Student Presentation to City Transit Commission: U-Pass

Photo by Mico Mazza - © The Fulcrum

For those who are interested, I'm posting a link to the presentations made by the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO), the Carleton University Students' Association (CUSA), the Carleton Graduate Students' Association (GSA) and the Graduate Students' Association of the University of Ottawa (GSAÉD) to the City of Ottawa Transit Commission public meeting that took place on Wednesday, November 16 2011.

Part 1 (Student submissions begins at 42:22)

A recent uOLeaks post suggested that during this meeting, the Transit Commission was informed that the SFUO provided a cheque to the City of Ottawa at the beginning of Fall 2011 and that it was returned due to NON-SUFFICIENT FUNDS. Skip to 1:17.38 of Part 1 to listen to this interesting exchange. After claiming that she was not aware of the NSF cheque referred to in Councillor Desroches' question, Elizabeth Kessler admits that "I think there was a late cheque." Councillor Desroches then goes on to ask the City Treasurer who confirms that a cheque was in fact returned due to NSF. This is extremely embarrassing and absolutely unacceptable. It is thus not surprising that City Councillors couldn't be bothered to work with the student unions on this or any other issue.

Such grave mistakes should not be expected from an incumbent V.P. finance who should know very well how to manage the SFUO's bank accounts.

Also, I have provided links below to various documents referenced during the submission and also other pertinent documents:

Letter from Alain Mercier to Student Representatives U-Pass Program

Re: U-Pass Program Information Update and Outline of Next Steps - Letter to Alain Mercier

CUSA-SFUO Lobby Document - Evaluating the Costs and Benefits of the U-Pass Program

Reality Check: An Examination of the Factual Errors, Specious Reasoning, And Omissions in SFUO-CUSAs U-Pass Lobby Document

Budget 2012 - City of Ottawa - Transit Commission Draft Operating and Capital Budget

Response to Inquiry CC-20-11 - Desroches - U-Pass Oct 3 2011

The Fulcrum has also published an article in regards to the U-Pass.