Students to decide future of CFS membership

UMSU plans November referendum as prospective status set to expire

Joel Trenaman

After nearly a year of assessment, U of M students will have the chance to decide whether or not to become full members of a national student organization in a November referendum.

In November 2004, the University of Manitoba Students’ Union (to which all undergraduate students belong) became prospective members of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), a national group that provides services to and lobbies on behalf of approximately 450,000 students from nearly 80 post-secondary student associations Canada-wide.

Since that time, UMSU’s executive and council members have evaluated the organization by hosting multiple information sessions, attending national meetings, and through participation in CFS-led initiatives like the national “Day of Action” (A Feb. 2 rally with a local focus on preserving the provincial tuition fee freeze).

According to CFS regulations, at the end of the one-year trial membership, a student body referendum must occur in order to give students the ultimate say: “yes” or “no” to full membership in the organization. At its Aug. 18 meeting, UMSU Council voted in favour of launching that process, setting in motion plans for a 15-day campaign slated to take place Oct. 24 to Nov. 7. Voting is scheduled for Nov. 8 to 10.

“It’s important to us that students are able to decide whether or not they [want] to become full members of a national association, so it was important for us to go ahead with a referendum,” said Amanda Aziz, UMSU president.

Aziz also said that in UMSU’s view, the trial membership has been a success.

“Certainly over the last year, the executive has seen a lot of beneficial things from participating as a prospective member . . . the strength in numbers in the province, participating provincially in giant campaigns with the other students in the province, as well as benefiting from a huge wealth of research and resources on tuition fees, funding — any sort of information we need going into meetings with government.”

She also cited as positive a number of CFS-related services, including a student health insurance plan and a reduced rate on student day timers.

Despite holding only prospective status, UMSU and U of M students have had access to all membership benefits aside from the International Student Identity Card (ISIC), which CFS provides free of charge to all students under the terms of full membership. Aziz was also named the group’s Manitoba National Executive Representative.

George Soule, CFS national chairperson, believes that the most positive aspect of U of M membership thus far has been UMSU’s work with fellow CFS locals (U of W, U of M Graduate Students’ Associaton, Collège universitaire de Saint Boniface and Brandon University) to help get proposed ancillary fee increases reduced by the province for the upcoming year.

“Together, you have that much more strength. Students won that victory by working together,” said Soule.

The referendum will be planned and executed by an “oversight committee” made up of two CFS representatives and two appointed by UMSU. The joint committee is supposed to decide how to combine CFS and UMSU guidelines in order to administer the vote. Elected CFS officials will also be on campus during the campaign.

“Those four members . . . decide on how we can best make the rules at the local [level] and the federation’s rules work together,” explained Soule.

“The rules and way the referendum will run will be negotiated between the two parties,” agreed Aziz.

Neither would say what specific requirements CFS brings to the table, or how those might alter the current UMSU policy on referenda.

For example, UMSU Bylaw 1200 only allows for an eight-day campaign period, less than the planned 15 days. The bylaw also states that in order for a referendum to be binding, five per cent of eligible voters must cast ballots. If this threshold is not met, the result is considered as “advice to council.”

In addition, the guidelines allow for students to form or be part of campaigns promoting “yes” or “no” sides leading up to a vote. UMSU council has mandated that its Campaigns and Government Relations Committee, in association with the Executive Committee, begin work on a campaign for a “yes” vote.

If students vote “no,” the prospective membership period will end immediately. If the “yes” side prevails, the U of M’s membership will be put forward for ratification at the CFS Annual General Meeting in late November.

At current rates, CFS membership would cost individual full-time students $3.66 for national membership and $2 at the provincial level, for a total of $5.66 per semester. But Soule noted that due to a lack of a practical collection method, “fees are not collected for the current year in which the referendum is held.”

UMSU would be responsible for setting up a fee collection system. The CFS budget projected total net revenue of $3.2 million for the year ending June 30, 2005.

UMSU was formerly a member of the other prominent national student lobbying organization, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations. UMSU Council voted to end that association on Feb. 10, 2005.