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Justin Trudeau had to defend his love for Canada yesterday. Yes, on Valentine’s Day. 

Trudeau’s impromptu speech on Parliament Hill was the result of a radio interview he did last Sunday on Radio-Canada.

Trudeau had said that if he no longer recognized himself in Harper’s right-wing Canada, he would consider fighting for Quebec’s sovereignty.

Trudeau went on to say that banning gay marriage and abortion would only result in Canada going backwards. He also admitted that Canada consequently needs Quebec in order to equilibrate Harper’s views. 

This interview flew under the radar until yesterday when Conservative MP Merv Tweed asked Trudeau to clarify his position or to retract it. The Liberal MP did clarify his position to the media where he confirmed his federal allegiance.

According to La Presse, Trudeau took advantage of the opportunity to denounce the conservative government. Trudeau admits that he no longer recognizes Canada and neither do millions of Quebecers.

The Liberal Chief Bob Rae supports Trudeau, but admitted that he should not mistake Harper for the entire country.

Flickr photo by: ycanada_news

General elections for the Arts and Science Federation of Associations are upon us. This time around, teams are running as individuals in loosely joined affiliations. Charlie Brenchley and Caroline Bourbonnière lead their respective groups.

Students can trust that candidates Charlie Brenchley and Caroline Bourbonnière have experience with Concordia student politics and that they are committed to keeping school cheap.

Both are ready to strike against the upcoming Quebec-wide tuition hikes. If they are to mobilize the future ASFA executive, however, it may not be with the people they are running with.

In this year’s election, candidates are technically running alone, but have been granted the moral support of an affiliation. In fact, it is impossible for one affiliation to win in its entirety. Instead they will have to learn to work together with all of the candidates.

ASFA elections were not always this way. Last year, candidates ran unaffiliated, but it was one of the lowest voter turnouts in ASFA history.

While this is the first attempt at an affiliation system, both Bourbonnière and Brenchley have already deemed it ineffective and hinted at changing it back to teams next time around.

According to Brenchley, ASFA retreated from the team or slate route after the 2009 election, which saw so much controversy that two elected candidates were docked votes, effectively stripping them of their elected positions. Not being able to take it, the Chief Elector Officer of that year resigned.

Brenchley was a part of that election. He ran for president for the losing team. “I realized that jumping into it, running for president in my first year was a little premature,” said Brenchley.

Brenchley was accused of being an agent for the Canadian Federation of Students in that election, but has since turned around in opposition to the student union that is in a multi-million dollar legal battle with the CSU. “I support [the students’] move to get away from that organization because it doesn’t seem to be working in Quebec.”

Now, he wants to put that all behind him and give it another shot.

His opponent, Bourbonnière, is not unfamiliar with the scrappy grind of student politics herself. She ran for the Concordia Student Union four years ago on Team Fresh and last year for Team Action - losing in both instances. 

While both were unsuccessful in past elections on the faculty and student union levels, they have gained valuable student political experience on the Member Association level. Brenchley currently holds the positions of VP Community Outreach Coordinator and VP Finance for the School of Community and Public Affairs, while Bourbonnière is the VP Communications for Political Science.

She says that in years past ASFA has not communicated sufficiently with the CSU, MAs or the media. According to Bourbonnière, the petition filed last month by former CSU Councilor Tomer Shavit, ASFA President Alex Gordon and Commerce and Administration Students' Association President Marianna Luciano to impeach CSU President Lex Gill, which has since been retracted, was “a great example of the miscommunication between ASFA and the CSU.”

Brenchley said the petition was "a very adversarial way to go about it," and that "impeaching one person directly pulls the student movement apart." 

Despite this, as the representative for the SCPA and member of the Policy Review and Financial Committees on ASFA Council, Brenchley says that ASFA is on the right track: “ASFA has been doing great things in the past few years and I think they are going in a great direction.”

Brenchley maintains that the diversity of his affiliation, with members from all different MAs gives him and his affiliation the edge. Meanwhile, Bourbonnière has chosen to highlight her experience as an organizer to entice students with more educational ASFA events like panel discussions and workshops.

Bourbonnière and Brenchley end formal campaigning today.

ASFA students can vote in the Hall building or at Loyola February 15^th to 17^th

An Ontario judge struck down a mandatory minimum sentence foreshadowing trouble for the Conservative’s tough on crime bill.

According to the Huffington Post Leroy Smickle was sentenced to serve his community for one year rather than serve a three-year mandatory minimum jail sentence for possessing an illegal firearm.

Smickle was a first time offender using his cousin’s gun as a prop while taking Facebook photos of himself. Ontario Superior Court Judge Anne Molloy thought the minimum sentence would be cruel and unusual punishment in Smickle’s case.

The ruling signals the possibility of future judicial attacks on the Tory’s new crime bill on the basis of unconstitutionality. 

Bill C-19 is currently making its way through Senate and includes new minimum sentences for drug and sex offences.

Greece’s recent economic frugality has affected Greeks in Montreal, but according to CBC, that’s not what upsets them most.

The Greek community of 80,000 is reportedly more troubled by the riots occurring in their homeland. According to CBC, hundreds of rioters robbed stores and set fires in Athens this weekend after new laws were passed in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy.

While the consulate in Montreal has received budget cuts, Montreal’s Greek consul-general Thanos Kafopoulos told CBC that they’re trying “to maintain service” and “increase revenues.”

Flickr: Oyvind Solstad