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Students give CSU, CJLO, CUTV the nod
And the results are in! It appears that students were in a giving mood for the holiday season as everything passed in the CSU By-Elections.
A ‘no’ campaign a week before the election stirred controversy but all the bylaw changes were put through.
The biggest one being that candidates for executive positions will run independently instead of with a slate.
Also, quorum for general meetings was lowered to four hundred and fifty and the currently inactive Senate of Faculty Associations was eliminated.
Another major change is that students will pay fifty cents less towards a student centre and send the money to a special CSU contingency fun.
Students have entrusted their community radio and television stations with some of that extra money. They gave CJLO and CUTV both the extra nine cents per credit fee levy. In return CJLO has promised that they will move to FM downtown and CUTV will be able to get on cable.
The CSU got the support they asked for in their fight to retain student seats at the Board of Governors and their opposition to tuition hikes as well.
Canadians feel safe from crime, conservatives push forward crime bill
Tories are getting tough on crime, but Canadians say they’ve been feeling safe for years. A Statistics Canada Survey shows that 93 percent are not worried about crime, and that figure hasn’t changed much since the last survey seven years ago. The survey was released yesterday, just a day before two measures from the conservative crime bill went into effect.
Critics from the NDP say that experts have shown that these new measures will not work and that the survey shows a disconnect between Conservatives and reality. But one professor warns that a national survey can hide local pockets of crime. There may be some neighborhoods in Canada struggling with crime whose concerns will get averaged out in the final numbers.
The Statistics Canada data also shows that crimes rates are slightly lower in Eastern Canada. From a global perspective, an international survey from 2005 showed that Canada was on top when it came to perceived safety.
Some of the Conservative crime measures deal with more than just safety. One measure deals with prevention of human trafficking and exploitation.
Bullying linked to Quebec teen suicide
Fifteen year old Marjorie Raymond committed suicide on Monday in Eastern Quebec. The cause : bullying. The cause of her sudden death was hinted at in a note she left behind for her family.
Marjorie's mother, Chantal LaRose, had planned on transferring her daughter into another school once she turned sixteen.
The school will implement short term suspension for suspected student bullies and therapy sessions for the rest of the school.
Premier Jean Charest took the opportunity to condemn bullying.
A public Facebook page created by two girls, Angel Mythe Reck & Gentil Dauphin Triste, continues Marjorie's humiliation even after her death.
Anti-bullying initiatives are now being re-examined to avoid cases like Marjorie's in the future.
News December 1 2011
Read by Kevin Gascoigne.
Produced by Sofia gay.
Stories by Joel Balsam, Judy-Ann Mitchell-Turgeon and Cynthia Othieno.
CSU Council shoots down allegations of collusion and conflict of interest
CSU Council voted to shoot down allegations of collusion and conflict of interest on the behalf the CSU Judicial Board chairman Ceejay Desfosses and Chief Electoral Officer Ismail Holoubi at a special meeting Wednesday night.
Former CSU Councillor Tomer Shavit filed the complaint, which led to the special meeting. According to 9.3f of the CSU Code of Procedures, a special meeting can be called if it is allegedge that a Judicial Board ruling "was manifestly unreasonable or was motivated by racism, sexism, collusion, bribery, homophobia or conflict of interest."
Shavit accused newly appointed CEO Holoubi of running with the Your Concordia slate in last year’s election. This would give the new CEO a conflict of interest and constitutes a questioning of Holoubi's "character" and "integrity" according to Shavit.
Holoubi said at the special meeting that he ran as an Independent candidate briefly, before quitting early on in the campaign for academic reasons without spending any campaign dollars. He also said that he chose not to run with a slate because he had too many friends on both teams.
Shavit learned from CEO Oliver Cohen's election report that Holoubi was not listed as being an independent candidate. This caused Shavit to deduce that Holoubi must be a part of Your Concordia since Shavit was aware of all the members of Team Action.
CSU VP Finance Jordan Lindsay presented another report, which Shavit could not access before the special meeting, that showed no evidence of Holoubi being on Your Concordia and was never elected.
Shavit admitted that "there's a chance that Oliver might have been wrong in his report." However, Shavit still believes that Holoubi misled council. "I feel the allegations made that were brought up against Ismail about his not stating that he ran in the election, is very very serious," he said.
Shavit is referring to a question asked of Holoubi on the night that he was hired if he had been involved in CSU elections before. To clarify the claim, Councillor Nadine Atallah asked Holoubi on Wednesday night if he remembers his response to that question. Holoubi responded by saying that he didn't remember being asked it.
Councillor Iain Meyer-Macaulay said that even if Holoubi ran in the CSU elections "he basically didn't feel as though he ran," because there was no evidence of him postering, spending campaign money or being affiliated with a team.
Shavit also accused the chair of the Judicial Board Ceejay Desfosses was in collusion with CSU Executives, but this was quickly voted down for lack of evidence.
When asked why council voted down the motions so quickly, Meyer-Macaulay said, "I think that [council] had their questions answered to a satisfactory degree and people felt confident to proceed in the way that we did."
This is not the last of the issue that has been dubbed CEO-Gate. Shavit’s appeal has been returned to the Judicial Board. They will review new evidence and decide whether stripping Goldstein of his duties as CEO was legitimate or not.
Photo of Tomer Shavit by Joel Balsam
UK shutting down Iranian embassy
Foreign Secretary William Hague announced that the UK will expel Iranian diplomats from their embassy.This is following the storming of its embassy in Tehran.
Tuesday’s attack comes after Britain applied further sanctions on Iran for their nuclear programme. This also caused Iran to reduce their diplomatic ties with the UK.
All UK diplomatic staff in Tehran has been evacuated and the embassy is now closed. Hague is demanding the immediate closure of the Iranian embassy in London and is asking staff to leave within forty-eight hours. The issue will be raised at a meeting of the European Union Foreign Affairs Council in Brussels.
Germany, France and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors to Tehran for consultations. Norway has also temporarily closed its embassy there as a precaution.
News; November 30 2011
Read by: Joel Balsam
Stories written by: Sarah Moore, Lindsay Briscoe, and Joel Balsam
Produced by: Michael Lemieux
Ontario First Nations reserve a hole for Federal funds
The native reserve of Attawapiskat is still in a housing crisis. Many of the James Bay area residents are still living in tents and uninsulated shacks even as winter sets in. Steven Harper is not happy about it.
He says that over 90 million dollars has been spent since coming to office on the issue in 2006.
The audit of federal funds from last year suggests that government officials haven't been keeping tabs on the housing projects.
The Harper government has promised 2 million dollars more to Attawapiskat. But they must come up with a solid plan for building homes and stick to it.
Concordia student wins prestigious Rhodes Scholarship worth $50 000
Concordia University's own Michael Noonan is headed off to Oxford University next year.
The Chateauguay resident and competitive wrestler has won the prestigious 2012 Rhodes Scholarship. It is valued at $50 000.
Noonan will be pursuing a PhD in zoology with a focus on fish conservation in the prestigious scholarship. He also will be working on how to make dams more ecologically friendly.
Noonan is one of only two Rhode Scholars from Quebec. The other is Philippe-Andre Rodriguez from l'Universite de Montreal.
Two Molson Brewery workers suffer severe acid burns
Two workers were severely burned at the Molson Brewery in Montreal Wednesday morning. They were burned by acide from the bottling machine.
Rescue teams rushed to the scene and took both men to the hospital immediately.
One of the men had burns on over half his body. But there is no word yet on the injuries suffered by the second man.
The workplace heath and safety board is investigating the incident.
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