Senate dropout? (update)

I have confirmed that Ethan Plato is no longer a candidate for the lone Social Sciences Senate seat.

It's official... let the slates begin

On January 30, via uOttawainfo.wordpress.com, Nicole Tishler felt compelled to release this statement through her campaign manager, Scott Bedard, regarding her independant, rule abiding campaign:

My campaign is in no way affiliated or in collusion with any other. I haven't received help from any other campaign, nor have I give any. Neither has anyone working with me, nor would they. I am completely against any sort of collusion or rule-breaking. Running a fair and honest campaign is the only way to increase student trust in their candidates and elected representatives, and to create a representative, inclusive Student Federation. I encourage all candidates to aspire to those ideals. I have friends on all sides of the political spectrum and on both so-called "slates". Regardless of their quote-unquote affiliations, I wish them all the best! Because the SFUO shouldn't be about political or social alignment, but about including, engaging and representing ALL students.

I couldn't agree more with you Nicole. Unfortunately, the Base lives on, political and social alignment scream out at anyone who looks at certain candidates' posters, and an inclusive, engaging and representative SFUO is simply a utopian ideal. If only more candidates thought like Miss Tishler does.

Let's just say that after barely 24 hours into this election campaign, I can already forsee a similar scenario to that that played out just over a year ago. The SAC must be holding it's breath, hoping to avoid another such occurrence.

The joys of student politics... sometimes I wonder why I continually involve myself in such a "shitshow"... Maybe I'm too optimistic to concede to the fact that "change" (yes, I said it) is realistically impossible. Or am I now being too pessimistic in saying that nothing has changed since I first arrived on this very campus? I suppose I should try to answer my own philosophical (it's 3:02 am) questions throughout the election campaign. Or maybe I should ask for RPG's input?

Senate dropout?

I've heard through the grapevine that Ethan Plato has withdrawn his candidacy for the lone Social Sciences' Senate seat... I'll try to confirm this in the AM, ASAP!

"Super dimanche" et les f****** "posters" envahissent notre campus

Voici les personnes qui ont eu le courage de se présenter aux élections 2010 pour « Faire une différence » et/ou « Devenir célèbre ». Il y en a même (peut-être) qui se présentent pour les bonnes raisons. En plus des sites web personnels, les groupes Facebooks sont aussi populaires.

 Gillian Lessard - Conseil d'administration de la FÉUO (Arts)

http://www.votegillian.wordpress.com/

Christine Moncrieff - Conseil d'administration de la FÉUO (Sciences sociales)

http://www.csmoncrieff.wordpress.com/

Iain Brannigan - Conseil d'administration de la FÉUO (Sciences sociales)

http://www.vote-brannigan.blogspot.com/

Osama Berrada - VP aux affaires universitaires

http://www.osamaberrada.ca/

Vicent Hardy - Conseil d'administration de la FÉUO (Sciences sociales)

http://www.vincenthardy.blogspot.com/

Sidney Loko - VP aux finances

Agbodjogbé Armel - Conseil d'administration de la FÉUO (Sciences sociales)

http://www.armelmesmin.blogspot.com/

Stephanie Marentette - VP aux affaires universitaires

http://www.stephaniemarentette.ca/

Paige Galette - VP Communications

http://www.votepaige.com/

Sarah-Jayne King - VP aux finances

http://www.sarahjayneking.ca/

Lynne Lessard - Sénat (Sciences sociales)

Tristan Dénommée - VP Communications

http://www.tristandenommee.com/

 Tyler Steeves - Président

Site web à venir...?

Nicole Tishler - VP aux affaires étudiantes

http://www.votenicole.ca/

Ted Horton - VP aux affaires universitaires

http://www.tedhorton.ca/

Amanda Iarusso - Conseil d'administration de la FÉUO (Sciences sociales)
http://www.amandaiarusso.ca/

Maureen Hasinoff - VP aux finances

http://www.votemaureen.ca/

Sébastien St-Amour - Président

http://www.sebastienst-amour.ca/

Amalia Savva - Président

http://www.amaliasavva.ca/

Amy Hammett - VP aux affaires étudiantes

http://www.voteamy.ca/

*****************************************

Autres candidates/candidats qui se présentent mais qui n'ont pas encore affiché des posters:

EXÉCUTIF DE LA FÉUO


Président
Bruno Gélinas-Faucher

******

CONSEIL D'ADMINISTRATION DE LA FÉUO

Sciences sociales

Peter Flynn

Matthias Brennan

Eric Eryou

Simon-Nicolas Grandmaître

Cliff Hansen

Matika Lauzon

Xavier Lemyre

Amanda Marochko

Rukiya Mohamed

Sameena Topan

******

Arts

Danika Brisson

Mel Large

Logan Ouellette

Robert Prazeres

Martin Schoots-McAlpine

******

Génie

Brandon Bay

Bassam Javed

******

SÉNAT DE L'UNIVERSITÉ D'OTTAWA

Génie
Andréa Bourdeau
Luc Lendrum
Mycke Mugisha

******

Sciences sociales
Maureen Hasinoff
Sarah Jayne King
Matika Lauzon

*****************************************

Candidates/candidats sans opposition (question de ballot: OUI ou NON)

EXÉCUTIF DE LA FÉUO

Alexandre Chaput - VP aux affaires sociales

******

CONSEIL D'ADMINISTRATION DE LA FÉUO

Droit (Common Law) (1 siège)

Hannah Draper

******

Droit (Civil) (1 siège)
Emilie Lemieux-Guénard

******

Gestion (3 sièges)

Eric Hampel
Andrei Huranchyk


******

Sciences (3 sièges)
Rosy Fournier
Chouaib Redouane

******

Sciences de la santé (3 sièges)
Julie Brezden
Adrian Herod
Hafsa Khan
******

SÉNAT DE L'UNIVERSITÉ D'OTTAWA

Arts
Martin Schoots-McAlpine

******

Droit
David Girard

******

Médicine
Andrew Boozary

******

Sciences
Chouaib Redouane

******

Sciences de la santé
Kyle Ryc

Oddly similar?

Is it just me, or do these posters look very similar? Hmmmm...?


I really hope this won't amount to "Slategate v 2.0"!

Oh, and by the way, that's Amanda Iarusso's poster that's somewhat cut out on the top, right hand corner of the picture! Just sayin'...

Apparently candidates aren't reading these blogs because my last post entitled "La tendance inquiétante continuera-t-elle?". I go back in time, about one year ago, and talk about the little "Slategate v 1.0" that hit this campus and summarise the SAC's decision. Wouldn't current candidates, who obviously followed that appeal process last year, want to avoid any sort of signs of "collaboration"?

La tendance inquiétante continuera-t-elle?

(© photo : http://www.homesalesofjax.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/down-market-graph1.jpg)

Est-ce possible de croire que la tendance inquiétante se continuera lors des élections de la FÉUO 2010? Le taux de participation a, lors des élections de la FÉUO de 2009, ont été tellement bas qu'il y en a eu qui ont questionné la légitimité de celles-ci. Comme j'ai mentionné dans ma première entrée sur ce blogue, avec un taux de participation de 27,2%, les dernières élections furent remplies de questions portant sur l'existence d'une « équipe » composée de candidats/candidates qui se présentaient pour divers postes au sein de l'exécutif de la FÉUO.

Après avoir porté plainte au Centre de recours étudiant (CRÉ), Renau Garneau a, avec l'aide quelques autres candidats/candidates, contesté les résultats des élections. La raison d'être de cette contestation? Quelques candidats/candidates (Seamus Wolfe, Roxanne Dubois, Julie Séguin, Jean Guillaume, etc.) avaient été accusés d'avoir formé une équipe (« slate»). L'appel s'est terminé avec un rapport concluant qu'il n'y avait eu aucune preuve significative pour suggérer que ces individus avaient travaillé ensemble.

La crédibilité de ce rapport a, encore une fois, été questionnée lors d'une rencontre du Conseil d'administration de la FÉUO lorsque Seamus Wolfe, le présent président de la FÉUO, a présenté une motion qui aurait justifié des équipes lors des campagnes électorales futures.

En terminant, il me semble important de poser quelques questions :

1) Est-ce possible d'augmenter le taux de participation cette année?
2) Est-ce que la nouvelle génération de candidats/candidates (seulement 2 candidats, Ted Horton et Alexandre Chaput, ayant de l'expérience antérieure au sein de l'exécutif de la FÉUO) aura un effet sur le taux de la participation?
3) Si le taux de participation ne s'améliore pas (27,2% lors des élections 2009), qu'est-ce qui doit être fait afin de réengager la population étudiante?

Why do campaign rules exist?

I was somewhat surprised when I received an invite to a Facebook group entitled "Plato for Senate - Plato pour le Sénat". For some reason, I thought the campaigning period only began on January 31 2010? Wouldn't this be against the "Article 7.9 Electoral campaign" of the "SFUO Elections 2010 Electoral Regulations" which clearly states:

The electoral campaign will begin at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 31, 2010, and will end when the last polling station closes on Thursday, February 11, 2010.

 Oh, and I guess it would probably go against "Article 19.2.5" which also clearly states:

In the case of “Facebook”, every candidate can have one “Facebook” group however, the Chief Electoral Officer must be an administrator of the said group.

Wonder if this group could "have a direct effect on the outcome of the elections", the explination that would constitute a "major penalty" according to the "SFUO Elections 2010 Electoral Regulations". Well, considering there are 80 people who have already joined this "campaign" group, I'd say this gives an unfair disadvantage to the other candidates running for the single Social Science Senate seat.

Haïti: swift Conservative response... but...

Although I am not at all a fan of Harper's Conservatives, nobody can refute their swift response to the catastrophe caused by the earthquake in Haïti. Thousands are feared dead under the rubble of collapsed buildings, thousands more are starving as they still haven't been reached by NGOs and, finally, thousands more lie in understaffed makeshift hospitals, scattered all over the country, suffering from serious injuries, some of which have had their limbs amputated.
Canada's response was in direct response to the Governor General Michäelle Jean's press conference, held one day after Haïti's devastating 7.0 earthquake, when she was brought to tears by the situation in her homeland. As always, Canadians have had an outpouring of sympathy, opening their wallets and donating to numerous charities such as the Canadian Red Cross, the Salvation Army and Doctors without Borders.

I'm quite pleased at the non-partisan cooperation that has come out of this crisis and what seems to be an almost flawless response by the Canadian government. The Conservatives have even taken the lead internationally by calling for a multilateral conference which will take place on Monday January 25th 2010 in Montreal and will include the participation of the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the Haitian President René Préval. That is obviously not the problem.

It's quite interesting that such a conference would coincide with the day that Parliament was SUPPOSED to begin sitting after the Christmas recess. Harper has been consistently silent ever since Ignatieff announced to the media that on that very day, Liberal MPs and Senators will be back to work on Monday January 25th 2010 and will be working hard for Canadians while the Conservatives "recalibrate" their "agenda".

So, how is it that all of a sudden, the Conservatives have time to be away from their "agenda recalibration" to focus on the Haïtian recovery? Let me be clear: I'm not criticizing the fact that Canada is playing a leading role because our country's international leadership has been seriously lacking. Our foreign policy has been in a constant decline and narrowly centered on the war in Afghanistan. To prove my point, Harper only recently visited China after a 4 year delay. By the way, Stephen, China is the world's new economic powerhouse! Mr Harper continues to insist that Canada must wait for the American version of a climate change plan before the Government of Canada will even consider touching this policy topic.

It's great that Canada has taken the lead on the humanitarian front to support the Haïtian population. What I'm saying is that it's quite hypocritical of the Conservatives to have SHUT DOWN PARLIAMENT supposedly to "recalibrate" their "agenda" yet all of a sudden they have time to host a high profile meeting which will inmate the discussion pertaining to the rebuilding process in Haïti. Might the Conservatives be trying to drown out the media attention the Liberals are scheduled to receive when they arrive back in the national capital to work on that same day.

Therefore, it can be said that seemingly "clean politics" will always have partisan connotations for the Harper Conservatives which is quite unfortunate. Although I'm happy with their response to the Haïtian crisis and the leadership shown on the international stage by the government, it's quite shameful to try and grab all the media spotlight away from the issue of prorogation and to play on Canadians' emotions to gain political capital especially when you claim to need all this extra time to "recalibrate" your "agenda". Where then would you all of a sudden find the time to host a conference that just so happens to be scheduled on the very same day YOU were supposed to get BACK TO WORK?