Restricted Access: does this mean you?

The University of Alberta Students Union is running a great campaign focused on opening discourse to the challenges that students all across Alberta face. While this is NOT a campaign being run at the University of Lethbridge, nor is the ULSU in any way involved we do support our good friends to the north and believe that any discourse on restriction’s to accessing education in Alberta is a very positive thing.

The cost of a full educational experience is rapidly increasing. Mounting financial burdens are preventing a growing number of hard-working, qualified students from completing or even starting their university education. Join the Restricted Access movement and protect the right to an education that all qualified students have earned.

Check out the website to see what’s going on and if you are an University of Alberta student, contact the SU there to see what you can do in this campaign. If you are not a UofA student, you can still participate by writing to your MLA using this awesome link.

If you are interested in voicing your opinion about your experience as a student in Alberta check out the Open Up! campaign being run by the Council of Alberta University Students (UCSU, UASU and us, the ULSU!) which could have you win an ipod for your submission, whats up!

For more information please feel free to contact the ULSU at 403 329 2770.

“The Strange Design of Conscience”

What a whirlwind of political exuberance and the oh-so-awesome finals season. This is a little like that one time I wound up on a deserted island with only my favorite book, my ipod and a water filtration system.

Seriously folks, it  has been a couple of very exciting weeks. Finals are getting everyone down and the wind in Lethbridge has lived up to its reputation, but the holidays are just around the corner…So keep you chin up darlings!

It seems every Canadian across the country has been glued to computer’s, TV’s, papers anything that could convey news about the happenings in Parliament. Keep your eyes on this page for information on federal government going on’s come January. Should be a very interesting month. In spite of our (by our, I mean Canadians as a whole) elected MP’s failure to keep the house in session and the growing lack of faith the Canadian people have in our political system; I see a lot of good coming out of this.

Average Canadian citizens care about politics. What’s more, they care about Canadian politics! The past federal election saw the lowest voter turnout since confederation, and with 41% of the country opting to not vote that is 41% of the country who essentially held up their hands and said they didn’t care.

This current crisis exemplifies the inherit fallibility of our elected MP’s and the need to Canadians to truly take hold of our democratic system. Our political institutions only work as well as the Canadian people expect them to work. When we lose faith ourselves and choose to wash our hands of the matter, how can we expect the government to govern in a fair and responsive matter? By no means am I excusing the actions of any of the federal parties over the last 2 1/2 years. Three consecutive minority governments elected by increasingly lower voter turnouts sends a message, loud and clear. Canadians do not trust our current parties, what’s more Canadians no longer trust or respond to the way we elect our representatives.

In the many rallies that have sprung up around the country the biggest call of change is not against any particular party, nor is there overwhelming support for the coalition or the conservatives. What I hear the most is Canadian crying out for electoral reform.

Some very excellent site for information on electoral reform in Canada: Fairvote.ca, Library of Parliament official site, Law Commision of Canada, Citizens Assembly on Electoral Reform and Mapleleafweb.com.

These are pretty exciting times, times where your voice can carry a great deal of weight. Write to your paper, write to your MP, write to our current Prime Minister. Voice your opinion, make it known that Canadians care!

Rick Casson, MP for Lethbridge:

E-Mail: casson@rickcasson.com

Lethbridge Constituency Office:

255 8th St S. Lethbridge, Alberta, T1J 4Y1

Toll Free: 1-877-327-0135

Telephone: (403) 320-0070, Fax: (403) 380-4026

Parliamentary Office:

Room 504 Justice Building, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6

Telephone: (613) 996-0633, Fax: (613) 995-5752

Jenn Prosser, VP Academic

“The Liberals, NDP, and Bloc are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNMENT!!!” (Source: Most Canadian headlines over the last couple of days.)

*** I have tried to keep this as non-partisan as possible. I am intrigued, to say the least. We live in very interesting times. Share and Enjoy**

So, you may of heard rumors of something big going on with our federal government. Rumblings of a coalition, charges claiming it is not democratic, and the horrors that another election will be called, seem to be the “talk of the town”.

Since, as usual, there is a lot of rhetoric being thrown around like this little number, let’s clear some things up about the issues on Parliament Hill.

HERE IS WHAT IS HAPPENING:

- Canada uses the Westminster System of parliamentary democracy. Read this first, it is very important! Key points to remember are the difference between the Head of State (The Governor General, through the Queen) and the Head of Government (The Prime Minister). This is an important distinction in our democratic system.

- The recently formed government does not hold a majority (50% +1) of seats in the House of Commons, forming what is called a minority government.

- The Conservative minority government recently announced their economic statement. In addition to outlining some strategies that the government will take to combat the economic downturn, there were some points about public financing of political parties, limiting government employee’s ability to strike, and preventing the use of tribunals on matters of salary equity.

- The other three parties (Liberal, NDP, and Bloc) saw these plans, were unsatisfied, and began making plans to draft a coalition. Officially, only the Liberals and NDP are a part of it, with the Bloc tacitly agreeing, as long as the coalition keeps the interests of Quebec in mind.

- On Monday, December 8th, the coalition plans to bring forward a confidence motion to defeat the Conservative minority government, and replace it with a government made up by members from all three parties.

- The Governor General of Canada now comes into play. Michealle Jean, legally the leader of the country (according to our Constitution), is responsible for ensuring that the government functions. If the vote of no-confidence passes, it is up to her to decide to call another election, or allow the coalition to rule.

Canadian people, perhaps confusing our form of government with the American one, what with all the attention it has gotten recently, are in an uproar, and the politcal blogs and commentators are going wild!

BREAKING IT DOWN:

Although it hasn’t happened since 1941 in Canadian federal politics, coalition governments are fairly common in parliamentary democracies. See any of the Nordic countries by way of example.

Actually, coalitions are usually preferred over a minority government, simply because they force parties to”play nice” with one another. They are, of course, not as stable as majority governments, but they can work.

From the way people are reacting, you would think that it was the end of the world!

Right now, the coalition government is not necessarily a forgone conclusion, though it does have some serious implications for our country’s future.

You see, when we in Canada voted back in October, we weren’t voting for a Prime Minister (except for the people that lived in the home ridings of the party leaders). We were voting for members of the House of Commons, not members of government.

The Prime Minister is actually selected by the Queen, through her representative the Governor General, from those politicians elected to the House of Commons from each riding.

The person to be selected for this position is not the person who leads the party with the most seats. This is because political parties are not part of the Constitution.

Rather, the person to be selected as Prime Minister is the person who can best form government, the person who has the most influence over the House of Commons. Stephen Harper has apparently lost that. We shall see if that is still the case on December 8th.

Suffice it to say, we will be watching the federal games with much interest over the coming week. And who said Canadian politics were boring!?

Adam Vossepoel

President

Saturday afternoon at the office…

Its a rather blustery day here in good ‘ole LA (that joke never gets old, amirite?).

Since its been a while, I thought it would be nice to provide some ULSU updates. So hereeeeee goes, your (couple) weeks in brief:

-  After the sewer system shut down, November 4th will forever be remembered as Poop Day for us Uleth students.

- The ULSU office is wicked busy getting ready for Funk the System (which you can read all about here. Science). Seriously, it’s going to be funking awesome. Two speakers, one funkified night in The Zoo and a week of getting know what activism means to YOU. Our table will be set up outside the bookstore in the SU building cafeteria, come on by, grab a cause ribbon and get to know how you can funk the system.

- It is getting close to exam time, and the ULSU Test Bank is holding a Test Bank Drive the 24th to the 28th. Drop off some old tests and be entered to win a draw for a wicked exam stress reliever pack – filled with everything you could need to get through this terrible time of year. Drop off your tests here in the ULSU office at the front desk. One test  = one draw entry.

Check out the Test Bank online or in person in our office. All test’s are free and for your use.

- Think the current way of doing course evaluations suck? Think they’re just fine? There will be a roundtable discussion held Nov. 18th (next week..) from 3pm-5pm in Anderson Hall 100. If you want to attend, please do! It is open to all University community members – students and staff alike. Come have your say on how things go down here at the University.

- The Food Bank food drive wrapped up nicely last week and our VP Internal, Eric Hawthorne, informed the office that it was a resounding success!

- Just a reminder that General Assembly Meetings are always open to the public.  If you’re keen on what’s going on come down to check it out. The dates for these meetings are listed on the ulsu website.

- Adam Vossepoel got a haircut. It looks pretty nice.

Awesome Sauce.

Jenn Prosser, VP Academic

Funk the System: November 17th to 21st

“Funk the System” – A political action week:

Politics not your dig? Think parties are squarer than trig assignments?

Politics is about more than belonging to a party or voting in an election. Politics is in everything you do, like it or not. In every dollar you spend and every cause you support and is fundamental to every service you access.

Marijuana legalization, funding for the arts, a university education, the ability to travel world wide…All of these are political and everyone of these takes individuals who care enough to say something.

Want to smoke pot anywhere legally? Want to know that this campus is being supported through YOUR taxes? Want free and fair DEMOCRATIC elections?

Look no further than yourself.

November 17th-21st, here on the UofL campus the ULSU is hosting a week of getting to know how YOU can funk the system. Look out all around campus for information on politics and why it’s relevant to your life.

ULSU rep’s and rep’s from other on-campus organizations will be outside the bookstore in the Student Union Building all week to talk about the different causes and how YOU can get involved and enact change! Stop by, grab a ribbon and some information on how to funk the system your way.

C’mon, the system is just begging to get funked, show us how you want to do it.

Lowest voter turnout in the history of Canada…

Yesterday, the Canadian election saw the lowest voter turnout in Canada’s history.

59% of Canadians went to the polls yesterday to cast their ballot for who they believed was best fit to lead our country.

Newfoundland/Labrador, NWT, Nunavut and Alberta led the country with the four lowest turnouts from all provinces, according to the CBC as of 11:44 this morning.

As I moan and sit here incredibly disappointed, I ponder on the factors that come into play here.

Yesterday while running after students and confronting them on their apathy towards our democratic system, the most common answer I heard was that they felt no one represented them and that it didn’t matter which party got elected. It wasn’t because of inconvenience or because they just didn’t care, it was the lack of engagement towards all Canadians. In fact, many students I spoke to said they were simply going to spoil their ballot.

I personally cannot be content with the status quo of this country, and I feel that this voter turn out is a call to all politicians in all parties and to Elections Canada to make politics relevant. Parties, get it together. All of you are disappointing Canadians and the silence in our democratic process is deafening.