By Vanessa Broadbent (The Cascade) – Email
With less than a week until the voting period for the upcoming Student Union Society (SUS) elections, two all-candidates meetings were held on campus.
The first, on February 24 at Baker House, was cancelled after only five candidates attended.
The second meeting, held February 29 in the atrium of the Student Union Building, saw all of the candidates attend except for Sahil Chawla and Rooiana Alizada.
The meeting began with opening statements from each of the candidates, which was followed by a question period. Each candidate was asked a question by Gurv Brar, the event’s moderator and SUS’s chief electoral officer. Their opponent was then given the opportunity to present a rebuttal to their answer.
Questions for the executive candidates included how to improve circumstances for clubs and associations, improving transparency, and what the candidates saw as most important in their portfolio.
Faculty representatives were all asked the same question: what their experiences were in the faculty they are representing, and how this prepares them to represent students. While each candidate had their own response to each question they received, there were overarching themes of student engagement and increasing transparency.
“The fact that you guys showed up is great,” vice president external candidate Panku Sharma addressed the crowd, “but as you know, most people don’t know what their union’s doing or what it offers.”
Vice president internal candidate Cameron Stephen commented on the lack of communication between SUS and clubs and associations.
“A lot of those communication barriers are existing with various clubs and associations I’ve talked to,” he said. “They’re not made aware of what access they have to various things, or even what events are going on.”
Before ending the meeting, candidates were given 30 seconds to present a closing statement.
Voting takes place from March 7 to 10 on myUFV.
A recording of the meeting is available to listen to on Soundcloud as well, for those unable to attend.
