2008-09 UMSU Executive decided
Students United win in clean sweep
Joanna Bhaskaran, staff
Photo by Karen Asher
Winning slate
9.7 per cent of U of M students, totaling 17,720 votes, turned out to vote in the UMSU general election making, with more than 60 per cent, Students United the 2008-09 UMSU executive.
Students United is made up of Jonny Sopotiuk (president), Leanne Rajotte (vice-president internal), Rita Bruce-Nanakeain (vice-president external), Sid Rashid (vice-president student services), and Mitch Tripple (vice-president advocacy).
Sopotiuk garnered 65.7 per cent of the votes beating out other presidential hopefuls Tory Unrau (Clean Slate) and Pierce Cairns (Regressive Conservatives).
“We have worked hard for this, and I think the four vice-presidents are extremely passionate and enthusiastic about what they want to do,” Sopotiuk said, adding that he hoped to improve on the strengths of last year’s UMSU council.
Tripple said that the win for the entire slate would be a credit for next year’s executive.
“It will be a lot easier to get things done because we are all starting on the same page and see eye to eye about a lot of things and share the same goals.”
Losing slates
Despite the loss, Troy Unrau, presidential candidate with the Clean Slate, said he was happy about getting 25 per cent of the vote.
“I’m actually really happy with 25 per cent. I’m disappointed with the turnout but 25 per cent, you know, the federal NDP party would, you know, shit themselves if they got 25 per cent.”
Unrau attributed his slate’s loss to a lack of organization, lack of a clear message, and the lack of an active campaign manager.
“We had a campaign manager who decided that her schoolwork was more important than the campaign, which meant that we basically had no campaign manager.”
Pierce Cairns, presidential candidate for the Regressive Conservatives, declined to speak with the Manitoban.
Representatives
Returning incumbent Larry Baillie, disability services representative, ran uncontested for the position.
“I’m happy that I can bring in a lot of ideas that I had from my previous term and continue working towards them.”
One issue he hopes to bring to the table is disaster management planning involving students with disabilities.
Denis Courcelles was acclaimed LGBTT representative after his opposition, current LGBTT representative, Daniel Draper, forfeited his candidacy.
“Last year when I ran, it was mostly because no one else wanted to and we felt it was very important within our community to have someone represent us,” Draper explained. “This year when I ran again it was because I thought I could do a really good job for our community. But when talking to Denis, I felt that he would be more successful in representing the community because he was more involved with the community on campus.”
Draper also mentioned that his desire to run for senior stick at St. John’s College interfered with his candidacy for the student representative position.
Courcelles said that although he garnered less than 40 per cent of the votes he’s going to be focused on proving himself this year.
“I wanted to win and I am gung ho about it. I definitely have to prove myself committed and, as the LGBTT rep, I want to create a better sense of community, which is something I feel we are missing right now.”
The positions for international students representative and the women students’ representative remain vacant since no candidates ran for the spots during the election. According to UMSU bylaws, any positions left empty can be reopened to nominations as of Oct. 1 and every succeeding month until those positions are filled.
Complaints and penalties
Jordan Wilson, the unopposed candidate for aboriginal students representative, was disqualified during the campaign period for not attending the required daily briefings, according to Stephanie Fera, chief returning officer (CRO).
Ben Singer, vice-president external candidate for the Clean Slate, was almost disqualified during the campaign period. The Regressive Conservatives brought libel charges against Singer after an article ran in the Manitoban, which quoted him calling the party a “joke slate.” Singer managed 29.5 per cent of the votes.
Singer hoped that some of Clean Slate’s ideas would be recognized and adopted by Students United, “whose ideas are, in my opinion . . . completely undoable.”
Before the campaign period began, Rajotte filed a complaint against Cairns, claiming that he had pre-campaigned during one of his classes. The penalty for Cairns was a one-day delay to begin campaigning.
During voting from March 5 to 8, the most popular polling stations were the two in University Centre and Fletcher Argue. The voter turnout rose increased by more than two per cent from last year’s 7.5 per cent.
All candidates will begin their positions on May 1.
With files from Chelse McKee.
