the CSU ruled that Gallardo and Laforest should be able to participate in the general election campaign. Their affiliation presented evidence that they experienced trouble with their VISAs and were left temporarily unregistered. Both candidates were reinstated.
A massive demonstration of more than 200,000 students and their supporters took to the streets of downtown Montreal to protest against the tuition fee increase. Concordia University cancelled class on both campuses that day for security reasons. It marked one of the largest protests in Canadian history and no arrests were made.
When a Fine Arts Student Alliance general assembly failed to meet quorum, more than 70 students held a sit-in outside of President Frederick Lowy’s office on the 15th floor of the MB building. Students proceeded to demand another meeting so they could discuss concerns about the ongoing student strike. After an hour, Lowy emerged from his office to take part in the impromptu meeting which would be continued at a later date.
Following months of student unrest and protests against the tuition hike, Education Minister Line Beauchamp stepped down from her position and from politics entirely. Beauchamp’s resignation came after negotiations between the provincial government and student groups failed. An hour later, Michelle Courchesne was appointed as the new education minister.
In an effort to put an end to the tuition crisis after 14 weeks of student unrest, the provincial government passed the controversial and historic Bill 78. The bill cracks down on the size and governance of demonstrations, imposes strict fines for individuals blocking access to classes in post-secondary institutions and ended the winter semester at CEGEPs and universities affected by the strike.
A Concordia University student Jun Lin was remembered in a public funeral nearly two months after his brutal murder. Family and friends gathered at Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery at 9 a.m. to mourn the loss of 33-year-old Lin. His ashes were buried in Montreal, where he had started to make a life for himself. The suspect was apprehended and his trial is ongoing.
Concordia University’s incumbent President Alan Shepard took office on Aug. 1 to commence his five-year mandate. Shepard was hired to replace Frederick Lowy who was appointed as interim President following the resignation of Judith Woodsworth in Dec. 2010.
A retired Concordia University professor drew criticism for sending an email to his former students Thursday morning encouraging them to vote in the upcoming provincial election and emphasizing his personal inclination towards the Coalition Avenir Québec party.
In a message sent around 10:30 a.m. from his Concordia University email address, Dr. Jack Ornstein stressed his concerns about students voting on September 4. Furthermore, Ornstein wrote that he was “seriously thinking about voting for the CAQ” for several reasons.
“I have always held my nose and voted for the Liberals in Quebec provincial elections, as I am sure many other anglophones have done,” wrote Ornstein in the email. “But no longer.”
Ornstein listed his aversion to a sovereign Quebec and the current tuition freeze, his desire for “a strong and prosperous but socially responsible economy,” and his disdain for corruption as his reasons for potentially voting for the CAQ.
Ornstein maintained that he was not trying to sway students into voting for the CAQ specifically but merely to vote at all.
“I am not trying to influence any of you to vote for the CAQ, honestly,” Ornstein wrote. “But I am hoping you will all at least vote.”
Concordia undergraduate student Cleo Donnelly was one of several students who received the email from Ornstein. Donnelly had Ornstein as a professor for Biomedical Ethics last semester, an online philosophy elective taught by Ornstein offered through eConcordia.
“I thought that it was good that he encouraged students to vote for whomever, as long as they voted,” said Donnelly. “But at the same time he did sound a bit as if he was trying to sway us towards the CAQ.”
Although Donnelly was surprised by the email, she stated that she believes political discussions between students and professors are best done in person. She also took issue with Ornstein singling out the CAQ as his preferred political party.
“While I would love to discuss politics with teachers, there needs to be an opportunity for a rebuttal,” explained Donnelly. “Because now a bunch of people know nothing about politics save that one party.”
Kayla Butz, an accounting student at Concordia who also took Ornstein’s class, considered replying to the email.
“He claimed not to be influencing our votes but he was making his choice pretty clear,” said Butz.
Butz explained that she thought Ornstein was trying to persuade students to vote and explore other parties, rather than boycotting voting all together.
Concordia Student Union President Schubert Laforest said that he felt Ornstein’s message was sent through an inappropriate channel.
“The fact he’s encouraging students to vote is great because it’s time to put our ballots where our mouths are,” said Laforest. “However I do not think it’s necessarily appropriate to use this forum to propagate your personal, political views.”
“These are personal student emails,” continued Laforest. “I really question the ethics of doing it that way. It’s unethical, it’s bad practice.”
Jack Ornstein declined to be interviewed by The Concordian.
The judicial board of the Concordia Student Union unanimously voted to reinstate six formerly disqualified councillors elect following a public hearing on Monday, April 23.
The councillors were there to appeal the decision made by the CSU’s Chief Electoral Officer, Ismail Holoubi, which disqualified them for not filing their election expense reports on time.
The councillors present at the meeting were Rami Khoriaty, Charles Brenchley, Bella Giancotta and Ali Talhouni. Holoubi was absent from the hearing, as were formerly disqualified councillors Veryan Goodship and Johnny Alexandar.
Khoriaty insisted that the CEO was late to file the motion to disqualify the councillors and that communication between the councillors and Holoubi had been unclear.
“We didn’t have any receipts because we didn’t have any expenses,” said Khoriaty. “We had nothing to send to the CEO.”
After Holoubi disqualified the councillors on April 5 for failing to hand in their paperwork on time, the councillors requested to appeal his decision on April 11.
According to Khoriaty, some councillors did not receive emails from Holoubi regarding the expense reports, and those that did said each one was different.
“For seven people to make a mistake, it wasn’t us, it’s a mistake done by the CEO,” said Khoriaty.
Before the meeting was adjourned, councillors emphasized that they had all been acting in good faith.
“We did not commit electoral fraud,” said Brenchley.
Following the hearing, the board released a preliminary statement reversing the decision made by the CEO and reinstating all six councillors for the 2012 – 2013 academic year.
JB Chair Ceejay Desfosses resigned unexpectedly from her position the day before the hearing in an email sent to CSU Chair Nicolas Cuillerier.
Desfosses wrote that she would be unable to fulfill her obligations to the JB due to a lack of time since she will be “embarking on other endeavors.”
The Concordia Student Union’s campaign period for the upcoming elections began at 12:01 a.m. last night.
Historically, poster night, when candidates rush to put up their campaign posters on the walls of both campuses, has been a competitive tradition at Concordia, but this time around one of the affiliated teams decided to take another approach.
As of 9 p.m. Monday, Melanie Hotchkiss’ affiliation Concordia Could Be began tacking up posters throughout the Hall building, while Schubert Laforest’s affiliation, A Better Concordia, was nowhere to be found.
CEO Ismail Holoubi said that he had given each team notice of the 9 p.m. start and that it was simply a matter of one being ready and the other not.
Arts and Science Federation of Associations VP internal and presidential candidate Laforest, said in a phone interview that his goal was not to overload students with too much information all at once.
“We’re taking an incremental approach,” he said. “We were focusing on other aspects of the campaign.”
Laforest went on to say that he doesn’t see the team’s lack of poster exposure early in the campaign as a disadvantage.
“It just wasn’t the first priority in our mind,” said Laforest. “Students are intelligent, they will see the posters and they will decide for themselves.”
Laforest said that he could not give a definite time when posters would be up, but he assured The Concordian it would be done by Tuesday night.
Although current CSU councillor and other presidential candidate Hotchkiss was wondering where her opponents were, her focus remained on the campaign.
“There are so many opportunities of what Concordia could be,” said Hotchkiss. “We want to be the ones who make Concordia more accessible, representative, collaborative, sustainable, empowering and fun. I want to be the candidate who is there to support both my team and the students.”
The competition is not shaping out to be very fierce with 15 candidates running for the 14 Arts and Science council seats, one candidate running for student representative, three running for each of the three council seats available for Fine Arts and Engineering and Computer Science, and four candidates running for the six available seats for John Molson School of Business.
At an information meeting held on the evening of March 4, of the 42 candidates running, only three showed up.
The CEO and the deputy electoral officers decided to hold two debates, on Thursday, March 8 and on Thursday, March 15, that will see each candidate running for an executive position debate with his or her opponent.
The first debate will take place in the common area of the 7th floor of the Hall Bulding and the second one will be held at the The Hive at Loyola. Both debates will feature a Q&A session for students to ask questions directly to the candidates.
At Sunday’s information meeting, Holoubi also addressed the concern that some candidates could use their current offices to promote themselves or their affiliation during non-campaigning time.
“If I witness any violation or get any contestation, I will immediately ask candidates to step down from their current offices,” Holoubi said.
President
Melanie HotchkissSchubert Laforest VP Finance
Stephanie Beauregard Keny Toto VP Academic and Advocacy
Chuck Wilson Lucia Gallardo VP External Affairs
Cameron Monagle Simon-Pierre Lauzon VP Clubs and Internal Affairs
Museb Abu-Thuraia Nadine Atallah VP Student Life
Lina Saigol Alexis Suzuki VP Sustainability
Iain Meyer-Macaulay Andrew Roberts VP Loyola
Jonathan Braziller Stefan Faina
Following the announcement of new polling dates for the Arts and Science Federation of Associations’ elections, a special council meeting was called March 1 to ratify the change and discuss outstanding issues.
Elections have now been officially reset for March 5, 6 and 7. These dates conflict with article 136 of ASFA’s bylaws which state that polling dates are not supposed to overlap with Concordia Student Union elections, but due to extenuating circumstances, the executive chose to proceed anyway.
VP finance Laura Gomez reported that ASFA’s election was $2,000 over budget due to the unforeseen postponement of polling, which had originally been set for Feb. 15 to 17. ASFA President Alex Gordon explained that people who worked on polling days still have to be paid, despite the ballots being voided.
At its most recent meeting, ASFA’s financial committee decided that the $2,000 would come from their winter student fee levy.
“The expenses we’ll have are mainly the re-printing of ballots, the renting of computers and having to pay polling clerks twice,” said Gomez.
She explained that during the first round of polling, ASFA spent about $5,000. Gomez noted that this time there will only be one computer per polling station to reduce costs as opposed to the two that they had before.
Presidential candidate and councillor Charlie Brenchley questioned the executive during the special meeting about the establishment of polling stations in the Communications and Journalism building at Loyola.
Deputy electoral officer Anthony Garoufalis responded by asking, “Where is the CJ building?”
Gordon explained that although it was recommended by the 2010-2011 CEO Nick Cuillerier, it was “too late at this moment in time to set up a station there.”
There were also members who expressed reservations about candidates running in both ASFA and CSU elections. ASFA candidates are usually not allowed to campaign during the federation’s polling period, but this year it will overlap with the CSU campaign period, putting some hopefuls at a disadvantage compared to others. Candidates such as Brenchley, who is vying for a CSU council seat, would have had more exposure than those who are only running in the ASFA elections.
Gordon stated that there was no reliable way to track whether candidates were talking about ASFA elections while campaigning for the CSU, but he agreed some restrictions should be put in place.
“We can’t control CSU, but we can control what ASFA candidates do,” he said.
Brenchley motioned to restrict all candidates running in both elections to only put up their ASFA posters for the duration of the ASFA polling period.
VP internal Schubert Laforest offered an amendment to the motion that all ASFA candidates’ posters would be displayed at each of the polling stations in order to provide equal opportunity. The motion was approved by council.
Presidential candidate Caroline Bourboniere called the move a “blessing in disguise” and is hopeful that displaying all posters will encourage students to vote.
