Right after exams, of course. While, it is almost 2007 and the turning of the year means the official beginning of election season at various campuses and student organizations across Canada.
Here at McMaster, I am aware of the following candidates that are possibly in the running:
- Drew Mitchell, VP Finance. He has already been pre-campaigning and getting out there. This may explain why he has yet to do a mid-year budget review as required in his job description. He is also the leading figure in the MSU’s recent attacks against the student press.
- Ryan Moran, VP Administration. He has not been pre-campaigning to the extent of the other candidates, however he is in the position that normally grabs the presidency. He has done a decent job this year and has done the minimum required of him under the MSU Constitution in response to student petitions. He has also had a new logo done for the SRA.
- Tyler Andrews. He is a leader within the McMaster Young Liberals and works for the MSU at Compass. Considered an outsider, he will be able to gain support from a large number of students that are looking for change from the current guard.
- Paul Jones, SRA & EB member. He will have to run if students make the VP positions elected. He has been promised VP Administration for next year, however if the position is elected all bets are off. His overriding goal in the last couple of years has been to become MSU President.
- Andrea Dowell, SRA House Leader & EB member. She has been promised VP Education for next year. If the position become elected, it is widely expected that she will run for MSU President.
- Joey Coleman, MSU Public Enemy Number One and Me. Currently not planning to run. Primarily because the University and MSU will jointly launch a smear campaign to keep me out of office as the University does not want to lose control of the MSU and neither does the group running the MSU. However, not ruling out a run.
- Chris Jaic, fired without cause Silhouette Editor, there has been talk about him running to open up the MSU. It is believe that removal of his MSU membership was one of the main reasons that Drew Mitchell moved to fire him in violation of policy.
- John Vraets, Engineering Society VP External. There is talk of him running to clean up the MSU. The last Engineer to seriously run for MSU President won the vote. However, the ballot were stored in a place that the MSU VP Administration had key access to. Ballots went missing and on a recount the VP Admin won. It is widely believe that the MSU clique stole that election. No one can prove it however due to the lack of transparency in the process and the fact that the MSU does not have an independent election process.
- Emery Finkelstein, Engineering Student. He will bring the comic relief to this campaign and considering some of the oversized egos that will be running, he should have plenty of opportunity to make people laugh. On his facebook he describes his philosophy “Laziness is a virtue. Those who can be bothered to tell you differently are clearly lacking it.” — (Emery Finkelstein)
- Jacqueline Cavalheiro, Spirit Leader – Maroons Society. This candidate is a surprise having no politicial experience that I know of. Her management of the Maroons has been called into question by many people within the Maroons this year and this is a large number of Maroons that are discontented with her leadership. It is worth noting that the MSU pays her a minimum of $80 per week for the job. She is graduating this year and many people believe that she is running for the job in order to have another year to find other employment. She will be completing her Humanities Degree in Peace Studies and Communications this spring. To her credit, she has done no pre-campaigning and could add some valuable perspective to the race.
Elsewhere
The Canadian University Press will be holding its Annual National Conference in Vancouver from January 18th – 23rd. During this conference, the CUP President and National Bureau Chiefs will both be hired. As is the case with most other elections, the potential candidates have no idea who the other candidates are. We actually now know one of the candidates. On his blog entitled Whispering into the Mirror, the Editor-in-Chief of The Argosy, William Wolfe-Wylie (more commonly know online as W3) declares in a good post that he is going to run for CUP National Bureau Chief:
Well, as a member of the student press I’m used to making these types of things very open affairs. I tire of random rumours, talk, and mystery. So allow me to cut through it all: I intend to run for CUP National Bureau Chief in January.
Source:
The Argosy is a fairly small paper in circulation primarily because it is published at a small school; Mt. Allison. Despite this, The Argosy has been punching way above its weight this year with many great articles. More importantly (in my opinion), W3 has been writing great editorials and opinion pieces on issues of national importance. I believe that he is a very good candidate for the position.