Vol100Iss36

March 7, 2011 mcgilldaily.com

McGill THE

DAILY Not born but becoming for 100 years.

Published by The Daily Publications Society, a student society of McGill University.

N TIO DE EC SI EL IN MU UT SS LLO PU

Volume 100, Issue 36

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News

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

3

Midnight Kitchen opens student lounge Food collective expanding operations ahead of fee increase referendum Adrian Turcato

The McGill Daily

T

he Midnight Kitchen (MK), in cooperation with SSMU clubs and services, has opened a student lounge area in Shatner’s room 302. The lounge will be open weekdays from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m., except on Fridays. MK currently serves out of the room Monday to Thursday.

The decision by MK to expand their services to the supervision of a student space was introduced in conjunction with their upcoming fee increase referendum. MK is proposing to increase their levy by $1 per semester, amounting to $4.50 per year.

Student levies are required to be renewed via student referendums every three years. Carol Fraser, MK’s volunteer coordinator and a candidate for SSMU VP Clubs and Services, said, “We are

always just operating within budget, but we have all these ideas to expand.”

Besides investing in the lounge space, Fraser said the fee increase will contribute significantly to improving serving capacity, which is “mostly what we are interested in doing with the money.”

Another member of the collective, Alex Briggs, spoke to working with SSMU on the project.

“Hopefully [302] will be a more permanent space next year. That requires working out with SSMU,” he said. Both Fraser and Briggs stated their desire for 302 to fall further under the jurisdiction of MK, and to show that student initiatives can work and that they, according to Fraser, “provide a better alternative for students.”

SSMU’s position is that space in the Shatner building needs to remain as multi-purpose as possible. Anushay Khan, SSMU VP Clubs and Services, noted, “There is an

“We are always just operating within budget, but we have all these ideas to expand. ” Carol Fraser MK’s volunteer coordinator increasing lack of space [on campus] as a whole.” She added that campus space is either being taken up by the administration’s needs or is being cut into by increasing enrolment.

“As a building manager for the Shatner building I am always faced with the issues of student space,” said Khan. “Whether it is services wanting more space or clubs wanting more space, space is an issue because this is the only building on campus where we can really have our say and allocate it to our maximum ability.”

“It is really about the MK working with other groups,” Fraser said, “We still want it to be used by everybody else, in the spirit of multi-purposeness.”

Briggs stated that the closure of the Architecture Café in September has created a need for a new student space.

According to Fraser, the objective is to have a real cafe space offering an alternative model, where students can go without having to buy anything.

“This anti-capitalist idea [is] in line with what the MK is already – a

space that doesn’t exist on campus that is for students to hang out,” she explained.

MK’s popularity with the student body, and their fee levy – which is independent of SSMU fees – have been helpful in moving the project forward.

“We have bargaining power,” Briggs said. “As the administration ramps up their pressure and pushes students’ rights out of the University, I think it is important that students organize around the institutions that we have left and do have control over – such as the kitchen.”

Some other ideas brought forward for MK’s operations expansion include the possibility of a breakfast service and permanent tables for student bake sales.

Briggs also mentioned ideas of purchasing a sound system for music, poetry readings or shows, or the possibility of buying a projector for film screenings.

Federal anti-smuggling bill cracks down on asylum seekers Legislation faces criticism for denying refugees rights and protections Humera Jabir

The McGill Daily

M

ore than eighty human rights and civil society groups across Canada have come out in force against an anti-smuggling bill proposed by the federal government, calling for the legislation to be defeated in an upcoming session of Parliament.

The bill received its first reading in the House of Commons last week.

The Canadian Council for Refugees (CCR), a non-profit umbrella organization that has taken a lead in opposing the bill, has said that the legislation does not target smugglers, but rather the vast number of asylum-seekers who arrive in Canada with their aid.

Bill C-49 would make participation in “human trafficking events” a criminal offense. Individuals arriving in Canada by irregular means could be detained for up to one year without review, and denied permanent residency status for up to five years, even if recognized as a refugee by Canadian officials.

Individuals would also be denied the right of appeal if their refugee claim were rejected.

Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews introduced the bill to the public in October last year, while standing in front of the Ocean Lady, a rusty freighter carrying hundreds of Sri Lankan asylum-seekers that docked in Vancouver last August. The migrants were held in a Vancouver jail for several months before being released and permitted to file refugee claims.

Jessica McDonald, media spokesperson for the Ministry of Public Safety told The Daily in an email that the bill “reduces the attraction of coming to Canada by way of an illegal human smuggling operation,” and would send a clear message to smugglers that “Canada will not tolerate your criminal activities.”

Liberal MP Justin Trudeau criticized the logic of Bill C-49 as a deterrent to smuggling, and accused the federal government of increasing the barriers facing legitimate refugees. “[This bill] doesn’t fulfill any practical purpose of cracking down on illegal smuggling. It only aims to make the Conservatives look tough on crime, and anyone against this piece of crap legislation appears soft on human smuggling, which we are not,” said Trudeau.

“We have a process for refugees; they are evaluated by the IRB [Immigration and Refugee Board], and it is established whether they are legitimate…and anyone who is simply trying to immigrate to Canada for economic reasons gets sent back,” he added.

CCR Executive Rick Goldman viewed the bill as a direct attempt to crack down on the individuals seeking asylum in Canada.

“It is impossible for many people from refugee producing countries to get here through a legal method.

So the vast majority have to use illegal methods at some point,” said Goldman.

“This is accepted by the U.N. High Commission as normal, and not normally held against refugees.

So the government is really attacking something that is an accepted reality; that refugees need to have recourse to false documents in order to get to somewhere far from their country of origin,” he added.

According to Goldman, the proposed legislation is also a clear contravention of the U.N. Refugee Convention, which prohibits states from imposing penalties on the illegal entry of refugees facing a wellfounded fear of persecution.

“The good refugees are those who wait 15 to 20 years in a camp, with only the hope that maybe one day they will be resettled. ... But we also have an obligation towards the ones who come here. They are entitled to rights. They get to stay if they are real refugees, and that is our obligation under international law,” added Goldman.

More than 12,000 refugees were welcomed to Canada last year. As of December 31, however, 51,000 refugees claims remain pending before the IRB of Canada.

McDonald also stated that while Canada remained committed to providing a safe haven for legitimate refugees, the federal government would cut down on the abuse of the immigration system.

“Every sovereign country has a responsibility to protect its borders,” wrote McDonald. “Bill C-49 sends the message that it is unfair to those seeking to come to Canada through legitimate, legal means when others pay human smugglers to jump our immigration queue.”

However, according to Trudeau, effective legislation on this issue would target migrant transit coun-

“It is impossible for many people from refugee producing countries to get here through a legal method. So the vast majority have to use illegal methods at some point.”

Rick Goldman CCR Executive

tries, such as Thailand, and working with these states to increase their refugee acceptance rates and to crack down on trafficking companies, as well as with source countries to help move individuals facing threats of death and torture.

Goldman expressed dismay at the federal government’s characterization of asylum-seekers as “queue jumpers.”

“There is no queue for refugees.

There is a queue for people who want to come here as skilled workers, but there is absolutely no queue for refugees,” he said.

Trudeau points out that this rhetoric was to rally electoral support among first-generation Canadians and immigrants by equating refugees to economic migrants.

“This is probably one of the most insidious elements of how they [the federal government] have decided to spin this bill. It is meant

to make first-generation Canadians and immigrants turn against this bill [by saying] that a refugee is the same as an immigrant, and while new arrivals have to wait five or ten years to come to Canada, these new arrivals are jumping the queue,” added Trudeau.

Goldman also believed that the legislation is an attempt to shore up Conservative support in the run up to any future election. He drew attention to the fact that the federal government has continued to promote the legislation despite the fact that all three opposition parties have heavily criticized it.

“It’s dead in the water as a serious piece of legislation, so why continue to talk about it? They are still having press conferences, and photo ops, so it is really for electoral purposes,” added Goldman. “They continue to whip up anti-refugee hysteria in order to win election votes.”

4 News

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

EUS calls for CFES reform

PGSS VP External resigns

Open letter accuses federation of mismanagement and questions leadership Nick Kandel

News Writer

T

he Engineering Undergraduate Society of McGill (EUS), along with the Engineering Societies of Queen’s University and the University of Toronto, co-signed an open letter on February 18 accusing the Canadian Federation of Engineering Students (CFES) of poor management and calling for imminent reform.

CFES represents 60,000 engineering students across Canada and offers services such as an annual congress focused on leadership development, a national student magazine, technical skill competitions and complementary education courses.

The letter points to the decision to hold the 2012 CFES Congress in the Yukon as a chief example of poor management.

“The cost of sending delegates to such a remote location will make the conference unaffordable for some schools...the executive made no effort to steer the organization away from such a careless action,” reads the letter.

Leading the complaint against CFES is EUS President Daniel Keresteci, who initiated the letter to CFES and contacted Queen’s and U of T after the 2011 CFES Congress.

The choice to hold the 2012

CFES Congress in the Yukon was headed by the “bloc” of ten schools in the Western Engineering Student Societies’ Team (WESST), including student representatives from all the accredited Western Canadian engineering schools.

The different WESST member schools under the umbrella of the made up University of Yukon will hold the congress cooperatively. This is the first time the congress will be hosted by a group of schools as opposed to just one, and the first time it will be held in Northern Canada. “[This congress will] allow for cooperation between the different WESST member schools,” states the congress website.

According to Kevin Siu, president of the University of Toronto Engineering Society, the WESST’s decision will alienate universities with smaller budgets.

“Taking delegates to the Yukon for next year’s scheduled conference at a premium is counter-productive…the imaginary ‘University of Yukon’ joke was way past the point of being humorous,” he said.

Keresteci agreed, noting that the event in the Yukon is far too costly. “It is a waste of people’s money,” he said.

The CFES, however, maintains that the resolution to hold the congress in the Yukon was decided democratically by the members of the body, and therefore was in no

Exec hopes to reverse his decision

position to reject the decision.

“They questioned our leadership in allowing the selection of Yukon to host CFES Congress, but this decision rests squarely in the hands of the members,” wrote CFES President Rob Stalker, in an email to The Daily. “The members voted in favour of Yukon.”

The letter also charges the CFES with failing to properly lobby the National Council of Deans of Engineering and Applied Science (NCDEAS). The letter states that the CFES has unique access to the NCDEAS, which it should use on behalf of engineering students across Canada.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the CFES denied that they are the only body with access to the NCDEAS. “While we certainly have regular contact with these groups, we by no means run a monopoly on their time or lines of communication,” reads the statement. The CFES added that lobbying is currently out of its mandate.

All three universities agree that major changes must be made in the CFES if they are to remain in the organization. Both Keresteci and Sui believe that the CFES is long overdue for reforms. “[At] no time in my memory was the CFES a successful organization,” said Keresteci, “It’s reached a watershed moment, and we must act now.”

Henry Gass

The McGill Daily

P

ost Graduate Students’ Society VP External Ryan Hughes resigned this past Friday due to “ethical issues” that surfaced in a recent executive committee meeting.

Hughes stated that legal obligations restrict him from disclosing information pertaining to his resignation.

“The reason is I have ethical issues,” he said. “The disclosure of my resignation wouldn’t be…good for the PGSS. My resignation…still stands, but I can’t go beyond that point” Hughes said he had told other PGSS executives that he was considering resignation, but officially resigned Friday.

“I had a conversation with the President [Alexandra Bishop] and I had a conversation with some of the staff at the PGSS, and I just made the decision that I don’t want to continue on with it,” said Hughes.

“Basically now it’s just extricating myself from the PGSS,” he added.

Bishop said Hughes was resigning because he didn’t agree with one of the motions passed at the PGSS Executive Committee meeting yesterday. She added that the executive is reconsidering the motion because they feel they did not have enough information at the time to make an

informed decision on the issue.

According to Bishop the decision to reconsider was not related to Hughes decision.

“We are currently reconsidering it, I don’t know what effect that will have on Ryan’s position,” she said.

“I’m hoping that because we are reconsidering this motion, and taking it very seriously, that we can work things out, because I’d rather have a strong executive the rest of the year, but obviously his faith has been damaged. There’s not much that can be done,” she continued.

One PGSS executive has already resigned this year. There has been an executive resignation every year for the past four years.

PGSS VP Finance and Daily columnist Adrian Kaats said Hughes’ resignation could be more tied to burn-out than opposition to the executive committee motion.

“He said he had a problem with the motion that we passed. We undid the motion, but he is maintaining that he doesn’t want to finish his term,” said Kaats.

“So far he doesn’t seem to be changing his mind,” he continued.

“He’s sticking to his guns, which indicates to a lot of us that it really doesn’t have much to do with the motion per say. It’s more just that he’s exhausted.”

“I do hope we will have open communication and resolve the issue,” she said.

Annual General Meeting The Annual General Meeting of the Daily Publications Society (DPS), publisher of The McGill Daily and Le Délit, will take place on

Tuesday, March 22 in Leacock 232 at 6pm.

Members of the DPS are cordially invited.

The presence of candidates to the Board of Directors is mandatory.

For more information, please contact

chair@dailypublications.org

News

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

5

Journal de Montréal lockout ends Rue Frontenac allowed to continue publishing under final agreement

Victor Tangermann | The McGill Daily

Rue Frontenac began in January 2009 and began distributing hard copies in November 2010.

Emily Meikle

The McGill Daily

“W

e lost everything,” said Pascal Filotto, the Secretary General of the Syndicat des travailleurs de l’information du Journal de Montréal (STIJM) and former journalist with the Journal de Montréal.

His sentiment is shared by many of the workers affected by the lockout at the Journal de Montréal.

The two year strike finally came to a close last Saturday, when the 253 locked out employees voted 64.1 per cent in favour of the latest deal proposed by Quebecor Media Inc., the corporation that owns the Journal.

The lockout began January 24, 2009, making it the longest media labour dispute in Canadian history.

Many have blamed the length of the conflict on Quebec’s anti-strikebreaker law.

The conditions of the negotiations state that 62 jobs will be restored, 42 of which will be in the newsroom. Those whose jobs are not restored will receive a severance package worth a collective total of $20 million. It is expected that the final details of the back-towork policy will take several weeks to sort out.

In the final stages of negotiation, Quebecor agreed to withdraw a demand prohibiting employees from working for competing publications for six months following the closure of the deal. A demand for the discontinuation of Rue Frontenac, the newspaper started by the locked-out journalists, was also withdrawn.

Many union members, like Filotto,

remain unimpressed with the negotiation process. Further anger was sparked when news that the deal had been accepted appeared on Twitter before it was officially announced to union members.

“I think it’s a horrible deal,” said Filotto. “I voted against it. I’m really sorry we had to cave like this at the end. I thought we were finally putting a dent in Quebecor’s resolve and I thought there were still things we could do before we gave up. But I also understand the despair and how hard it was for a lot of people.”

Filotto spoke to the variety of people who were involved in the lockout besides reporters. “A lot of these people were close to retirement, so they were never going back to the Journal. They supported us because there were some principals involved.” He added, “It was a lot to ask of people close to retirement to postpone it to protect certain things that we thought we needed to protect.”

Filotto continued by saying he “respected the decision” of those who voted for the deal.

“I can understand both sides,” said Rue Frontenac coordinator, Jean-François Codère. “We’ve been fighting for a long time and we’re tired.”

Others such as André Forté, an adviser at the Confédération des syndicats nationaux (CSN), the parent union of STIJM, feel that while the settlement is disappointing, there was simply no other way.

“We’ve been to trying to fight them for two years and trying to have more force towards the negotiations, but it was never going to happen,” said Forté.

Quebecor, a media conglomer-

ate that owns Vidéotron and Sun Media Corporation, is one of the largest newspaper publishers in Canada. Despite their credentials, the corporation cited financial concerns as the motivation for their decision to lay off 75 office workers at the Journal, the decision that initially sparked the conflict leading to the lockout.

“As far as I know, Quebecor initially wanted to fire 75 people. Now about 190 have lost their jobs,” said Codère.

Filotto described how Quebecor wanted to cut costs and began to target office workers since “you can’t just get rid of entire departments” in which other employees worked. He explained how reporters supported their colleagues and Quebecor management took advantage of that. “They were never having financial problems. They foresaw possible problems in the future and they overplayed that to try to get us to cooperate.”

“Quebecor got what they wanted. It’s a huge loss for us,” said Filotto.

Obstacles to lockout solidarity “Even during the boycott campaign, the readership didn’t go down. They never lost any money; they actually made even more money,” said Forté. “We had no hope against such an adversary.

They could have continued in a conflict like this for years.”

“Quebecor is a huge machine,” said Filotto. “The habit of reading that paper was so strong.”

J.Serge Sasseville, Quebecor’s Vice-President of Corporate and Institutional Affairs commented on the agreement via email.

“We do not intend to give inter-

views following last Saturday night’s vote,” wrote Sasseville. “We limit our comments to the following declarations: We are pleased with the results of the vote by the members of the union STIJM; we accept the recommendation made by the mediator Jean Poirier; we will be sitting down with the union soon to discuss the terms and conditions of the back-to-work protocol. We do not wish to make further comments at the present time.”

Quebecor has become known for its model of convergence, where content from QMI Agency, their newswire service, is available to all of their publications. By using wire content from QMI, Quebecor was able to continue the publication of the Journal during the lockout.

QMI was created shortly before the lockout began.

“The anti-scab law...allows the publication of content which comes from other sources and allows newspapers to be filled with articles that come from all over the place,” Forté explained. “[Quebecor] were able to fill the newspaper with articles that came from all kinds of other papers.”

Union members also expressed concerns with Quebecor’s business model, and claimed that its corporate interests were compromising their professional morals. “There were some principals we did not agree with, such as the convergence of media sources and the increased corporate presence in the newsroom,” said Filotto. He described how reporters had begun to feel “more and more like mercenaries.”

Editor-in-chief of the Journal, Lyne Robitaille, is also the executive Vice-President of Operations Eastern Canada and Sun Media

Corporation – both owned by Quebecor. During the lockout, Robitaille spoke on radio saying, “We no longer talk about journalists now. We are talking about producers of multimedia content.”

Filotto disagreed. “Nobody really knows what the media landscape is going to be,” he said. “A bunch of models have been coming up... but I’m sure that reporters running around with video cameras trying to make bad TV is not the way. The solution is to showcase what journalists do best – writing and taking pictures – in the best possible way.

That’s what we hope to do with Rue Frontenac.”

Rue Frontenac moving forward Although attempts by the STIJM to boycott the Journal during the lockout were largely unsuccessful, both Codère and Filotto have high hopes for the future of Rue Frontenac.

With ninety days to dissociate itself from the STIJM and the Journal, Rue Frontenac is currently seeking investors willing to support the paper as a workers’ co-op.

“There are a lot of people who seem interested,” Filotto said. “During the lockout, Rue Frontenac eventually stopped being seen by the public as ‘the newspaper of the locked out journalists’ and began to be seen as simply another news source. ... They appreciate that Rue Frontenac is offering a newer, fresher voice.”

“I have enormous hopes that it will work,” said Forté. “We’ve already had such a good response from many people. It would be phenomenal to have a media source that could continue independently like that with quality workers.”

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Commentary

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

7

On International Women’s Day Olivia Messer Comment

M

arch 8 marks the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD), an opportunity for millions of people to campaign for women’s rights and equality. Participants in events worldwide seek to honour women’s intelligence, strength, courage, solidarity and – perhaps most importantly – civil rights.

The sentiment of IWD has been honoured since 1908, but it wasn’t formally established until after a decision made at the 1910 International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. The first international celebration occurred on March 19, 1911, and was observed in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.

IWD is now an official holiday in countries as diverse as Belarus, Cambodia, Nepal, Turkmenistan, Uganda, and Zambia. It is not officially celebrated in Canada.

While variations of Women’s Day have been celebrated since the early 1900s, both the movement and its association with feminism have changed dramatically in the last century. Many now separate IWD from its original political motivations by treating it more like a fusion of Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, bestowing women with flowers, candy, and affection. So, if IWD is no longer as politically charged, why can’t it be an official holiday?

Some argue that making IWD a national holiday in Canada or in the United States – where Women’s History Month is already celebrated in March – isn’t politically tenable, but I think it’s worth asking: Why not? Groups like the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) advocate for making IWD a national statu-

tory holiday because it would “send a positive and meaningful message” from the Canadian government. “All women in Canada need to see the government take such an initiative to affirm the empowerment of women, highlight their abundant contributions to Canada, and inspire future woman leaders in the process,” argued Beverley Jacobs, who was president of the organization from 2004 to 2009.

So, what’s keeping this vision from becoming a reality? Are we still living in a world where we can’t officially argue for women’s equality because it’s taboo? Or is it because many believe we already live in a post-feminist, egalitarian society?

The very fact that we need to ask these questions speaks to the necessity of a day dedicated to thinking about women’s role in society.

That being said, it would be remiss not to acknowledge that IWD has its own inherent problems. The holiday is meant to celebrate a diversity of women and their experiences, but because of the nature of the celebration, it is inevitably exclusive.

Those who don’t fit within the gender binary are not included in these celebrations. As a result, the essential elements of third wave feminism are tossed out in the cold for the sake of a large, mainstream reception of the holiday. In the spirit of feminism, these celebrations should be free from marginalization on the basis of cultural, social, racial, economic, or political differences.

Many of the events are exclusively meant for participation of women. Mothers, daughters, sisters, and grandmothers are welcome to participate in spirituality, yoga, and mental health workshops – like ones at Equilibrium Yoga on St. Laurent – but non-female participants are not welcome. This deters men from

Nicole Stradiotto | The McGill Daily

honouring women and marginalizes transgender and intersex individuals. Furthermore, events like these not only reinforce the gender binary, they put a dark cloud over a celebration about acceptance, recognition, and solidarity.

Any worldwide celebration is bound to have its hiccups, and IWD is certainly no exception. However, it is still a necessary and valuable celebration to observe. We don’t live in a post-feminist world, and although more and more women around the world are gaining access

to education, civil rights, and equal pay, parity hasn’t been achieved in any respect of the word.

Possibly both the biggest strength and weakness of the unofficial organization of IWD is that it is, as a result, haphazard and unfocused. International Women’s Day as it exists today doesn’t get a lot of media attention or coverage, so it really is about whatever you make it.

This year’s United Nations theme is “equal access to education, training and science and technology: pathway to decent work for women,” but

don’t just follow the guidelines of the United Nations theme or of the official website. Choose your own theme, plan your own event, or take the time to participate in whatever way you feel is most productive and inclusive.

Olivia Messer is a U2 Humanistic Studies and Communications student, and The Daily’s Illustrations editor, but the opinions expressed here are her own. She can be reached at olivia.messer@mail. mcgill.ca.

What Fukuyama got right

Reaffirming the appeal of liberal democracy around the world Faiz Lalani

Hyde Park

“T

here is something in the soul that cries out for freedom,” Barack Obama said hours after Hosni Mubarak resigned. Those were the same words Martin Luther King Jr. spoke upon the birth of an independent Ghana. That was – like today – a time of great upheaval. The peoples of Africa had spent decades trying to liberate themselves from underneath the boots of Western empires. Then post-war Europe retreated, and they were finally free. Two decades later, another wave of euphoria swept the world. Eastern Europeans clamoured for freedom, tearing down the walls dividing the world between Marxism and liberalism.

It was then that Francis Fukuyama,

a political scientist, famously proclaimed that history had ended. The end of history did not mean that the world would come to a grinding halt, but that the ideological struggle throughout human history to establish the best form of human government had ended. Western liberal democracy had triumphed. Today, few would argue against the claim that people have a universal right to freedom and that they should be governed by consent. Admittedly, the claim sounds generic, if not meaningless – but that is only a testament to how deeply liberal democratic discourse has crept into the political lexicon around the world.

The euphoria for liberal democracy, however, has subsided as illiberal democracy takes hold in places like Russia, Zimbabwe, and Iran. The states have crushed the rule of law and eroded basic human rights. Worse,

democracy has seemingly failed to penetrate China and much of the Arab world, where autocrats cling to power with the help of brutal security forces.

The greatest blow to liberal democracy came from its loudest proponent, President George W. Bush. His “freedom agenda” confused the laudable goal of promoting liberal democracy with that of invading – without provocation – sovereign states. As a result, democracy was sullied. It certainly didn’t help that although Fukuyama opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he had signed a letter in 1997 – along with architects of the war, including Donald Rumsfeld and Paul Wolfowitz – urging Bill Clinton to remove Saddam Hussein’s regime.

What then was to become of liberal democracy? Historian Robert Kagan, a fellow signatory to that infamous letter, informed us of “the return of history and the end of dreams” in a 2007

essay and 2008 book. He argued that liberal democracy would not, after all triumph. Autocracy and Islamism had replaced Marxism as the main ideological opponents to the liberal democratic order.

Then, Tunisia suddenly erupted.

Tunisians came out into the streets in droves to oust a decades-old regime.

Egyptians followed. Mubarak refused to budge, so they too would not budge from Tahrir (“Liberation”) Square.

They defeated the Egyptian security state. Like fire, the spirit of liberation has spread across the Arab world: protesters are calling for democracy in Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, and Yemen.

In Libya, protesters are braving death to confront a brutal, maniacal dictator – and they’re succeeding.

Whether these movements ultimately overthrow the Arab world’s autocrats remains an open-ended question. An ancillary question is

whether repressive, illiberal democracies-in-name will replace them.

Detractors will likely point out that 84 per cent of Egyptians favour the death penalty for apostates – a sign that illiberal democracy will follow.

Yet, 90 per cent of Egyptians also believe in freedom of religion. The contradictory responses reveal still unformed views about what their democracy will look like.

But whatever the outcome, what is clear is that – by risking their lives for the simple idea that people should govern themselves and be free – millions of souls across the Arab world have cried out for freedom. History may not yet have come to a halt, but the potent appeal of liberal democracy pushes it ever closer.

Faiz Lalani is a first-year Law student. He can be reached at faiz. lalani@mail.mcgill.ca.

8 Commentary

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

Living the failure of neoliberalism How the Quebec government is privatizing our schools and hospitals The character of community Adrian Kaats

adrian.kaats@mcgilldaily.com

T

he Quebec government has manufactured a fiscal crisis by making a succession of choices about public financing and the role of government. The province has developed a $4.5-billion deficit, and incurred over $150 billion of debt. Rather than addressing the choices and decisions that have led to the present situation, the government is proposing an unprecedented divestment of its responsibility to fund social programs.

The government’s coffers are bare for three main reasons: mismanagement, corruption, and tax policy. First, there is near parity between the number of managers and administrators (100,000), and the number of actual health care providers (108,000 nurses, doctors, orderlies, therapists, et cetera) in our health care system – just one example of poor management.

Second, it costs about 30 per cent more to build a road in Quebec than it does anywhere else in Canada – a perfect example of corruption. Finally, we have gone from over twenty income tax brackets to three, and we have the lowest corporate taxes in North America.

One would think that with the hundreds of millions spent on managers and bureaucrats, the hundreds of millions overspent on infrastructure, and the billions in amazing tax breaks for industry, that Quebec would be the economic engine of Canada. But it isn’t. In terms of per capita GDP, Quebec is the seventh-best province in Canada.

God help me for using this terminology, but the “neoliberal” experiment has clearly failed: the “emperor isn’t wearing any clothes.” Yet, the government persists with its present course, and worse, it is ramping up

the rhetoric of specialization, privatization, and divestment of social programs. These are the final steps in dismantling our public social systems – those intended to make us all a bit more equal in this gloomy world. Why? Because the government isn’t interested in the “common good,” it is interested in the wealth accumulation of the small fraction of our population that constitutes the “upper class.”

If we want to maintain a social and civilized society, one where the sick are healed, the poor are fed, clothed, and sheltered, and all have access to education, we need to make some choices about what our government is supposed to be doing, and who we want running that government. We cannot continue to allow the same people who benefit from mismanagement, corruption, and tax breaks to set policy. We need a new government and we need to revitalize what we believe our social contract is.

This isn’t a conspiracy theory.

The facts are well documented, often by the government itself, which makes no attempt to hide its actions. It does, however, attempt to mislead the public in two very important ways. First, it cites demographic changes, economic hardship, and increasing demand on social programs as the cause of its financial problems. Then it pretends that its proposed solution – selling them off – is the only and obvious response to its financial woes. Make no mistake about it, this is a plan that is ideologically driven; it has little to do with economic and demographic pressures, and a lot to do with specific choices designed to sequester the wealth and resources of our society to a limited number of people. We are in the final stages of the plan’s execution.

The true modus operandi of the current regime is the privatization of social programs so that the wealthy don’t have to pay for them, and instead can profit by replacing

the government as their providers.

These are the same people that received the benefits of the mismanagement, corruption, and lower taxes which have made that privatization appear to be necessary.

What we really need to do for the benefit of our society is to: 1) slash our expenditures on failed corporate-style management of public programs; 2) make serious efforts to reign in the widespread corruption in our government and “public” service; and 3) reinstate the taxation of excessive income, profits, and capital accumulation.

The government has made it abundantly clear that it is no longer in the business of ensuring universally accessible services and support to its citizens. In its next budget, the government is planning to cap health care and education spending and to increase income tax breaks. While divesting from social spending, the deficit created by income (corporate and personal) tax breaks will be reduced by doing the opposite: raising tuition rates, consumption-based taxes, electricity rates, and user fees for access to social programs and services.

We also know that the government has refused to investigate rampant industrial corruption, all the while promising to increase “public-private partnerships” for the provision of education and health care. All of these measures are well studied. We know exactly what they accomplish: they disadvantage the poorest members of our society while topping-up the bank accounts of those who are already quite wealthy. Enough is enough.

At noon on March 12, concerned citizens and public actors from across the province will be converging on Montreal’s Place du Canada (At René-Levesque and Peel) to protest our government’s plans. This protest is supported by the province’s largest labour unions and student federations, as well

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

as over 115 community and social groups. Combined, these organizations represent over 1.25 million Quebeckers, including all of the students at McGill. The protest is expected to be huge, drawing up to

100,000 participants, and we should all be there. Please take a few hours out of your day and come help demand an equitable and rational society that supports us, its citizens. !

Wolf put it aptly: “Why, if there is anything in supply and demand, life is the cheapest thing in the world.

There is only so much water, so much earth, so much air; but the life that is demanding to be born is limitless.”

Too many workers, too few factories; too many poor people dying for a crust of bread, too few who care enough to share what little bread they have. You put all these numbers in the grand equation of supply and demand, hit enter, and 1,000 rupiah is the number you get when you query the price of life.

Society’s conscience is disturbed by this number, so it has to invent

the so-called “sacredness” of life.

A truism is therefore plucked from the sky: life is sacred and intrinsically valuable.

Later, I flew to Saigon. As I walked past the luxurious firstclass seats on my way to the back row, I wondered how much people paid for these seats. Some lives are just more expensive than others.

It is true that the only value a life has is what that life places upon itself, but some people are freer to overestimate their own worth, naturally, with all the prejudices in their favour. The rest – and there are plenty of them – shove a dime through the ticket booth and that’s what they are worth. !

Another’s life, what is it worth?

Red star over Asia Ted Sprague

ted.sprague@mcgilldaily.com

“Life? Bah! It has no value. Of cheap things it is the cheapest thing.

Everywhere it goes begging.”

—Wolf Larsen

I

have decided: a man’s life is worth 1,000 rupiah (10 cents). It is not 2,000, it is not 10,000, and it is definitely not priceless, as some moralists would like us to believe.

The law of supply and demand – the most absolute law in this society – dictates it to be worth that much.

Let me tell you how I came to that

conclusion.

I’ve always known that life is never worth much. One must be able to put a tangible value on it.

But how much is it worth? I learned the exact value of life when I took the inner-city train in Jakarta, from Pasar Minggu to Jakarta Kota.

A non-air-conditioned economy train costs 1,000 rupiah. You feel the rumble of the moving train under your feet, and you also hear the sound of footsteps from the ceiling – the top seat is reserved for the bold ones who enjoy a panoramic view of the city.

There is no door. A long time ago, someone decided to take it out, so that passengers could get on and off

more easily. That stroke of genius has saved countless wasted hours of waiting for doors to open and close.

In a packed train with no air conditioner and broken fans, the no-door policy also serves as natural ventilation. The more adventurous often take the liberty to enjoy the wind hitting their face, hanging off the sides of the train and creating extra space for the elderly who don’t have the strength to be so daring.

For the millions who have to flock to Jakarta to sell their labour, the train is a daily fact of life. One thousand rupiah is how much the free market values their life. There are just too many lives crawling around. Wolf Larsen of The Sea

Photo Essay

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

9

Flora Dunster

10 Features

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

WASTE MISMANAGEMENT The Daily’s Eric Wen unpacks the myths and contradictions of recycling’s global infrastructure

I

n January of 2009, Montreal’s recycling industry faced a crisis: the global demand for recycling dropped dramatically and Rebuts Solides Canadien (RSC) – the privately-owned company contracted by the city of Montreal to sort its recycled material – had 20,000 tonnes of unsalable recycled materials on its hands. The options were either to pay companies to take the refuse off their hands, to store it until the market got better, or to throw it away in landfills. Patrice Hamel, plant manager of Montreal’s sorting facility, estimates that the company lost nearly $1 million that year because of this crisis.

This crisis highlights some of the problems faced by the global recycling industry that usually go unnoticed by the general public. Recycling is a common practice in Montreal, and most of North America, and is not the subject of controversial political debate. People generally know better than to throw their empty plastic bottles in the garbage, and the City of Montreal has curbside pickup for

recycling. However, what happens after the trucks crisscross through our neighbourhoods collecting our recyclable waste remains a mystery to many, and we may not realize that our current recycling infrastructure is not as environmentally sound as we think.

The industry is fairly opaque, and operates without much meaningful government regulation. Right now Montreal’s recycling is handled entirely by the private sector – from collection, to sorting, to processing. Meanwhile, our recycled materials are often shipped to Asia or worse, thrown away in landfills.

With roughly half of Montreal’s recycled materials being shipped overseas (emitting thousands of kilograms of carbon emissions in the process), and with much non-biodegradable yet recyclable products filling up landfills, our waste management system is significantly flawed. While the common belief is that recycling is part of a solution to the problem of our alarming rates of consumption, in fact it only tempers the damage.

Vote at ovs.ssmu.mcgill.ca before Friday

SSMU ELECTIONS 2011 !"#$%$"&'()*+,-'. !+/)"*%.+#(01"*& 21'(3"%-45.('#$+*.'/'#&.

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CAST YOUR VOTE.

MAGGIE

KNIGHT

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

PRESIDENT

M

aggie Knight has spent much of her life as a leader in the youth environmental justice movement. At McGill she has been involved in everything from Plate Club to the Canadian Youth Delegation at the COP16 United Nations Climate Change Conference last December in Cancún. She knows that green rhetoric, though well-intentioned, often rings hollow, and so she’s excited to help students make their ideas into concrete sustainable solutions. Having co-written the five-year plan for SSMU sustainability, Knight feels confident that she would pay it “more than just lip service.”

Hired as an Equity Commissioner by Jake Itzkowitz during his 20072008 SSMU presidency, Knight attributes her reputation for being a highly vocal councillor to an institutional memory deepened by her work with four consecutive society presidents. In terms of SSMU executive transparency, she’d like to see Society leaders post regular video blogs that report on their day-to-day priorities.

Knight also calls for a more “nuanced approach” in interacting with McGill governance structures. Accessible tuition is an integral part of her platform, and she adds that divergent or minority voices on the issue deserve to be engaged with as well. Apart from tuition issues, Knight’s campaign is not highly politicized – she prefers to “lead students as they want to be led.”

To facilitate this, she would like to conduct a review of direct democracy at McGill. She feels that Robert’s Rules of Order – which guide deliberation and debate at the General Assembly (GA) – pose a significant barrier to students who don’t understand how they work or don’t find them conducive to discussion. Although averse to abandoning Robert’s Rules altogether, she would like to write special rules for the GA. Knight also envisions innovative ways for student outreach and consultation, such as “strategic summits” differing from a town hall or GA in that students could freely collaborate on action plans to which student executives would be held accountable.

“The point wouldn’t be to vote on something or solicit feedback, but to have open conversations that are more inviting. Often we disenfranchise the younger students who don’t have the experience yet,” she said.

Knight is keen on progress, and points to experience outside of SSMU in her pragmatism in dealing with crises in a student-oriented way. “After the Jobbook all-night council fiasco, I was the first one back in the office at 1 p.m. the next day…which I think means I was the first to think that [SSMU] is bigger than just me. Someone had to ensure that students are still getting the services they need and that the front desk knows that none of us would be in that day.”

C

2

athal Rooney-Céspedes says he has fallen in love with SSMU’s potential, and the idea that the Society can do more for students than it has in the past. A self-proclaimed pragmatist and facilitator, the main themes that resurface throughout Rooney-Céspedes’s platform involve changing the culture within SSMU regarding transparency and combative relations with the administration, as well as providing excellence in service, representation, and leadership.

As Speaker of the SSMU legislative council this year, Rooney-Céspedes says he has enjoyed the position of a spectator inside the Society and has been able to cultivate a position of objectivity within the often tensely political SSMU. Active in Model U.N. since his freshman year of high school and winning debating awards at the high school and university level, he has a track record of compromising with those on the other side of the negotiating table. Rooney-Céspedes believes the SSMU President should be the least political of the executives. He views politics through its negative connotation, and believes SSMU politics has been too combative this year.

However, as a SSMU Clubs and Services representative at the end of last year, he hasn’t completely shirked politics during his career.

Rooney-Céspedes seems to have pre-empted any possible opposition by personally identifying what he believes is the most contentious aspect of his platform: a commitment to rebuilding relations with the administration and pursuing efforts to help the administration enact student-friendly policies. He advocates for increased information sharing between students and the University, and wants to help the administration raise money – particularly through the alumni sector by engineering greater donor affinity. He insists he doesn’t know how to act in any other manner than how he acts in Model U.N. – as diplomatically as possible – and says that if people don’t agree with his approach, “Please don’t vote for me.”

When it comes to General Assembly reform, Rooney-Céspedes talks about fixing two overarching problems: student apathy and lack of other forums for student debate, especially around divisive issues. He doesn’t think it is appropriate for SSMU to “tell the student body what they can and can’t talk about,” but he claims that the GA is currently the only forum where students can express their frustration. He describes a desire to create new events that are not limited to decision-making purposes, including speaker series and professor-mediated discussions.

Above all, Rooney-Céspedes is eager to address issues of transparency and communication within SSMU. His platform includes changing the way those in SSMU talk to each other, and says that current communication between executives, elected representatives, and the administration is too aggressive and not conducive to progress. He describes ambitions to maximize personal accessibility through activities such as weekly volunteering at Midnight Kitchen, “Friday afternoons with campus media,” and “a consistent habit of informing McGill students of the issues and opportunities facing your Students’ Society,” although it is unclear whether his day-to-day duties as SSMU President would leave room for this amount of public exposure.

CATHAL

ROONEY-CÉSPEDES

PEDNEAULT

A

U3 Arts student, Joël Pedneault is running acclaimed for the position of VP External.

He has been heavily involved in the student movement surrounding rising tuition fees, and this year held the position of vice-secretary general of the Quebec Student Roundtable, a Quebec university student lobbying group co-founded by SSMU (also known by its French acronym TaCEQ).

Pedneault coordinates the Roundtable’s efforts to mobilize and lobby on behalf of student interests.

He described himself as an “upright” person who is “deeply committed” to the issues he has become involved in through the organization, as well as the issues he would face as VP External. “SSMU can really punch above its weight in terms of making education much more affordable,” Pedneault said, indicating his intention to continue protesting proposed tuition increases.

One aspect of his platform is to work on strategies and policies to lower or slow the rate of tuition increases for international and out-of-province students at McGill. Noting the high number of McGill students not from Quebec, Pedneault explained, “We need to make sure that things that worry McGill students most are taken to the next level.”

Pedneault has also been working closely with current VP External Myriam Zaidi in the Mob Squad

– the SSMU committee organized to mobilize and build awareness among students regarding rising tuition. Pedneault plans to expand the group in order to get more students involved.

“I think what needs to be done is to create a debate at McGill about where we want to see the university going,” said Pedneault. “Do we want to have an accessible university? But also, what kind of university do we want to have?”

Pedneault explained the three key facets of the position: working with other student groups, raising awareness and mobilizing students, and working with community groups such as the MiltonParc Citizens Committee. Along with his outward orientation, Pednault also wants to “make things work smoothly at SSMU.” He cited the GA as being the “only form of direct democracy” in SSMU, and noted that the GA gives SSMU a lot of legitimacy when it deals with other student unions.

According to Pedneault, the recent Jobbook scandal will have long-term effects on the next SSMU executive’s institutional culture. “It’s raised a lot of questions among people outside of SSMU in the student movement...about SSMU’s integrity.

I do hope people can start afresh next year.” He added that executives may be more reticent to meet with outside businesses or people.

VP EXTERNAL

JOËL

HUDAK

CLARE

EMILY YEE LAUREN

L

of different financial backgrounds, and to ensure adequate financial aid and services are provided to those in need. Yet, as a key student representative on University administrative bodies, Hudak thinks the best approach is to make collaborative efforts, believing that an overly strong stance is counterproductive. “We can’t cut the administration out of the equation,” said Hudak. She hopes to create a long-term platform for the portfolio, planning to build on current VP University Affairs Joshua Abaki’s initiatives created in response to the challenges of completing multi-year goals with the annual turnover of SSMU executives.

Hudak emphasized her consultative approach when dealing with important issues. When asked about controversial issues, such as military research on campus, Hudak stressed the need to come at all issues from both sides of the debate, also citing the need to represent students over her own political beliefs. “Ultimately you are there to represent the student body as a whole,” said Hudak, “If there is a general consensus that students are very opposed to these types of initiatives, as the VP UA…you need to stand strong behind what the students actually want because they elected you to represent their opinions and you have to follow through on that.”

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

auren Hudak, a U3 Arts and Science student, has a lot of experience with student politics at McGill. Last year, she was Speaker of SSMU Council, where she is currently the Science representative sitting on the Library Improvement Fund Committee, the Steering Committee, and the Finance Committee. Hudak is also serving as the speaker of EUS Council this year. The primary principles of her platform consist of championing student interests in a practical and pragmatic way.

In regards to the administration’s new Strategic Reframing Initiative – which focuses on improving specific facets of the University, including research and innovation, enrollment and philanthropy – Hudak plans to push for “a student enrollment plan that’s actually beneficial for students.” When discussing her top priorities if elected, Hudak highlighted plans to lower student-to-faculty ratios – so that “McGill students are more than their McGill ID number on Minerva” – to implement a SSMU Athletics Fund, and proactive consultation with both student societies and departmental student associations.

As Quebec tuition is anticipated to increase in 2012, tuition will be a major concern for next year’s VP University Affairs. Hudak plans on taking a strong stance against rising tuition fees to help ensure that McGill remains accessible to students

abolished. Citing the success of general assemblytype forums at other universities, such as the University of Toronto, Clare is confident that the GA can become an essential outlet for student voices.

In terms of controversial issues, which have ethical and financial aspects – such as military research – Clare feels that the GA is the only proper forum to channel the views and desires of students.

She maintains that what the GA offers cannot be replaced by internet-based referendum questions, especially for complex questions in which debate can bring to light new perspectives. She is personally against military research on campus.

Another area where Clare wants to fight for a stronger student voice in terms of McGill’s Strategic Reframing Initiative (SRI). For her, it was insulting to hear that the administration would not include student consultation because they did not feel that students had enough time to contribute.

“It is very important to have students involved.

It’s going to be hard work but it’s necessary to ensure that we are represented,” said Clare.

“Students need to know that they are being represented properly and they do have the opportunities for representation within this kind of framework.”

Finally, Clare hopes to strengthen the student voice by working with other student societies such as the PGSS. In terms of issues such as tuition hikes – which she strongly opposes – she says that bridging the undergraduate-graduate student divide will improve student representation and the strength of the student body as a whole.

VP UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS

V

P University Affairs hopeful Emily Clare, U3 Arts, aims to empower students and SSMU by taking a “multi-faceted” and “holistic” approach to her position and to student issues. It is a strategy she says she learned from her work as SSMU Equity Commissioner this year.

Well aware of the many divisive issues that exist around campus, Clare wants to create networks of student understanding and representation that include all kinds of student groups. She hopes that this will help work past disagreements – both real and imagined – to create a common student experience.

Top priorities for Clare include making SSMU Council and politics more accessible to the general student body, increasing equity in student-administration relations, and fostering a new culture of school spirit and community.

According to Clare, to actually achieve greater student consultation you need to have student knowledge and understanding, as well as a willingness to engage. Clare hopes to use the unique position of SSMU, and in particular the position of VP University Affairs, to create an environment that will facilitate this.

Initiatives that she hopes to implement include creating an online resource hub, which will include direct access to research, opportunities, and organizing events around campus. Clare also wants to use the position to fight for a more “student-centred university” and increase student representation by reforming mechanisms such as the General Assembly (GA).

The GA, said Clare, must be reformed but not

3

PATERSON

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

VP INTERNAL

KADY

O

ver her three years at McGill, Kady Paterson has drummed up quite the resume. She worked at The Daily as a contributor and an editor for over two years, represented the Education Faculty to SSMU as a councillor for a year – she’s never missed a meeting – and worked in the First Year office. Paterson has also been directly involved with the VP Internal portfolio this year, sitting on the Student Society Programming Network (SSPN) subcommittee, a group responsible for coordinating events held by SSMU. Paterson’s approach to the Internal portfolio is to “internalize” the portfolio by expanding on the work started several years ago by former SSMU executive Kay Turner when the current portfolio was transformed from that of VP Communication and Events. One of Paterson’s primary goals is to strengthen existing relationships, and build new relations between faculty associations, clubs and services, first-year groups and SSMU. According to Paterson, first-year groups – residence councils, inter-residence council, and students living in residence – are untapped resources that have continually been ignored. An important first step in combating student apathy is to make sure that students are engaged with SSMU upon arriving at McGill, because, as Paterson says, once students are aware of what SSMU can offer – as a union and as a resource – political involvement will follow. From this logic was born Orientation week, something Paterson has worked on through the First Year office, an event designed as a good first step in getting students engaged with all of McGill’s clubs and services, along with faculty associations, with which students are intimately involved throughout their studies.

Regarding faculty associations, Paterson sees much room for improvement in the way they relate to SSMU. Rather than having limited and sparse engagement with one another, she believes that there should be a more institutionalized roundtable structure with the associations. Paterson’s proposed structure would allow associations to choose their place in SSMU and on campus, instead of SSMU dictating their roles.

These points flow into Paterson’s second main concern: targeted campus events. Her emphasis is on small, successful, and well-attended events, instead of large, less popular ones. While events like 4floors and Homekoming have been well attended in recent years, Paterson highlighted the roles for cultural groups and more targeted events. All of these improvements would go hand-in-hand with ensuring fiscal responsibility in events that are attractive and fun.

TODD

PLUMMER

4

T

odd Plummer has experience in both the McGill community and in McGill student politics. He has worked with the Department of English Students’ Association, sat on the McGill Varsity Sports Council, both conceptualized and organized AUS Charity Week, and he currently sits on the SSMU Equity Committee. Plummer is also VP External for AUS, representing the Faculty on SSMU legislative council.

Plummer would like to see a community-oriented and more collaborative SSMU. This would include the creation of off-campus SSMU events in order to involve students who live in out lying areas such as NDG, to reach out to the diversity of tastes and interests present at McGill, and to provide anti-oppression training for SSMU coordinators. This notion of community is central to Plummer’s platform – he also discussed wanting to work with smaller student groups to hold monthly events with SSMU, improve the Society’s relationship with faculty associations, and to use its resources to bring in guest speakers suggested by students and professors.

Plummer also appears dedicated to pushing the notion of community outside the McGill bubble. He helped current SSMU VP External Myriam Zaidi bring the Milton-Parc Citizens Committee Care agreement – an agreement concerning the relationship between McGill and the residents of Milton-Parc – to the Arts Faculty. His involvement with MPCC Care ties into Plummer’s goals for this year’s frosh. Though frosh will likely be revamped, Plummer wants to work with the administration while endeavouring to “stand up for the fun elements” that characterize the annual event. He says he would make sure that “frosh has plenty of…legitimate non-drinking options, that go beyond a bouncy castle…[so] that everyone feels like they can participate and have a voice.”

SFEIR

H

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

aving spent the last year working closely with VP Internal Tom Fabian as a member of the Student’s Society Programming Network (SSPN), U1 Political Science student Christina Sfeir is eager to break out on her own. As a member of SSPN, Sfeir has helped to make events like 4Floors and Week 101 run smoothly, and has taken a leading role in planning the upcoming Faculty Olympics as one of its three co-chairs. She noted her role in overseeing the logistics of events, and her familiarity with the portfolio’s administrative duties. Sfeir sees the VP Internal position as an opportunity to improve current SSMU events and projects familiar to her through her experience on SSPN. One of Sfeir’s top priorities is turning the promotional label Get Ready – started by Fabian at the beginning of this year – into a recognizable brand for all SSMU events. By increasing the visibility of the logo, she hopes to make it as big and familiar as Hype Productions. “I want to take Get Ready to the next level. ... I want to put that logo everywhere so when students see it they know that it’s going to be a good time,” she said.

Sfeir has also mentioned plans for improving SSMU’s environmental sustainability. She wants to implement a green roof on top of Shatner and host events like bring-your-own-mug-nights at Gert’s. Sfeir is resolute about taking firm action in her role: “A lot of people shy away from implementing these big changes, but I think we all need to make a change.”

Sfeir will focus on increasing school spirit and building a sense of community. She wants to use the SSMU listserv as an outreach tool to bring students to events and to educate them about the General Assembly and referendum questions. Sfeir came out in favour of the GA, suggesting it could be made more democratic if hosted in a bigger space. In particular, she wants the listserv to become an interactive forum, with questions and topics of the week that students can respond to. She has spoken to creating a wider variety of events in order to reach out to different types of students, including a speaker series and hosting regular “culture nights” where creative groups showcase their talents. She has also suggested getting first-year students involved in subcommittees in order to bridge the gulf between them and SSMU. However, when it comes to SSMU politics, her only exposure has been serving as a member of SSPN. Sfeir expressed a strong desire to learn the ropes. “I know Tom veered away from making big politics, decisions, but I love politics. I’ve been bred to think politics. So I’m not worried about that,” she said.

VP INTERNAL

CHRISTINA

NATALIE

TALMI

N

atalie Talmi’s platform focuses on expanding the range and breadth of student events, emphasizing student independence, and creating a more integrated relationship with the administration. Talmi has been a coordinator for both Science Frosh and Carnival, and is currently the president of the Chemistry Undergraduate Student Society.

Talmi belives that Frosh can work with official entities to extend the scope of possible activities, allowing for diverse sets of activities designed to serve a diverse set of students, such as non-alcoholic events. A combined effort with the administration can legitimize Frosh events and create more cohesive communication of information to new students says Talmi, but she maintains that administrative involvement is not absolutely integral to the Frosh experience. Furthermore, she has sat on this year’s Freshman Orientation Group – the group responsible for a discussion of new attitudes toward Frosh and freshmen activities.

Talmi also aims to increase widespread involvement both within and outside McGill. She plans to incorporate faculty and campus-wide events, and to create a sense of connection between clubs by encouraging events where clubs work together. For Science Frosh, Talmi created a directory of local businesses and she seeks to prioritize student services, including sponsorship from student groups and SSMU advertisements in the student press.

Though lacking experience “in the SSMU office,” Talmi has sat on the Activities Committee, the Faculty of Science Committee as the Physical Science Representative, and she created a training program for Frosh leaders and organizational staff. Working on these committees has given gerexperience with faculty deans, advisers, and professors.

One of the most important issues for Talmi is sustainability, and she would seek to integrate environmental concerns and sustainable programs in all of the VP Internal’s responsibilities.

Lastly, Talmi seeks to broaden the position’s portfolio by looking to extend Frosh and awareness among new students to all of Montreal by incorporating non-residence students into orientation activities.

5

VP FINANCE&OPERATIONS The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

6

SHYAM

PATEL

I

f he’s elected VP Finance and Operations, Shyam Patel will inherit a portfolio with a more than $500,000 surplus and a campus bar that’s finally enjoyed two years in the black. As SSMU Funding Coordinator this year, Patel is responsible for overseeing the allocation of SSMU dollars to student groups. Club funding, along with SSMU’s business operations – like Gert’s and Minicourses – were Patel’s two top identified priorities.

Patel, a U2 Marketing student and Montreal native who studied Women’s Studies in CEGEP, emphasized that he thought his two predecessors, current VP Nick Drew and last year’s VP Jose Diaz, had done good work and, as a result, his platform lacks any sweeping changes. That said, Patel demonstrated a very detailed grasp of the ins and outs of SSMU finances, and did make some concrete proposals for how to improve.

Though he didn’t mention the Financial Ethics Review Committee (FERC) in his platform – because he worried people might be “confused by it” – Patel was quick to stress the importance of ethical investments in his interview with The Daily. He wants to give FERC, currently operating on a more or less ad hoc basis, clear guidelines and a regular mandate as a standing committee to ensure that SSMU keeps its investments clean. He considers the Alberta Tar Sands to be a prime example of unethical investment.

One of the main reasons SSMU has been doing so well financially is its closure of the grossly expensive Haven Books last year. Patel doesn’t have any interest in reviving a physical bookstore, but does plan to restore its function. The Book Bazaar is set to move online, and Patel wants to turn it into a general-purpose listings service and online marketplace only for McGill students, describing it as a “safer space for students to sell something.”

Patel wants to use SSMU’s significant surplus to improve student life, specifically pointing to the “hurting” clubs fund as a possible area to spend some extra cash. He also wants to expand student involvement in SSMU’s operations, where he said it’s “good to have a student voice.” This would mean bringing more students without prior roles in SSMU into the day-to-day management of Gert’s and Minicourses.

Though he’s based out of Bronfman right now, Patel has a bigger picture in mind for expanding student employment: “It’s not going to be just for Management students,” he said.

STEFAN ZUBA

PROKOPETZ

S

tefan Prokopetz has plenty of experience managing budgets, having founded his own business and worked for the Management Undergraduates’ Society. He feels that he can produce a sound budget within the next fiscal year.

Amidst plenty of job offers, Prokopetz was not initially going to run for SSMU, but decided to take a shot when deadlines were extended.

During the candidate debates, he showed a genuine interest in the longterm operations of Gert’s, noting that current employees are overworked.

He’d like to see extra taps, more alcohol flow, and generally a longer bar.

Although renovations will actually be taking place next summer – not this one – Prokopetz has shown initiative in setting up lunch-meetings with the employees to speak about its future.

Prokopetz is open to the idea of student-run business in the Shatner building and would like clubs and other faculty societies to pitch him plans for other kinds of ventures. He’s fairly economically-minded in this regard, saying he won’t “manipulate [the] budget to fit ideas. Ideas must fit a budget.”

Some of his ideas betray his total inexperience with SSMU but he seems willing to be briefed on its operations and history. As somebody coming from outside of the bureaucracy, he has some innovative plans for student outreach, such as finance workshops for clubs and services. “I want to teach them basic bookkeeping and better record keeping skills that I have learned as a finance and accounting student to ensure they are accountable for the funding they receive,” he told the Daily through email.

In this vein, he’d like to dole out more money for the club fund; increase awareness of seldom-tapped resources such as the Environment fund and the Space fee; and combat opt-out campaigns with opt-in campaigns.

Stefan openly admitted during the debates that investment in natural resources and other potentially unethical investments don’t vex him at all, although he has pledged to consult other leaders and told the Daily that he would work closely with the FERC.

FABIAN

M

CAROL

FRASER

I

f her rival for VP Clubs and Services is running as the consummate SSMU insider, Carol Fraser is doing the opposite. Currently the Volunteer Coordinator for Midnight Kitchen, Fraser is playing up her experience not as a part of the SSMU bureaucracy, but someone who has had to deal with it on a regular basis, as one of her central strengths.

Fraser honed in on the unifying theme throughout much of her work on campus: food. Besides her three years of working for Midnight Kitchen, Fraser has been heavily involved with the McGill Farmers Market and Mobilization McGill – a group that became visible over last September’s closure of the Architecture Café and the subsequent student frustration with McGill Food and Dining Services.

Along these lines, Fraser’s platform contained a strong focus on issues of sustainability. In addition to continuing the work of current VP Clubs and Services Anushay Khan to make the Shatner building more environmentally friendly, Fraser wants to look into a green roof as well as an interior “green wall,” which could potentially provide edible produce along the lines of Campus Crops during the winter months.

In discussing her vision for Shatner – whose day-to-day operations fall under the purview of Clubs and Services – Fraser pressed for renovations of the fourth floor. In addition to making the building more sustainable, she said this would provide an improved and expanded space for the clubs who occupy it.

Fraser is receptive to the idea of restructuring the Clubs and Services portfolio. She also wants to move publications – the Old McGill Yearbook, the SSMU Handbook/Agenda, and the society website – to the VP Internal portfolio, and envisions sharing the oversight of SSMU’s Environment Committee with the President. She also stressed the importance of inter-executive collaboration and crossover more broadly, pointing to cooperation with the VP Finance and Operations as a way to ensure both fair and efficient funding for clubs.

Fraser’s approach is explicitly borrowed from Midnight Kitchen’s non-hierarchical organizational structure – a refreshing and innovative but also potentially unworkable approach – which she would apply to the highly complex and fairly rigid structures of the SSMU bureaucracy. Another part of Fraser’s platform stressed the importance of the VP Clubs and Services increasing communication with clubs, especially through face-to-face meetings.

Though she’s been involved in her fair share of political activism, Fraser explained that to her the role of VP Clubs and Service – particularly when it comes to equity issues and disputes between student groups – should be strictly one of “mediation,” with the SSMU Constitution and Equity policy in mind. The bottom line for Fraser is that campus should remain a space for free speech, though she emphasized the need for this to occur within an anti-oppressive, respectful framework.

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

onika Fabian is a SSMU insider, and not just because her brother Tom is the current VP Internal. As the Interest Group Coordinator for SSMU this year, she has overseen club status applications and helped current VP Clubs and Services Anushay Khan. She also organized SSMU frosh this fall and helped run the SSMU Sustainability Projects Fund last school year.

Though the VP Clubs and Services portfolio has been the focus of heated campus political debate – especially regarding Choose Life last year – Fabian insisted on remaining politically neutral. When dealing with potential equity complaints or inter-club conflicts, she wants to remain in the role of mediator, with the SSMU Constitution and Equity Policy having the final say.

A distinctive element of Fabian’s platform are her plans to make the club status renewal system more rigorous. Currently, clubs that don’t submit a list of executives every two years lose their club status, a method Fabian thinks is too lax.

Instead, she’d like clubs to have to submit a status renewal application every year in order to increase accountability.

Club accountability was also an issue when it came to funding. While VP Clubs and Services doesn’t directly allocate funds, the portfolio is involved through a seat on SSMU’s Funding Committee and their day-to-day work with clubs. Fabian was sympathetic to concerns that student groups were not receiving enough funding (or at least the amounts they requested). She once again stressed the need for strict financial accountability through record keeping, like budgets and audits from clubs, before increases in the amount of SSMU funding become an option.

The VP Clubs and Services carries one of the biggest workloads of all the SSMU executives. The idea of modifying the portfolio is one that’s been thrown around with increasing frequency, and Fabian seemed enthusiastic about the possibility when she spoke to The Daily; she proposed moving publications – the Old McGill Yearbook, the SSMU Handbook/Agenda, as well as the SSMU website – to the VP Internal’s portfolio. The workload would remain high, especially since Fabian also floated the idea of moving environmental and sustainability initiatives – specifically the SSMU Environment committee, which she sat on last year – from the President’s portfolio to Clubs and Services.

One of the biggest components of the Clubs and Services workload is managing and maintaining the Shatner building. Speaking about how to make the student centre more sustainable, Fabian pointed to continuing the work Khan has begun this year, as well as the existing five-year plan to make the building more ecologically friendly. Fabian proposed new ideas that included ensuring outsiderun food services abide by the ban on bottled water in the building.

VP CLUBS&SERVICES

MONIKA

7

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

PRESIDENT

{ KNIGHT } YEAR & PROGRAM

U3 Arts, Political Science and Economics

U3 Arts and Sciences, Environment and Economics Comprehends well but speaks only “un petit peu.”

Plans to take French courses next year if elected

Native English-speaker, fluent in French

TOP PRIORITIES

Student consultation and stronger leadership around three key themes: accessibility, transparency, and efficiency

Rebuild relationship with Administration through collaboration and information sharing; mitigate divide between students and student politicians through extensive consultation and active communication; re-define our culture so that we are simply nicer to one another and those around us.

SSMU EXPERIENCE

Environment Commissioner (2008-2010) Clubs and Services rep to Council (2010-2011)

Speaker of SSMU Council (2010-2011) Clubs and Services rep to SSMU (2010)

OTHER POLITICAL EXPERIENCE

Executive committee member of Sierra Youth Coalition; Senate subcomittee on the environment; Board member of Canadian Friends’ Service Committee; Steering Committee for Go Beyond (Provincial Campus organization in B.C.); youth delegate to COP16 United Nations Climate Change Negotiations in 2010

Award-winning Model U.N. debater at high school and university level

RELEVANT McGILL EXPERIENCE

Founded Climate and Sustainability Advocacy Project; President of Journalists for Human Rights; McGill Daily blogger

BILINGUALISM

MISCELLANEOUS

8

{ ROONEY-CÉSPEDES } CATHAL

MAGGIE

McGill Rhodes Scholarship finalist

{

Helped found McGill’s first internal Model U.N. conference; Arts Frosh Coordinator (2009); supervised and fundraised at leadership level for McGill’s Alma Mater Fund and Faculty of Engineering Annual Fund Led committees at SSUNS and McMUN; enjoys analogizing SSMU presidency with pre-WWII American culture and liberalist international relations theory

PAGE 19

REFERENDUM ENDORSEMENTS

}

{ CLARE }

{ HUDAK }

EXTERNAL

LAUREN

EMILY YEE

{ PEDNEAULT} JOËL

U3 Arts, Political Science

U3 Arts and Sciences, Political Science and Psychology

U3 Arts, Sociology

Conversational French

Conversational French

Fully bilingual

TOP PRIORITIES

Students’ right to education, accessibility of SSMU/Admin relations, creating a culture of school spirit and community

A Strategic Enrolment Plan that benefits students, pushing for a student-only Athletics Fund, increasing proactive consultation

Accessible education campaign, strengthening the Quebec student movement’s stances on out-of-province and international tuition

SSMU EXPERIENCE

Equity commissioner (2010-2011)

Speaker of Council (2009-2010) Science rep to SSMU (2010-2011)

Arts rep to SSMU (2009-2010)

Speaker of EUS Council (2010-2011)

Coordinator of Quebec Student Roundtable (2010-2011)

Volunteer at the CSPCA, News writer at the McGill Tribune

Member of the Joint Senate-Board Committee on Equity (2008-2009)

YEAR & PROGRAM BILINGUALISM

OTHER POLITICAL EXPERIENCE RELEVANT McGILL EXPERIENCE

Model U.N.

Daily staff writer, Pearson House think tank, Women’s Studies journal

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

UNIV. AFFAIRS

INTERNAL

{PATERSON} {PLUMMER } { TALMI } { SFEIR } KADY

TODD

NATALIE

CHRISTINA

U2 Education, Secondary

U2 Arts, English

U2 Sciences, Chemistry U1 Arts, Political Science

Conversational French

Conversational French

Conversational French

None

TOP PRIORITIES

Internalize portfolio: focus events, engage groups that are more ignored on campus, target diverse groups

Work with faculties and student groups; events involving Montreal more, and vice versa; bring in guest speakers requested by faculties and organizations

Student independence in events, faculty- and campus-wide events, sustainability

Turn Get Ready McGill into a brand for all McGill events, implement a green roof on Shatner, creating a speaker series

SSMU EXPERIENCE

Education councillor, rep to SSMU (2010-2011)

AUS VP External (2009-1010), Equity committee

None

Student’s Society Programming Network, Faculty Olympics

OTHER POLITICAL EXPERIENCE

First-year rep to Education Undergraduate Society (2009-1010)

Helped bring MPCC Care Agreement to Arts

President of Chemistry Undergraduate Society (2010-2011)

None

RELEVANT McGILL EXPERIENCE

Former Daily editor, First Year office

Department of English Students’ Association, Varsity Ski Team, AUS charity week

YEAR & PROGRAM BILINGUALISM

Big Buddy, Local Business Director for Frosh

Logistical planning for events

9

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

CLUBS AND SERVICES { FRASER}

{FABIAN} MONIKA

YEAR & PROGRAM

CAROL

U2 Arts, Environment

U2 Arts, German and East Asian Studies

Speaks good French; fluent in Hungarian

Speaks good French; studies German and Japanese

Be apolitical to ensure all student groups receive equal treatment; make sure student groups are accountable by making club status renewal more rigorous; continue current plans for sustainibility

Increase communication and transparency; improve space in the Shatner building for clubs; make SSMU and the building more environmental, including installing a green roof or wall

SSMU EXPERIENCE

Current SSMU Interest Group Coordinator; organized the last SSMU Frosh; Environment Committee (2009-2010)

Volunteer Coordinator for Midnight Kitchen

OTHER POLITICAL EXPERIENCE

High school student council; has sat on committees for McGill Athletics

Part of Mobilization McGill and SSMU’s Mob Squab; active in organizing protests after the closure of Arch Café

RELEVANT McGILL EXPERIENCE

Executive member of Red Thunder; sits on the Student Athletics Council and the Campus Recreation Committee

Involved with the McGill Farmers’ Market; sat on the CKUT Programming committee and hosted a radio show

BILINGUALISM

TOP PRIORITIES

FINANCE AND OPERATIONS { PATEL }

{PROKOPETZ }

SHYAM

YEAR & PROGRAM

U2 Management, Marketing

U2 Management, Finance and Accounting

From Montreal, speaks well but “not perfectly”

Educated in French until Grade 5

TOP PRIORITIES

Make sure funding is allocated equitably; involve students more in SSMU Operations; move the Book Bazaar online as a marketplace for McGill students; give FERC a regular mandate

Increase funding for student groups; increase accountability and transparency; continue with current operations and strategy

SSMU EXPERIENCE

Current SSMU Funding Coordinator

None

OTHER POLITICAL EXPERIENCE

Student Council President in high school

Elected to community service coordinating position in high school

RELEVANT McGILL EXPERIENCE

Former member of VDay McGill and Borderless World Volunteers (Note: the Funding Coordinator is not allowed to be a member of clubs)

Does research for the Assistant Director of Finance at McGill

BILINGUALISM

10

STEFAN

PRESIDENT UNIV. AFFAIRS

A

EXTERNAL

T

he Daily endorses Maggie Knight on the basis that she has a concrete vision for her portfolio. Her past experience as a SSMU Environmental Commissioner is an important and positive predictor of initiatives that she has pledged to take on during her presidency.

Both candidates’ campaigns have been fairly rhetoric-heavy, focusing on transparency in particular – which is appropriate considering students’ and councillors’ fatigue with SSMU as an effective conduit for real change. But in order to combat student apathy, presidential candidates must promise more than “change,” and Knight has well-defined ideas for political participation that aim beyond tokenistic consultation. Knight clearly has the savvy to navigate the SSMU bureaucracy because she has written and seen the results of significant policy, like the current five-year plan to improve SSMU’s sustainability.

Knight’s leadership skills and cross-faculty perspective as an Arts and Science student will serve her well in guiding the student Senate Caucus. Both candidates were incredibly well spoken at the debates, and we trust that either would be tactful in negotiating student interests with the University. As a Clubs and Services rep to council, Knight is familiar with hot-button issues like the McGill name, food on campus, controversial events, and student space.

Our endorsement comes with one qualification: as the only student voice on McGill’s highest governing body, the Board of Governors, the SSMU President should unequivocally fight for accessible tuition. Both candidates would certainly be pragmatic on this front, but we hope that neither would lose sight of their principled stances against tuition hikes.

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

ENDORSEMENTS

lthough the two candidates for this position had similar platforms, our endorsement goes to Emily Clare, who has a stronger vision in terms of student consultation and issues such as tuition hikes and the Strategic Reframing Initiative (SRI).

Clare’s experience as SSMU Equity Commissioner will serve her well in the VP UA position, which requires an organized leader who can facilitate cooperation within the SSMU Senate Caucus and between different student groups. She also demonstrates a good understanding of her portfolio, as well as the ways to work within the position to introduce productive change.

Furthermore, Clare’s genuine outrage in regards to the administration’s stance in the SRI bodes well for her ability to push for greater student consultation with the administration. Her passion will be necessary to achieve any change with the University, which has shown little regard for student consultation this year. Similarly her plans to work with PGSS to provide a united front against tuition hikes will be particularly salient next year when Quebec’s tuition freeze is due to expire.

A major concern with Lauren Hudak was her support in a motion that was brought before SSMU Council this fall that would have attempted to bring a referendum before students that would wholly defund QPIRG. While taking a political stance against an organization is her prerogative, this motion was ruled completely out of order because it is out of the purview of SSMU to abolish funding for another independent campus organization. Her complete misunderstanding of the powers of SSMU is disconcerting, and does not inspire confidence in her abilities as VP UA. Clare has taken progressive political stances on controversial issues such as military research. She seems to understand the importance of being a student representative who can both facilitate the student voice, and stand on issues with conviction. We hope that she will use this passion to work hard to ensure strong student representation in the coming year.

A

s an acclaimed candidate Joël Pedneault easily won the most wholehearted of our endorsements. With three years of experience with SSMU and the portfolio, Pedneault is a stellar candidate for the job.

His previous work mobilizing against tuition increases and collaborative relationships with other Quebec student organizations will serve him, and us, well as we enter the last academic year before tuition is unfrozen in 2012. His platform of fighting tuition hikes highlighted out-of-province and international tuition fees, demonstrating his focus on keeping issues relevant to the students he will represent.

His realistic and broad view of the portfolio is admirable – especially his support of the General Assembly and his readiness to collaborate with other executives for a high-performance SSMU. Pedneault’s long-term vision for McGill will be an asset to the University and will bring depth to the executive. Pedneault is ready for next year’s biggest battles: rising tuition and overcoming student apathy. The portfolio is in capable hands.

11

INTERNAL

The McGill Daily | SSMU Elections 2011

ENDORSEMENTS T

he choice for VP Internal was not clear-cut, given that two candidates clearly stood out from the rest as far as their experience and platforms. Todd Plummer, with his experience with the Milton-Parc community and AUS and refreshing take on the portfolio, would be both ready to handle issues like diversity, and work hard to push for more McGill student involvement outside of the “bubble.”

Kady Paterson, on the other hand, has the most direct SSMU experience and has the most concrete and creative vision for the Internal portfolio. Emphasizing “internalizing” the Internal portfolio, Paterson – a former Daily editor – has several specific plans for how to improve the portfolio, including stressing fiscal responsibility in events, creating a wide array of more diverse events focused more on small-scale success, and reaching out to first year students, a demographic often ignored at McGill.

Given these considerations, The Daily feels that Paterson clearly emerges as the stronger choice for the position, because as a current and active member of SSMU and a diverse array of campus groups, we believe she will be able to build on her knowledge and strengthen the Internal portfolio. It is also important to note that her voting record at Council indicates her ability to compromise when appropriate, something that may serve her well when dealing with a diverse array of student groups and other members of the McGill community.

12

FINANCE&OPS

T

CLUBS&SERVS

Kady Paterson is a former Daily editor, and those current editors with close relationships did not participate in her endorsement process.

W

he role of VP Finance and Operations can be an understated one, only becoming high-profile when controversy arises over unethical investments or dramatic financial losses. That’s not to say it isn’t important – the VP Finance is responsible for making sure the several hundred dollars collected from each student every year are used responsibly and effectively by SSMU. Shyam Patel has the relevant background and concrete vision to make a fantastic VP Finance.

Currently working as the SSMU Funding Coordinator, Patel has been responsible for allocating money to clubs and other student groups. That’s a big part of the Finance and Operations portfolio, but Patel has made a point of shadowing current VP Nick Drew in order to pick up the skills he hasn’t encountered in his current job.

Though his platform doesn’t contain any sweeping changes, it hits all the necessary points. In addition to trying to emulate the currently very successful Gerts and Minicourses, his plans to turn to SSMU Book Bazaar, the replacement for the disastrous Haven Books, into an online general-purpose marketplace for McGill students is also very welcome.

Though he wants to move cautiously before cutting ties with companies, Patel insisted strongly on the importance of ethical investments. This is especially important considering that his opponent, Stefan Prokopetz, told onlookers at the candidate debates he wasn’t “an ethical kind of guy about my investing.” Patel on the other hand wants to give the Financial Ethics Review Committee (FERC) a mandate to meet as a regular committee rather than the once a semester, ad hoc schedule it has now.

hen it came to endorsing a candidate for VP Clubs and Services, The Daily was torn. Both candidates present significant strengths, and both have major weaknesses. While Monika Fabian has the necessary experience for the job, her apolitical stance is troubling. Meanwhile Carol Fraser’s activist background and vision for changes to SSMU are an exciting prospect, but she lacks concrete experience for the very demanding and technical Clubs and Services portfolio.

The current Interest Groups Coordinator, Fabian is responsible for managing club status applications and chairing the Clubs and Services committee. This, along with a host of other experience with SSMU and other groups on campus gives her the necessary tools for the hugely demanding day-to-day tasks of VP C&S, including overseeing more than 300 student groups and the operations of the Shatner building.

While the Clubs and Services portfolio is often the most managerial in terms of its day-to-day responsibilities, Fabian’s stated desire to remove politics from the job is extremely concerning. Student groups need to be treated fairly and equally, but the VP C&S also has a seat on SSMU Council, a political body. Moreover, it’s absolutely essential for all execs to work together on advocating for students’ best interests on all levels, including presenting a united front to the administration and outside bodies.

The second candidate for the position, Carol Fraser, is running a campaign with great ideas for political involvement and innovation, like a green roof for the Shatner building – and more communication with clubs. She wants to push for more grassroots and non-hierarchical channels for students to get involved with SSMU, and she’s also the only one of the candidates to mention the importance of students’ right McGill name in her platform, a key example of why political involvement matters for the position.

All that said, she has nowhere near the amount of experience Fabian does with the actual operations of SSMU. The Clubs and Services portfolio is highly demanding, and requires a deep technical grasp of the workings of the society. And, while it’s possible to learn on the job, whoever wins does need to hit the ground running as soon as they take office. Finally, there’s no way to know if Fraser’s familiarity with non-hierarchical environments like Midnight Kitchen, where she’s the Volunteer Coordinator, will translate well into the highly codified and rigid structure of the SSMU bureaucracy.

Carol Fraser is Commentary editor Courtney Graham’s roommate. Graham did not participate in the Clubs and Services endorsement process.

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

M

ontreal’s sorting facility is located on the other side of Autoroute 40 in St. Michel, where RSC sorts all of the city’s residential recycling. Five private contractors are hired to collect recyclable waste around the city and bring them to the RSC’s sorting facility. On any given day, this totals 125 to 150 truckloads from the metropolitan Montreal area. These trucks dump all of the city’s collected materials into the reception zone of a massive warehouse where mountains of paper, plastic, aluminum, and glass are piled high around the room.

“This is finished material,” said Patrice Hamel, the Plant Manager, pointing at bales of paper stacked in tall columns as we walked across the catwalk. “The other material and categories,” he said, pointing to the heaps of unsorted plastic, “are dropped on this bin, and then they feed it onto the conveyor.”

We then walked through a series of rooms, squeezing between large machines and conveyor belts and speaking loudly over the constant industrial drone. “The workers sort the plastic with the rest of the fibres,” said Hamel as he led me through the facility’s confusing labyrinth. “In here, I have a magnet to pick up the steel cans. Here, I have two optical sorters. This machine sorts the different types of plastic.

The other sorter sorts the rest of the plastic, aluminum, and trash.”

Toward the end of the line, an Eddy Current separator divides the metal that mistakenly got on the plastic line with a large magnet. We stood and watched as plastic slowly dropped down a pipe until the separator transferred a gigantic ball of aluminum into a different pipe.

Hamel then led us back out into the warehouse. “After they drop to the first floor, it goes to the baler compactor to build a bale of finished product. Afterward, the forklift puts it in the container. They load it into a dry box trailer, or in an overseas shipping container.”

Sorting is only the first step of the recycling process. The next step happens in a different processing facility, sometimes here in Quebec but often somewhere in China or India.

Recycled plastic is shipped to a processing company where the plastic is washed, shredded, melted, and extruded to create small pellets that are sold to customers who use the recycled plastic to make their products.

Recycled paper needs to be de-inked – which is done either at a paper mill or at separate de-inking facilities. Recycled paper is de-baled, again sorted through a series of conveyor belts, and shredded into tiny pulp fibres. Then chemicals are added to remove any ink from the fibre. When post-consumer paper has been turned into the de-inked pulp, it can be used at paper mills to produce a new product.

Aluminum is cut into smaller pieces, chemically or mechanically cleaned, and then melted into molten aluminum in a furnace. After metal impurities are chemically removed, other metals may be added for alloy specifications and then the molten aluminum is poured out of the furnace. Glass goes through a similar process: it has to be cleaned, melted, and re-blown.

All recycled material goes through a heavy industrial sorting process. It gets shipped to another facility – sometimes on the other side of the globe – and then goes through another heavy industrial process to produce new material. In one year, the RSC receives approximately 200,000 tonnes of recycled waste from the metropolitan Montreal area.

The sorting plant can process 35 tonnes per hour and operates six days per week at 19 hours per day. Forty five trucks carrying dry storage trailers or shipping containers full of recycled material leave each day to be sold to local vendors or overseas markets in Asia.

A 2009 report from the World Shipping Council estimates that the carbon emissions for a ship to carry one tonne of cargo one kilometre is 10 grams; a tractor-trailer emits 59 grams of carbon to carry one tonne of cargo one kilometre, and airfreight emits 470 grams of carbon to carry one tonne of cargo one kilometre. The distance from Montreal to Hong Kong, where much of our refuse gets shipped, is over 12,000 kilometres.

I

n January 2009, the City of Montreal signed a ten-year contract with RSC for zero dollars for the treatment of recycled material. The only cost to taxpayers is the inevitable garbage that is placed in recycling bins, which costs the city roughly $7 per tonne – far less than the garbage disposal contract, which costs the city $70 per tonne.

Alain Leduc is an Environmental Advisor for the City of Montreal. Despite his claim that recycling is “without a doubt” a major aspect of the city’s green initiatives, he also recognizes the adverse environmental impact of the recycling process.

The contract’s environmental stipulations have less strength than one would hope, and as it stands they act more like a suggestion than a mandate. RSC has to sell its material to local companies if it can’t get a better price abroad – but if it can, it’s not bound to keeping the product in Canada.

“We can’t oblige [RSC] to lose money to stay in Montreal,” said Leduc Hamel estimates that roughly 50 per cent of Montreal’s recycled waste is shipped to Asia.

Asian markets are more favourable to recyclers because they have better technology to accept lower-grade materials, and can process them in greater volumes. “In Asia, it is not difficult to receive [lower quality material] because they re-sort the materials at their plant,” said Hamel. “In Quebec, when [processing plants] receive the fibres, they like to have quality…

You don’t have enough industry for picking up all the materials that this plant recycles. For this reason I export material to Asia or India.”

“I like having a local market, but they don’t have the same technology as they do overseas,” admitted Hamel.

When it comes to selling recycled materials to Asia, it is sometimes an inevitable necessity for companies like RSC when the choice is between trans-Pacific shipping and a landfill. If there are no local customers that have the capacity or technology to accept lowergrade recycled materials, the options are few.

C

ascades is a Quebec-based company, and one of the largest producers of paper products in North America. It markets itself as being committed to sustainably producing paper entirely from recycled materials. Of the 2.2 million tonnes of paper produced per year, 1.4 million tonnes are collected by Cascades independently, and another 800,000 tonnes are purchased from municipalities and other companies like RSC. “Cascades is probably one of the companies best known for its carbon footprint,” said Hubert Bolduc, VP Communications and Public Affairs. Cascades consumes less water for paper production than most Canadian companies, using only 9.7 cubic metres per tonne of paper produced compared to the Canadian average of sixty cubic metres per tonne. “It makes us a leader in sustainability because of the way we produce our material,” said Bolduc.

Yet while Cascades is committed to green initiatives, inevitably there is waste that goes into the process. Some of the recycled paper they receive is not of high enough quality to be used in producing new materials. This lower-quality paper is used for low-grade products or thrown in landfills. Bolduc estimates that 15 per cent of the paper they receive goes to waste.

The problem of throwing recyclables in landfills is not exclusive to companies that have to throw out their low-quality materials. When there is no buyer or storage space, sorting facilities and transfer stations have no other choice. Meanwhile, Leduc estimated that the City of Montreal only collected 50 per cent of the recyclable materials consumed in 2009. That means half of the recyclable products consumed by Montreal residents were thrown away.

P

roducts made from recycled material are marketed to have a certain cachet, and are often sold at a premium. At your average office supply store like Staples, recycled paper could cost up to 35 per cent more than standard paper.

Still, the paper industry is rampant with green washing. Some “recycled” paper is made from as little as 30 per cent recycled material, while other paper is marketed as “eco-responsible” despite containing no recycled material at all: “eco responsible” simply means it is recyclable.

Bolduc estimated that tissue products in North America is a $10.5-billion industry, but only half of that is made from recycled materials. A report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that in 2007, only 37 per cent of paper products produced in the United States came from recycled fibre.

Right now, the problems that our recycling infrastructure faces are not being adequately addressed by the markets.

Companies are not producing from recycled materials at a high enough rate and when they do, they charge customers more money for it. Asian markets process more recycled materials than North America cur-

11

rently does, but with that comes the problem of the carbon emissions of shipping to and from Asia.

In spite of the wasteful practices of the industry, Bolduc is not optimistic for an immediate and radical change in its operations. “Carbon footprint is the next challenge for the whole industry,” said Bolduc. “It is the biggest threat to competitiveness because companies will have to make decisions based on its carbon footprint. The minute Obama announces carbon emissions restrictions, it will be a very difficult turnaround for all industries.”

The U.S. and Canadian governments have been dragging their feet on climate change policies. In both countries, plans for a cap and trade system have floated around, but have never gotten off the ground. The Harper government wants its climate change policy to coincide with the U.S. government’s and is waiting for the U.S. to take the lead. Until then, Bolduc thinks the industry will continue on with its current practices. “There are no incentives for organizations that encourage them to try to make efforts,” said Bolduc.

“The minute Canada and the U.S. announce carbon ceilings, people will start making efforts. But aside from a few early adapters and companies trying to look trendy, there isn’t much incentive for industries to do better. When we have a carbon exchange, then it’s going to change the whole dynamics of the market.”

R

ecycling, while flawed, is still a markedly better option than doing nothing. The EPA estimates that recycled paper creates 35 per cent less water pollution and 74 per cent less air pollution than virgin paper production. Recycling aluminum emits only 5 per cent of the emissions of new aluminum production, according to the International Aluminum Institute. The problem right now is that much of the recyclable products we consume are not actually recycled, be it because of people throwing things in the garbage instead of the recycling bin, or because of sorting facilities throwing away the materials they are unable to sell or process.

The City of Montreal does recognize these problems and is making some efforts to combat them: they have invested money in distributing larger recycling bins around the city to allow for a higher collection rate of recycled materials in order to hopefully bring the sad mark of 50 per cent up to their goal of 60 per cent, or even up to the 70 per cent rate recently proposed by the Quebec provincial government.

Most people acknowledge that consuming at such an alarming rate is not good for the long-term health of the environment.

The deforestation and carbon emissions that come from producing new products are damaging and the problem is exacerbated when products that can be recycled are thrown in the garbage. The word recycle implies that there is a loop of consumption, collection, and then re-consumption, but right now too much of that is just garbage.

with

the tax experts

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Science+Technology

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

13

From concept to commercialization LED contact lenses offer a new reality for people with glaucoma and diabetes Tamkinat Mirza

Science+Technology Writer

W

hile medical innovation may have the potential to move us into a world where cyborg implants are the norm, contact lenses that provide more than better vision may still be a distant reality.

Recently, Babak Parviz of the University of Washington in Seattle created contact lenses containing light emitting devices (LEDs).

Parviz’s existing prototype can be used to monitor ocular pressure changes caused by glaucoma, and also to monitor glucose levels in people with diabetes. Glucose level readings are taken from tear fluid by micro-electrodes, and the LED array then sends the continuous information wirelessly to a portable device.

While Parviz’s motivating philosophy focuses on the medical possibilities of LED contacts, research to merge LEDs with other microelectronics is currently underway.

Eventually, this could mean creating wearable graphic displays. The images would appear when the lenses are switched on, and when turned off, they would allow for normal, unobstructed vision.

Developed in 2008, this technology is still relatively new and remains under trial to determine its

potential risks. Though the lenses represent major progress, it may be several years before the technology becomes commercially available.

While discussing the commercial aspects of the technology, Parviz stressed the need for continued, rigorous testing. “[The contact lenses are] definitely in trial...right now, we’re doing tests on animals and everything has been okay. All the animals have been safe, and at some point this has to transition to human trials, to make sure that there are no harmful side effects or any sort of unpredicted effects... before a transition to the market.”

In contrast to Parviz’s reluctance to commercialize LED contacts just yet, Sensimed, a Swiss company, has already launched contact lenses with a similar technology.

Combining medical research with microelectronics, the lenses monitor ocular pressure fluctuations in people who have – or are at risk for – glaucoma. But by focusing on mass-production and global retail, Sensimed’s philosophy seems largely profit-driven.

Beyond the medical aspects of LED contacts, there are huge opportunities for commercializing any technology that has the potential to realize the humanmachine hybrid so frequently encountered in science-fiction.

Parviz recognizes this commer-

cial interest, which could only amplify over the years. “The reception for LED contact lenses has been very positive. There has been tremendous interest... for making displays in one form or the other...we’ve made clear over the past period of time that it takes time to get these out the door, to make sure that they’re functional, [that] they’re safe. It takes time,” he said.

Much of the time required for such a project is due to the bureaucratic red tape involved, and the sporadic nature of technological progress. The process, Parviz said, depends on “how technology rolls, and getting permission for medical tests and [Food and Drug Administration] approvals.”

However, delays are also found within the research process itself, since increasing the level of sophistication of the prototype is a challenge that must still be tackled. “We can make very simple displays right now, which maybe have one or a handful of light sources that can show people very basic information,” Parviz said.

While researchers have included blue and red pixels into the lenses, green pixels have yet to be incorporated – only then will full-colour displays become a definite possibility. “High resolution, colour display is many years away, at least...none

Olivia Messer | The McGill Daily

of these things can show up in the market in the next year or so,” Parviz added.

Although colour displays may be a distant reality, the medical aspects of LED contacts are revolutionary for people with – and at risk for – diabetes or glaucoma. Being able to monitor glucose levels and ocular pressure on the go is undoubtedly a life-changing innovation.

However, since it is a relatively new technology, there is a profound need for extensive testing (and human trials) before the product is widely commercialized.

Although Sensimed seems to lack any reluctance to sell these lenses, it appears far more pragmatic to follow Parviz’s philosophy – after all, he is the accredited creator of the technology.

Top five inspiring technologies to watch for in 2011 Jenna Blumenthal explores advancements worth paying attention to The laser reversed

Self-replicating synthetic life

Collaborators from Princeton University and Texas A&M University have found that by focusing a laser on oxygen, the molecules break down into their constituent atoms and themselves become excited to the point that they spontaneously emit infrared light along the same path as the original beam.

So? Well the returning beam is not merely a reflection of the original light; it contains identifying information about the properties of the medium it has passed through. This “backwards laser” has the potential to detect gases in the atmosphere, and is sensitive enough to find acute signs of methane from a gas leak or remotely detect hidden explosives. Though the principles of the experiment have yet to be extrapolated to the larger distances of realistic measurements, it is a notable achievement for physicists, with exciting possible applications.

Biologist Craig Venter and his research team have come one step further toward the creation of artificial life by developing the world’s first self-replicating bacterial cell whose genome is entirely made up of synthetic material.

Genetic engineering is not a novel concept, but the 1.08 million base pair synthetic genome is the largest chemical structure ever synthesized in the laboratory and inserted into a cell. Though the artificial DNA is an almost exact replica of the bacteria’s natural genes, Venter’s project aims to reprogram organisms to produce bioengineered versions with useful properties. This includes the production of industrial or pharmaceutical compounds, supplying a renewable form of bioenergy, and improving the quality of water.

Implantable medical sensors (that aren’t rejected from the body faster than Four Loko) Biomedical engineer Fiorenzo Omenetto at Tufts University is changing the way medical information is captured. Since biocompatibility remains the biggest obstacle for implanted devices, Omenetto works primarily with silk, which degrades easily and is unlikely to elicit a strong immunological response from the body. The silk serves as a support for arrays of electrical devices, and can be implanted close to body tissue to monitor vital signs, take blood samples, or even deliver drugs. Engineers have already designed silk-based electrodes that make precise electrical measurements of the brain. The silk dissolves when doused in saline solution, leaving the electrode array to produce high quality signals without damaging the tissue. According to Omenetto, the device will be ready for human testing in two to three years.

Fighting fossil fuels with bioengineering Although a genetic engineering project has already appeared on this list, with the price of gas well over a dollar per litre with no signs of dropping, it is encouraging that researchers are pursuing alternative sources of fuel. Joule Biotechnologies, founded

by Noubar Afeyan, uses the latest achievements in engineering biology to design photosynthetic microorganisms that convert carbon dioxide into ethanol or diesel. The use of conventional biofuel is hindered by the large amount of water and high-quality land needed to grow the plants it is derived from, but Joule’s microbes grow in photobioreactors that require no fresh water, and occupy a fraction of the space. Joule’s plans are impressive – to have it available for commercial use by 2012 – but it is too soon to tell if costs will be competitive enough to make living independently from fossil fuels a reality.

Wheelchair users walk Researchers from Berkeley Bionics have developed a wearable bionic device, dubbed eLEGSs, that gives those ordinarily confined to a wheelchair the ability to stand up and walk.

The robotic “exoskeleton” is controlled by crutches and is secured to the user by a few simple clips and straps. The exciting future for this technology lies in rehabilitation: because of the lightweight and usable design, those recently injured can perform exercises practically anywhere at anytime, developing muscle memory for future unassisted movement. The product will be offered to rehabilitation centers by this summer, and available for personal use as early as next year.

Make sure to look out for more top five lists from Jenna.

14Science+Technology

Get smart

Delivering electricity using a smart grid could save energy and the Earth Prose Encounters of the Nerd Kind Andrew Komar

andrewkomar@mcgilldaily.com

F

or life in the 21st century, it is impossible to put a dollar value on the necessity of reliable electrical power. Electricity underlies every aspect of our modern lives, and yet the grid used to deliver this crucial commodity has not substantially changed since the 1890s, after its invention by Nikola “Electric Jesus” Tesla.

The current electricity delivery model is a source-sink one, meaning that a few giant power plants passively monitor the demand for electricity caused by net usage, and turn generators on or off accordingly. From a consumer perspective, your personal “sink” is monitored with a metre that is checked a couple of times a month and you are charged accordingly with a flat rate.

But the real cost of producing electricity is far from a flat rate. Over the day, as people go about their business, the net amount of electricity used rises relative to times when everybody is asleep, resulting in “peak power” consumption, such as when consumers begin making dinner as they collectively return home from work. This peak power

is particularly noticeable during hot summers, when millions of people turn on their energy-intensive air conditioners.

Base load power plants (like coal and nuclear) can economically only run 24/7, so additional demand is met using peaker plants, gas-fired variants that are only run for a few hours a year. With peaker plants, the actual cost of electricity will fluctuate throughout the day, but the source-sink paradigm does not shift these additional costs or savings onto consumers.

The vulnerability of the system was perhaps most apparent during the Northeast blackout of 2003.

Hot August days were causing millions of people to ramp up the air conditioning, bringing more peaker plants online. As more power flowed through the already taxed transmission lines, lines in Ohio sagged low enough to be shorted out by tree branches.

To pick up the slack, electricity was rerouted through other lines, shorting them out and causing a cascading failure that ultimately plunged 55 million people across the northeatern U.S. and Ontario into darkness, and cost the affected region an estimated $6 billion in losses.

Enter the smart grid: an emerging set of technologies that can make electricity consumption more efficient and economically viable. The

Rosie Dobson for The McGill Daily

smart grid would overturn the source-sink model by making every electricity user into a potential producer through the use of a two-way metering system. Monitors deployed through the grid would allow supply and demand of electricity to be measured in real time, resulting in a market-driven pricing of electricity.

As a result of this real-time pricing, consumers would be financially rewarded for using electricity in

off-peak hours, resulting in lower electrical bills. A smart grid would also be able to re-route power intelligently in the case of emergencies like ice storms, falling trees, or even terrorist attacks, greatly decreasing the likelihood of a failure like the 2003 blackout.

The smart grid would also be a boon for electrical cars. Real-time pricing would allow car owners to recharge their batteries during off-peak hours at low cost. During high demand, car owners could sell excess battery power back to the grid at a profit, simultaneously reducing the need for the peaker plants – and consumption in general – through a distributed supply.

The batteries in just one million electric cars have a potential electrical capacity of about a gigawatt hour, which amounts to approximately 15 per cent of the average daily energy use by Canadians.

Potentially enough to take the “peak” off of peak power.

Small-scale energy, such as that made from personal solar panels, wind turbines, or the not yet commercialized micronukes, would also fare well under a smart grid system. If combined with sufficient battery capacity, these small producers would be able to sell their electricity at market pricing for profit at any scale, lowering investment barriers for individuals and small businesses alike. Greater small-scale power distribution would minimize the need to transmit power over the vast distances it currently travels today, such as the 11,000 kilometers of lines that provide power to Quebec alone. Losses because of line heating and physical distance in these transmission lines amount to about 6 per cent of all electricity produced. The physical length of transmission wires are particularly vulnerable to space weather phenomenon, like the Quebec blackout of 1989, which was caused by a huge solar flare.

A smart grid would cheaper, more robust, more reliable, and greener than the one we have today.

The smart grid Telegestore project in Italy, which consists of 27 million connected metres, provides annual net savings of 500 million euros (around $680 million) every year. Based on an estimate published by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, the present value of a smart grid can been conservatively estimated to be $7.5 billion to Canadians – not including the cultural, environmental or societal benefits included with radically rethinking how we consume power.

Electrical demand will only increase in a growing, developing and heating world, and the very least we can do is provide it in a way that isn’t prone to catastrophic failure. It’s what Electric Jesus would have wanted.

SCI-DE BAR

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

Towards Autonomy: Exploring the Clinical, Legal, and Ethical Aspects of Mental Capacity Monday March 7, 6 p.m.

Chancellor Day Hall, Room 312 Panellists discuss how coordinating different professions could help those with diminished mental capacity while minimally restricting their autonomy.

Supergravity and String/Ftheory Vacua in Six Dimensions Wednesday March 9, 12 p.m.

Rutherford Physics, room 326 MIT professor of Physics Washington Taylor discusses recent results.

Cutting Edge Lectures in Science: Perfect Model Prediction, Science, and Aesthetics Thursday March 10, 6 p.m.

Redpath Museum, Auditorium Mathematician David Orell talks about the history and challenges of prediction.

Green Careers Week: Environmental Career Fair Thursday March 10, 11 a.m.

Brown Building, 5001

Freaky Friday: Hematophagy – what is it with blood sucking?

Friday March 11, 5 p.m.

Auditorium, Redpath Museum Murray Humphries, associate professor of wildlife biology at McGill, discusses the blood sucking habits of various organisms. Followed by the film Interview with a Vampire.

Uncovering the Brain’s Role in Food and Obesity Symposium Friday March 18, 8 a.m.

Montreal Neurological Institute, Jeanne Timmins Amphitheatre Interdisciplinary conference exploring the links between the brain, hormones, behaviour, genes, and motivation.

L’Heure Juste - Seminar with Linda Duncan on Bill C-469 Wednesday March 23, 12:30 p.m.

Chancellor Day Hall, Room 202 NDP member of Parliament Linda Duncan discusses the Environmental Bill of Rights.

Neuro Film Series: Rain Man Thursday March 24, 6:30 p.m.

Montreal Neurological Institute, Jeanne Timmins Auditorium Hosted by Gabriel Leonard, clinical neuropsychologist of the Cognitive Neuroscience unit of the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital.

Quebec Biodiversity Until Monday April 25 Redpath Museum, Dawson Gallery Exhibition focusing on the importance of the province’s natural environment.

Sports

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

15

On the offensive

Female sports fans are interested in more than just the athletes Caught offside Katie Esmonde

katieesmonde@mcgilldaily.com

D

uring Montreal’s latest playoff run, I saw a woman proudly wearing a babypink t-shirt with “Canadiens Puck Bunny” emblazoned across the front. My reaction was strong – I remember thinking to myself, “Why would a woman allow anyone to call her a puck bunny, let alone want to refer to herself as one?” In my experience, the term has always been used to insult women, and is not in the least congratulatory or complimentary.

The ambivalence associated with the term likely stems from its definitional ambiguity; many people do not agree on precisely what being a “puck bunny” means.

The Canadian Oxford Dictionary defines it as “a young female hockey fan, especially one motivated more by a desire to meet the players than by an interest in hockey.” I suppose that someone forgot to tell them that most female hockey fans would be infuriated to be called a puck bunny, or that it is extremely sexist to call all young female hockey fans puck bunnies, while young male hockey fans are simply “hockey fans.” Under this model, male hockey fans are authentic and neutral, while female fans are seen as less legitimate than their male counterparts.

In a strange reversal of the world order, the UrbanDictionary definition is less offensive and more correct than the previous definition. According to a

contributor on the site: “A ‘hockey fan,’ usually female, who only likes the sport because they hope to/already slept with the players on a team, and generally knows nothing about it. Or pretty much any girl that only likes the Penguins because they have Sidney Crosby.”

In other words, puck bunnies are women whose hockey interest is primarily directed towards having sex with players as opposed to what goes on during the game. Since the term “puck bunny” is often used to dismiss female fans as ignorant fan girls, it is easy to see why a passionate, dedicated, and knowledgeable female fan would balk at the suggestion that she is more interested in what is inside Sidney Crosby’s jock strap than the latest results.

The repeated dismissal of female fans as puck bunnies likely stems from the common assumption that women’s interest in sports is always related to men: women are fans because their boyfriends are, because they want men to be interested in them, or because they think that the players are hot. Evidently, the idea that a woman can be interested in something irrespective of any male influence is too revolutionary for some.

But even so, does it make a woman any less of a fan if her partner introduced her to hockey? Many women aren’t hockey fans simply because they aren’t expected to be in the same way that men are, and are therefore exposed to hockey considerably less.

These women are dismissed as hockey fans simply because they took up an interest later in life, despite the fact that their boyfriend may have been

the first person to expose them to the joys of the sport.

Women’s fanship is further discounted under the assumption that sexual attraction to players and genuine knowledge and passion for the game are always mutually exclusive.

In a culture where hockey players are deeply loved, admired, and are considered to be the pinnacle of masculinity, many straight women (though I am certainly not suggesting that this includes all women fans) may have certain, shall we say, “romantic” feelings toward the players that they watch every week. What it means to be a fan was defined by men, and therefore the sexual detachment from players that is demanded of fans is possible for straight men (and hockey is a very homophobic sport, making it an unfriendly environment for queer men anyway) in ways that it is often not for straight women. The belief that a desire to marry Sidney Crosby (and honestly, who wouldn’t want to marry Sidney Crosby?) automatically renders women less knowledgeable of the game is just another way that women are denied legitimacy in hockey fan circles.

Regardless, women hockey fans are obviously a varied group. Many may have no interest in the players whatsoever. My point is that the definition of a fan must be expanded, and that the fan hierarchies that almost invariably place men over women must be challenged. Not calling women puck bunnies is one way that this can be done.

That said, there are women out there who would embrace the puck bunny label. Puck bunny status can be achieved by doing anything from

Roxana Parsa for The McGill Daily

dating a couple of hockey players in high school, to sneaking up to hotel rooms or frequenting the bars, restaurants, and clubs where NHL hockey players are known to go in an effort to bed said hockey players. The sexual choices of puck bunnies should be as respected as any other; their sex lives are no one’s business but their own, and as long as sex is consensual, respectful, and honest, I don’t see why anyone should have the right to judge.

Unfortunately, calling these women puck bunnies is very often a form of judgment. In a society where female sexual agency is more often treated with contempt than respect, and sexuality outside of long-term, heterosexual monogamous relationship is thought to be immoral, calling someone a puck bunny is just another

way to slut-shame.

Ultimately, calling someone a puck bunny is almost always an insult; either it accuses them of not knowing anything about hockey, or it refers to their sexual pursuit of hockey players in a judgmental manner. Can the term be re-appropriated? Some women, including several female hockey bloggers, are attempting to do so by proudly referring to themselves as puck bunnies while simultaneously brandishing their knowledge of the game, which often surpasses that of men. Will this give women any more legitimacy in the hockey world?

Unlikely.

Personally, I wish the term a swift and painful death. It has insulted and de-legitimized women for long enough.

The future of soccer in North America Reza Rasool

Sports Writer

T

he popular perception of a soccer match is its representation on television. To quote Marshall McLuhan, “the medium is the message.”

North America has had a relationship with soccer that can best be described as indifference to the point of derision. The sport is a distant fifth behind the popularity of the NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL. Big name soccer stars in the twilights of their careers – such as Pelé, George Best, and Lothar Matthaus – graced the American soccer league in its infancy, but the sport has never truly managed to take off in the eyes of the media and the public. The fans didn’t understand it, and the media felt it was a no-hoper with a lack of commercial breaks and a paucity of advertising opportunities. But all that is starting to change.

Why has soccer grown so quickly in the last few years? There are two reasons: demand for coverage of the game seems to be on the rise, and the quality of the play itself is improving All the baby boomers that played soccer during their high school years in the seventies and eighties have grown up and maintained their interest in the game. They have passed that love onto their kids, and are now demanding more soccer on TV. The internet and sports networks have tapped into this demand: TV stations such as Fox and ESPN have soccer specific channels, while GolTV provides commentary in both English and Spanish. These networks provide weekly coverage of the English, Spanish, and Italian leagues, as well as international matches.

A further look at ESPN’s coverage of soccer in the early part of the last decade shows a marked difference compared to recent broadcasts.

Commentators could previously be heard using unnatural ice hockey

and basketball references in an attempt to engage American audiences, but only succeeded in making soccer a slower and more inept version of these other sports.

In recent international competitions, however, ESPN finally got on the ball with commentary done by experienced English commentators, no ads covering half the screen, and live uninterrupted coverage the whole way through. The effect of their new approach was marked: the viewership in the U.S. for the 2010 World Cup Final was equal to that of the deciding game of the 2010 World Series – both drawing just over 15 million viewers.

This increase in demand has led to the second part of the answer: the quality of soccer. North America’s Major League Soccer (MLS), which was started in the mid-nineties, has finally found its feet as an independent soccer league. Building soccer-friendly stadiums, nurturing young talent, and promoting the franchise brand has meant that the league is now able to

attract some of the best and most marketable players in the world (Step forward Mr. David Beckham!).

The league has also expanded significantly, and has twenty teams planned for the 2012 season – as many as the English and Spanish leagues. With such a prominent platform, players have been able to take their talents to Europe with American soccer stars such as Clint Dempsey, Brad Friedel, Freddie Adu, and Jozy Altidore appearing regularly on TV broadcasts of European league games. Their experience in some of the best leagues in the world has contributed to the success of the national team with America making the quarter finals of the 2002 World Cup and reaching the second round in 2010.

Another factor is the growing numbers of American businessmen who now own European clubs. This has led to top teams from England and Spain coming to America during the offseason for exhibition matches, thus granting American viewers the chance

to see the best players in action.

Perhaps the world’s most important change is that American soccer administrators have shown the ability to adapt. The issue of adapting to the American market, while maintaining the sport’s originality was the biggest obstacle to gaining a foothold.

Corporate sponsorships on the front of shirts have also been allowed, thus generating more money for the league. David Beckham has been a case in point: the arrival of a global superstar and Hollywood poster boy has been perfectly timed to give a further boost to the game’s already burgeoning popularity. It has enabled the MLS to enter the mainstream media, and allowed soccer players a share of the limelight usually reserved for point guards and quarterbacks.

The MLS still has a long way to go when compared to the Big Four, but considering it is currently the most played youth sport in North America, the future looks very bright.

Culture

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

16

Sht tht wll fck wth yr mnd

Aquil Virani’s perception-bending solo show marks a first for the Fridge Door Gallery Christina Colizza

The McGill Daily

F

or the first time in its history, the Fridge Door Gallery at McGill is hosting a solo show featuring the work of visual artist Aquil Virani, U2 Philosophy and Humanistic Studies and a Daily staffer. Currently located in the Arts Lounge in the basement of Leacock, the Fridge Door Gallery is a student-run venue that offers McGill artists the opportunity to submit and showcase their art in a public space. Helping to fill the gap left by McGill’s lack of a Fine Arts department, Fridge Door promotes student art through equal opportunity submissions and exhibitions.

In an email, members of the gallery’s executive committee explained that, “The Fridge Door Gallery values the dedication and dependability of the loyal artists we have worked with over the years.

When we were approached by Aquil Virani, who has been an active artist in the Fridge Door community for the last couple of years, we felt this would be a great way to show our gratitude to such a talented friend of the gallery. It was a brave proposition, but we thought that it would be a great idea.”

They further explained that “Mindfcuk” was an addition to their biannual shows and that the solo show did not detract from the exposure of other artists. “If anything, hosting an event like this demonstrates what sort of venues are available on campus for anyone interest-

ed in the visual arts... We are open to any artist that takes the initiative to start something innovative and Aquil happened to be the first,” they revealed. Upon asking Virani about the exhibit’s potential exclusivity, he replied that, “the Fridge Door Gallery is about supporting student artists by an unwritten mandate…I am dedicated, and I have no problem being confident about my commitment to visual art.”

Unlike previous Fridge Door shows, featuring a single artist enables a more cohesive theme and connection between the works.

The Fridge Door coordinators explained, “It was really great to be able to host a show where the pieces worked so well together. This is one of the constant struggles we have with the FDG exhibitions – finding a common thread within the pieces in order to put together a cohesive show.”

As the title of the show suggests, “Mindfcuk’s” intention is were to visually trick the viewer, to screw with their head. On first walking into the gallery, two scrolls entitled Eyegasm block the way into the rest of the room. Virani’s brightlycoloured scrolls create a whimsical beginning, forcing the viewer into an interpretative mindset before they have even taken off their coat.

In Virani’s words it “punches your mind right in the face.” He describes how at first, Eyegasm looks like a bunch of lines. Maybe an eye. At a step back, you realize that one design is an eye, or a mouth. The two are positioned in a triangular fashion that is repeatable both hori-

Mike Mszanski for The McGill Daily

zontally and diagonally. If you just tile it, it’s almost like wallpaper in a sense. It worked out really well and I noticed that there are certain features of the eye and the mouth that make them work well together.” His work plays with the assumptions one’s brain makes upon initial viewing and beckons for further contemplation. Eyes flow into mouths, two faces appear on one head, and shoulders become another figure’s neckline.

Eager to promote viewer engagement, Virani offered artist statements next to each piece, detailing his intentions and the

tricks and treats each has to offer.

The statements made the art accessible but seemed to give away his secrets. Shouldn’t a magician keep his magic to himself? Not according to Virani. He explained how he would rather “engage with the viewer and be extremely transparent and informative so that they can get the art work and really understand the depth and the story behind it, instead of having the viewer confused, unimpressed, disengaged, disinterested because they don’t know enough about it.”

People often find themselves confused in modern art galleries

as to what the works mean. Virani’s current show “Mindfcuk” offers a fresh sense of confusion by making the art extremely accessible, but tricks the mind through his forms and flowing figures. Think, “What does this mean” versus. “Is that what I think it is?”

Despite the fact that it is Fridge Door’s first solo show, “Mindfcuk” paves the way for Fridge Door to highlight other determined artists outside of their usual framework.

Mindfcuk runs until March 10 at the Fridge Door Gallery, in the AUS Lounge.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it 83rd Oscars miss the mark with lacklustre presentation and pointless modernizing Emma Fiske-Dobell Culture Writer

T

he Academy Awards are the biggest event of the year for knowledgeable film enthusiasts and ordinary media fans alike. Smaller awards shows like the Golden Globes and the Screen Actor’s Guild Awards build months of excitement and anticipation that culminates in one evening of prestigious awards for excellence in film.

February 27 marked the 83rd annual Academy Awards, hosted by Anne Hathaway and James Franco.

Cinéma du Parc screened the awards live and free of charge for the fourth year in a row, to a full house. During commercial breaks, the staff cut the sound and asked the audience trivia questions about past Academy Awards shows. Audience members who answered the questions correctly

were awarded DVDs and movie posters. “It seems to me that it’s normal that the Academy Awards are shown on the big screen, since the films that are awarded for their excellence were made for the big screen,” said Roland Smith, the owner of Cinéma du Parc. “It’s sort of a gift for our regular clients who see films most of the year.” In preparation for the screening, the theatre shows as many of the nominated films as possible. This year, the list included blockbusters such as Black Swan, 127 Hours, and The King’s Speech.

Cinéma du Parc is the only cinema in Quebec to show all the nominated short films, which fall under three categories: animated, documentary, and live action. This is the Cinema’s second year of airing the short films. “For many years, I was looking at the ceremony and it was a wild guess to know which short you should vote for, because

nobody had seen them,” said Smith.

The cinema screens an eclectic mix of films each year, and is known for the attention it pays to independent features. Smith believes that the relationship between independent film and the Academy Awards is changing. “It is a mainstream ceremony, but they respect the taste of the audience in North America,” he said. However, he also noted that, “Many independent films are nominated. Sometimes they win.

A film like Slumdog Millionaire is an independent production. Even though 20th Century Fox released it, it was produced by an independent company.”

This year, the Oscars tried actively to attract a younger audience, seemingly working under the assumption that the way to do this was to make the show altogether more informal. Rather than hiring one of the seasoned comedians that have traditionally hosted the event,

the Academy chose Hathaway and Franco. As Anne Hathaway quipped after Franco complimented her appearance at the beginning of the show, “You look very appealing to a younger demographic as well.” The pre-filmed parodies the two performed of various nominated movies, as well as the auto-tuned music video mash-up of films such as Toy Story 3 and Inception, was artificial and unengaging. Hathaway’s seven different outfits drew attention away from her hosting abilities, transforming her from an entertainer to a one woman fashion show.

Similarly, Franco did not display the dynamic, quirky humor that he is known for – it seemed that the Academy was keeping him on a tight reign in order to prevent any inappropriate slip-ups.

This style spread to some of the Oscar recipients as well. Melissa Leo delivered an inarticulate acceptance speech upon receiving the award for

Best Supporting Actress, and went on to curse, shocking the audience.

In their efforts to attract a younger audience, the Academy failed to recognize the spark that has brought millions of viewers back for more than eighty Academy Awards shows: the timelessness. Watching current actors and actresses win awards that have in the past gone to legends such as Clark Gable and Ingrid Bergman makes viewers realize that the media they experience every day will one day become important history. Though a teenage audience may find pre-taped parodies amusing on a superficial level, the Academy Awards has always attracted young viewers who tune in because of the timeless glamour of the ceremony. The popularity of the Oscars lies in its being a single night in which modernity is less important than classic film and lasting excellence, something that this year’s event failed to capture.

Culture

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

17

CKutting-edge sound Philip Greene goes behind the mic on CKUT FM’s contribution to sound art 9

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1 4

Radio

2

Harvey

Contortions

Radio is Dead

Magic Sound Box

Christ Circuit Workshop

Radio

5

2011

d

ay

dia

Printemps electroacoustique de Montreal

ir t h b s ’ art

6

8

Ra

Hours

v

1987

Hmm

Sons D’espirit

Danger in Paradise

10

11 Phlip Greene with Victor Tangermann for The McGill Daily

3

A history of CKUT’s sound art programming

1

4

7

10

2

5

8

11

3

6

9

Every Wednesday from 10 p.m. to midnight, host Christof Migone would tantalize listeners with radio specific events such as “Body Map,” in which a reclining body was transposed onto a map of Montreal and people phoned in to discover which part of the body they resided on.

An exploration of contemporary sound and live improvisation hosted by a collective of Montreal sound artists. As Claude Schryer, a member of the collective, described it: “a show of absurd improvised live electronics.”

CKUT is commissioned to produce sound works to be aired at sunrise, about the sunrise, for the festival.

C

hances are that if you tune in to CKUT 90.3 FM there won’t be any Lady Gaga playing.

No offence to pop culture, it’s just that the station prides itself upon providing an alternative to the commercial radio that dominates the FM dial. Instead, you’re much more likely to encounter the sounds of a field recording or a local band.

Although this doesn’t distinguish CKUT from most other campus and community radio stations, the role that the station has played – and continues to play – in the development of a sound and radio art scene in Montreal is unique.

Since 1987, when McGill acquired an FM license for the sta-

“An International Festival of Radio Fart and Theory” (1991) brings together sound and radio artists from around the world including Gregory Whitehead whose radio piece “We All Scream Alone” asks callers to give their best scream. One of the weirdest pieces of radio you’ll ever hear.

Live on-air baptisms, exorcisms, hymns, stories, ranting, choir action, and homemade instruments make this show the perfect antidote to AM talk radio.

CKUT joins the Radia network which links radio artfriendly stations throughout the world.

tion, CKUT has been a hub for Montreal-based sound art, and has helped to define the relatively new genre of radio art. In the early nineties, under the guidance of a talented production coordinator, Christof Migone, the station gave radio hosts the opportunity to explore the possibilities of radio as an artistic medium. As opposed to presenting spoken word and musical pieces in a straightforward fashion, many hosts took up a more performative approach. Improvisation and listener participation were encouraged. For example, a few of the oldtimers at the station fondly remember a live potluck where the whole station had an on-air dinner party

A live radio art transmission mash of storytelling, music and sound art. The audience enters the box (a canopy of fabric) and is surrounded by the sounds of radio.

A Dada joke setting January 17 as art’s birthday has become an unofficial radio art holiday.

CKUT begins celebrating the birth of art in 2007 by hosting a party and producing art for the event.

Kathy Kennedy’s choral piece, “a long hmm,” is broadcast on CKUT as one hundred people march up St Laurent with radios hmming along.

in the studio. Another time, invitations were sent in the mail and posted in the classified sections of Montreal newspapers for listeners to call in to the station and describe themselves. This kind of art-making utilized the radio as a live collaborative device, and came to be known as radio art.

CKUT continues in this tradition today and is active in Montreal’s sound art community, collaborating with different sound artists such as Kathy Kennedy and Emmanuel Madan, who have their own sound art projects. Events like the “Magic Sound Box” (see 7) invite listeners to experience radio as a live performance and give

Every other Wednesday Marc Montanchez leads a workshop where people can learn to bend and transform any sound making circuit to their liking.

On Mondays from 2 to 3 pv.m. this show presents sound and radio art focused on a specific theme.

Anyone interested in producing for the show can drop in on meetings which happen Tuesday at 12 p.m. in the CKUT building at 3647 University.

sound artists the chance to air their works on the FM. Madan’s 59 second show “A Series of Broadcasts Addressing the Limitlessness of Time,” which aired weekly through 2006-07, confronted the regimented nature of time in radio transmission by playing a sound that could last a second or years. Becoming a member of the Radia network (see 6) further solidified CKUT’s commitment to radio art.

The focus on live transmission and spontaneity distinguishes radio art from other forms of sound art. At the same time, it also necessitates that radio art be ephemeral.

Hardly any of the performances and improvisations aired on CKUT

in the nineties remain. Claude Schryer, one of the hosts of electroacoustic show “Sons D’espirit,” (see 2) recently burnt 80 per cent of his archives in a ritualistic cleansing. Even today, the station only keeps show archives for a few months, after that, they disappear.

You’ve got to listen to the radio to hear radio art, so turn on CKUT FM. Get involved with CKUT’s next sound art endeavour today at 2 p.m. at the Roddick Gates, where the station is holding an interactive radio ballet. Find more information at ckutmorningafter.wordpress.com/category/tuesday/

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

Lies, half-truths, and lovin’ Dave Matthews

18

SSMU adds new Councillor Controversial “Campus Bro” representative gains attention Marie-Josèphe Vaugeois The McGill Daily

A

fter careful review during the nominations period, Elections McGill decided to extend the deadline for several positions, including this year’s newest position, Campus Bro representative to SSMU. According to Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Chase Deal, it was quite surprising that the position remained vacant through the lengthy nominations period, given the apparent strong demand for such a position on campus.

“The executive has been talking for a long time about adding an extra position to Council that would enable Bros on campus – now, according to a recent diversity survey commissioned by ViceViceroy Mortono Fendelson, at least 40 per cent of our student body – to have a say in SSMU dealings,” Deal explained.

Fendelson’s survey revealed that, among social groups represented on campus, Bros feel most isolated.

Students cited concerns that, while they are very well-acknowledged through such events as 4Floors and Homekoming, they feel ignored in student politics.

Brad Mandelheim, a U3 Chemical Engineering student, explained his concerns, saying, “Yeah, sure, I like to party, I like to go to Gerts every morning, but we’re a pretty big con-

Daniel Hawkins for The McGill Daily

Vote for: Cuteness.

Bikuta Tangamann | The McGill Daily

stituency. We want to see new events come to the SSMU Internal portfolio, like a Dave Matthews tribute day at Gerts, and a toque-making workshop,” he added.

The Equity Commissioner for SSMU, Lelemly Hare, noted that there had been several complaints brought against the Society for events that self-identified Bros felt were “too exclusive” or “degrading to the seriousness of our culture.”

As a result, the committee was

motivated to encourage Council and the executive to reevaluate their representation on campus.

Only one student chose to step forward to head the Bro cause, and their campaign platform has been very simple: “Bros4Lyfe.”

Sammie Shakedowan, a U4 Management student, had only this to say, “I’m a Bro, through and through, man. I mean, look at my headphones.”

And the award goes to...

Miss Nomer

Check out yourcorpuschristi.blospot.com for more!

Nuts.

Fuzziness.

Vote Mr. Squirrel(And don’t forget Pants as your writein candidate for cuddling!)

SSMU President!!

Across 1. Church recess 5. Plentiful 10. Prepare potatoes, in a way 14. Visionary 15. Jeweler’s unit 16. Assortment 17. Sacramento’s ___ Arena 18. Russell’s spot on a pirate ship?

20. Where Brad gets serviced during a race?

22. Reef material 23. “____ way, shape or form 24. Horrible 26. Penelope’s driving setting?

30. Renaissance fiddle 31. Outside of a watermelon 32. Bird ___ 35. Poems of praise 36. Bakery treat 38. They may be split 39. ___ favor 40. Anise-flavored liqueur 41. Bowling unit 42. Player of a certain casino game 45. Appetizer 49. Flood survivor 50. Eagle’s nest 51. What a Mad Man does when he overacts?

55. What Richard does when he goes from park to drive?

58. First, second or third 59. Pants part 60. More refined 61. Angers 62. Cravings 63. Accumulate 64. ___ list

Down

37. Old Russian autocrat 38. Forbid 40. Group of eight 41. Froth 43. Some drums 44. They are hit out of park 45. Smart-mouthed 46. Little laugh 47. Suffix with 3-Down 48. Causes of bickering 51. Juno: Roman, ___: Greek 52. Hawaiian tuber 53. Brought into play 54. Mexican money 56. Health resort 57. Doublemint, e.g.

1. Pronto 2. Prefix with scope or meter 3. The Religious faction 4. Imbues with sexy feelings 5. Bank info, Abbr.

6. ____ 5 7. Skull in “Hamlet,” e.g.

8. Order’s partner 9. Hot time in Québec 10. Pre-stereo recordings 11. At the ready 12. Rope fiber Solution to “You spin me right round baby” 13. In an attractive way 19. Burn with hot water 21. 1960’s civil rights org.

24. Smile 25. Sharpen 26. Field yield 27. Start over 28. Super, slangily 29. Girl Scout unit 32. Accomplishment 33. Weak, as an excuse 34. ___-friendly 36. “No problem!”

19

The McGill Daily | Monday, March 7, 2011 | mcgilldaily.com

volume 100 number 36

editorial 3480 McTavish St., Rm. B-24 Montreal, QC H3A 1X9 phone 514.398.6784 fax 514.398.8318 mcgilldaily.com coordinating editor

EDITORIAL

Referendum endorsements As with any fees, The Daily wants to emphasize the importance of accountability and responsibility in the use of student money. It is also important to note that all of these fees are opt-outable, giving no real reason to vote no to any fee that might positively enrich student life.

Emilio Comay del Junco coordinating@mcgilldaily.com coordinating news editor

Henry Gass news editors

Rana Encol Mari Galloway Erin Hudson features editor

Niko Block

commentary&compendium! editor

Courtney Graham

coordinating culture editor

Naomi Endicott culture editors

Fabien Maltais-Bayda Sarah Mortimer science+technology editor

Alyssay Favreau

health&education editor

Joseph Henry sports editor

Referendum regarding the ambassador fee An Ambassador fee – only created in 2010 – shows the right attitude toward supporting students looking to expand their educational experiences. Renewing the fee will give us the opportunity to continue to assess the success of this program.

Vote: Yes

Referendum regarding Midnight Kitchen fee increase Fees going to specific student services like Midnight Kitchen are important because they reach a broad base of students who rely on them – and especially because MK is one of the only student-run food services left on campus. Increasing the fee levy for such a necessary and valuable service is the best way to help the group expand its offerings and improve its services for students. One such improvement is its expansion into room 302 and new offerings such as a lending library and music during lunchtime.

The group is staking its long-term existence on our ability to give them one extra dollar, and there is no reason to make them regret their choice.

Vote: Yes

Eric Wen

Referendum question regarding referral services fee renewal

photo editor

Again, the continued provision of student services is crucial to student life on our campus, and to our relationship with the wider Montreal community.

Nightline, Queer McGill, and the Union for Gender Empowerment provide services to a diverse group of students, including late-night phone lines, lounge space, as well as workshops on sexual orientation, gender, and sexual health.

Vote: Yes

Victor Tangermann illustrations editor

0livia Messer

production&design editors

Sheehan Moore Joan Moses copy editor

Flora Dunster web editor

Tom Acker cover design

Olivia Messer le délit

Question regarding TVMcGill fee renewal TVMcGill has been expanding its content and has been very active this year. Given that the administration has already tried to revoke their right to use the McGill name, a ten-cent per credit fee (around $1.50 a semester) seems a small price to pay to support this group.

Vote: Yes

Mai Anh Tran-Ho rec@delitfrancais.com Contributors

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Question regarding the creation of a fee for the McGill International Student Network International students make up roughly 19 per cent of McGill’s student population, and the MISN provides incoming first-years each fall – and year-round – with support services including welcoming them at the airport, assigning buddies to smooth transitions, and holding cultural events throughout the year to strengthen the international student community.

These services also extend through international students’ entire stay at McGill, and help students obtain work permits, renew study permits, and find housing after or in lieu of residence. They are an official service of SSMU and McGill that does not currently receive a fee, and funds events at-cost. A small fee would go a long way to expanding and improving their services.

Vote: Yes