By Dessa Bayrock (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 5, 2014
After speaking to a crowded pub of students, former Liberal party leader Stéphane Dion said he was impressed by both the turnout and the engagement he saw from students.
Dion was brought to campus as part of a new SUS speaker series spearheaded by VP academic Kristianne Hendricks. Dion is the second speaker to come to UFV and present a lecture to students.
“I was impressed by the number of students and how much they were focusing,” he said after the lecture ended. “It was not difficult for me to reach them. I didn’t have to make jokes to keep them awake. They were very focused on the seriousness of the issue.”
Although Dion came to speak primarily about the issue of climate change, he also counselled students at university to sit up, pay attention to the political world, and most importantly to vote, regardless of party.
“I would like you to vote — to cast your ballot,” he urged, “and [to] consider seriously the content of what politicians are proposing, not only the image.
“Tuition fees, post-secondary education, the environment, economic growth, social justice, and the role of Canada in the world — it’s what I would like to [bring to students’ minds],” he continued. “So I never miss an opportunity, as a former professor of university, to accept this invitation to speak to students.”
He sees rocky waters ahead for his party in the coming election, but says this encourages him even more to push to earn the Liberal party a stronger foothold in the Canadian caucus.
“I think we have momentum,” he said. “But it’s hard work we have for the coming year. We can’t underestimate the Conservatives. I think they are not governing well — but they’re campaigning well. That’s an issue for us, especially when the vote is split … the conservatives, with 30 per cent of the vote, might win the next election.”
With files from Eric Skonberg
