News

The vote mob movement has reached Concordia University. Seventy students joined in a friendly protest at the Hall building terrace Tuesday afternoon.

Students at universities across Canada have staged vote mobs in recent weeks. The first one took place at the University of Guelph. The idea is to encourage political candidates to campaign on issues that are relevant to students. Political leaders are accused of not targeting the youth vote.

Only 37.4 per cent  of people aged 18 to 24 voted in the last federal election in 2008.

The closing of Decarie Blvd. is just the beginning of traffic woes for Montrealers.

Transport Quebec has blocked off a section of the Turcot Interchange for emergency repairs. The repairs were ordered after cracks were found in the lanes connecting highway 720 westbound to highway 20. Drivers heading to the West Island could face bumper to bumper traffic as only one lane will be open.

The repairs come at a time when the province is planning a complete face-lift of the Turcot.

Nigeria’s recently elected President Goodluck Jonathan will need some of that luck to tame riots in the country. Enraged youth in the north have torched churches and homes in protest of the election. Reports have indicated dozens of deaths in the unrest.

Nigeria is a country marked with decades of violence. But international observers have called the weekend election one of the fairest in decades for the West African nation. The recently elected President has urged an end to the violence. He called on rival politicians to calm their supporters.

It was a quieter weekend on the campaign trail as leaders were reeling off their televised debate performances earlier in the week. 

NDP leader Jack Layton’s popularity has increased since the debates. He is taking advantage of this by campaigning in Liberal strongholds in the Atlantic and Quebec. Layton claims that the NDP and Liberals’ platforms are nearly identical. The main difference being that the Liberals have been in power and have broken promises to Canadians. 

In international news, Japan announced a plan Sunday that would bring the crisis over  the crippled nuclear power plant under control. Tokyo Electric Power Company’s chairman said the plan included containing radiation within the reactor and eventually removing the nuclear fuel. The crisis would be under control within six to nine months, with the possibility of some residents returning home.

Both Action and Your Concordia have filed complaints regarding the CSU CEO’s decision to disqualify both slates. 

Although filed separately, the opposing teams echo the same concerns. Both Lex Gill and Khalil Haddad point out the lack of evidence provided in Oliver Cohen’s disqualification letters. In order to disqualify a candidate, there must be clear evidence that a breach of regulations has taken place.