Campaigning in UofT elections should be left to UofT students
By Joe Howell
Issue date: 3/26/09 Section: Editorial
Last week, the Demand Access slate swept every executive position on UTSU. This in and of itself isn't too troubling, though it would have been nice to see a coalition government. Both the Access and the Change slate had some good ideas, and some dedicated candidates.
The numerous allegations of executives from student governments at other universities coming to UofT to campaign for Access are cause for concern, however. Members of the York Federation of Students, the Continuing Education Students' Association of Ryerson, and the Ryerson Students' Union were reportedly campaigning at UTM and St. George for Access throughout election week. The Strand received photos of RSU execs soliciting votes outside of Sidney Smith. Even though all groups are part of the CFS and the CFS-O, there is no proof that either organization has an actual policy in place to help get loyalists into power at their member schools. Indeed, if the allegations are true, it could simply be a case of colleagues helping one another.
But they still shouldn't have been here. It is a subversion of our democratic process. It's illegal for non-citizens to campaign in Canada's federal elections, and for good reason - would we want Americans flooding up here to help get a party elected? At best, we would suspect their motives.
Change lost executive positions in the election by as few as thirty-five votes. They won the popular vote at St. George campus, but lost on the strength of how UTM voted; Access possibly won there due to the purported campaign efforts of their proxies at other schools. Change, lacking Access' inter-instutional connections, simply couldn't get enough face time at UTM. And in UofT's largely apathetic elections, students will in many cases vote for any name they recognize, if they bother to vote at all.
If there were a ban in place on non-UofT students campaigning - at threat of heavy demerit points - it appears highly likely Change would have taken half of the seats on the executive. Perhaps it's time for such a rule? Maybe then we'll see some real change at UofT.
The numerous allegations of executives from student governments at other universities coming to UofT to campaign for Access are cause for concern, however. Members of the York Federation of Students, the Continuing Education Students' Association of Ryerson, and the Ryerson Students' Union were reportedly campaigning at UTM and St. George for Access throughout election week. The Strand received photos of RSU execs soliciting votes outside of Sidney Smith. Even though all groups are part of the CFS and the CFS-O, there is no proof that either organization has an actual policy in place to help get loyalists into power at their member schools. Indeed, if the allegations are true, it could simply be a case of colleagues helping one another.
But they still shouldn't have been here. It is a subversion of our democratic process. It's illegal for non-citizens to campaign in Canada's federal elections, and for good reason - would we want Americans flooding up here to help get a party elected? At best, we would suspect their motives.
Change lost executive positions in the election by as few as thirty-five votes. They won the popular vote at St. George campus, but lost on the strength of how UTM voted; Access possibly won there due to the purported campaign efforts of their proxies at other schools. Change, lacking Access' inter-instutional connections, simply couldn't get enough face time at UTM. And in UofT's largely apathetic elections, students will in many cases vote for any name they recognize, if they bother to vote at all.
If there were a ban in place on non-UofT students campaigning - at threat of heavy demerit points - it appears highly likely Change would have taken half of the seats on the executive. Perhaps it's time for such a rule? Maybe then we'll see some real change at UofT.
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Ryan
posted 4/22/09 @ 3:42 PM EST
We had the exact same problem during the student union elections at York this year. The CFS backed slate "Students First" had dozens of campaigners from other CFS-O backed student unions such as U of T, Ryerson and Carleton. (Continued…)
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