University decides to join Canadian Federation of Students
86% of voters support “yes” campaign
Andrew Sain, Staff
Photo by David Lipnowski.
The results are in, and students of the University of Manitoba are now officially members of the Canadian Federation of Students.
Students voted 86.2 per cent in favour of joining the national lobbying group, with 18.4 per cent voter turnout.
University of Manitoba Students’ Union president Amanda Aziz said that she feels “very positive” about the referendum results.
“I’m feeling positive for several reasons, one reason is that voter turnout was so high. It has been several years since UMSU has been able to achieve such a high voter turnout among students, and I think that really shows the excitement of students about getting involved in the referendum,” said Aziz.
She is also “very pleased by the huge majority of support” for becoming full members of CFS.
George Soule, the CFS national chairperson, is excited by the results of the referendum, as it means that all university students in the province are now members of CFS.
Students at Red River Community College retain membership in the other national lobbying organization, the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations.
Soule also noted that the results of the referendum are great for CFS nationally — along with the other 500,000 members, with the U of M the federation is “that much stronger, and has that much more weight with government.”
“Over the past year students have had a pretty good viewing of the strength of the federation,” he added.
He cited the “partial victory” in the ancillary fee debate and the services that UMSU was already able to provide before becoming full members in CFS, such as the Student Saver card, the student planner provided free of charge, and the health and dental plan, which UMSU switched to over the summer. He said students can expect those services to continue, now with the added benefit of the international student identity card (ISIC). The ISIC, which costs non-members $16 annually, is available free of charge to CFS members.
“What we’re trying to organize now are tables to distribute ISIC cards to students,” said Aziz. “A lot of what’s going to happen is allowing us to continue with the work we’ve already been doing . . . [forming] stronger coalitions with the other institutions, the other members in the province . . . the positive work that already goes on between us and other students’ organizations continues.”
The national general meeting of the CFS is being held next week, and UMSU will send a delegation in order to “bring forward issues specific to Manitoba . . . such as tuition fees, ancillary fees and funding for education.”
As for the benefit of the ISIC card, she said, “the card is really a way to convince students to spend money on [CFS], but I like the idea of communications all over the country, and we have more power when it comes to influencing the government when it comes to post-secondary education.”
Aziz said that excitement surrounding the campaign and the prospect of being active in lobbying at both the federal and provincial levels contributed to the high turnout.
She “absolutely” believes that the campaign was run in an ethical manner.
“There were a lot of measures in place to make sure that there was an extensive set of rules and that those rules were followed,” said Aziz.
She said every effort was made to distribute information to students. She also noted, “In any referendum or election there are always some things that go wrong.”
She also reported that feedback has been very positive, and as the election figures demonstrate, it is apparent that the vast majority of voters approve of joining CFS.
In comparison to this referendum’s 18 per cent turnout, 15.2 per cent of students participated in the general election that gave Aziz and UMSU vice president Cathy Van De Kerckhove their second term in the students’ union. In 2003, that number was only 11.5 per cent, and in 2002, only 9.1 per cent of students voted in the general election.
