Very interesting nomination news out of Ottawa Centre

I have had more than a couple Conservative friends of mine tell me that Bruce Kyereh-Addo, who was wrongfully disqualifed by a CUSA Electoral Board stacked with supporters of the pro-CFS slate after he rightfully was elected CUSA President with 1744-1569 votes over Erik Halliwell is pursuing the federal Conservative nomination for the riding of Ottawa Centre.

I was proud to support Bruce when he ran for CUSA President, and while I will be supporting the Liberal candidate in Ottawa Centre, I am glad to see that Bruce is continuing to seek an active role in public life. When Bruce ran, he had both Liberals and Conservatives in his corner, and I can only hope that his team-building skills results in an Ottawa Centre campaign that is more focused on the real issues than crass partisanship.

CUSA Elections

Carleton has voted, as can be seen here: http://www.cusaonline.com/elections/results_el.html

Despite a lot of talk that the "establishment/CFS" slate could be beaten this year, the Demand Better slate (which I was supporting) only managed to get one exec member elected, Nick Bergamini, who was basically the whistle blower in the whole Shineramagate. Unfortunately, Brittany Smyth, the incumbent President who mishandled the Shineramagate incident, was elected as a Public Affairs rep.

Beyond that, however, the story of the election is developing to be the appointment of the "Because It Matters" candidate Erik Halliwell as President, after the controversial disqualification of Bruce Kyereh-Addo (the Demand Better candidate) and Cam Macintosh, an independent candidate. Furthermore, lets take a look at the results of the exec positions in which the student vote in theory actually counted:

VP Finance

Joel Schuurman (Demand Better)
Votes: 1561
Meera Chander (Because It Matters)
Votes: 1727

Patrick Troy
Votes:427

Spoiled: 56
Rejected: 146

VP Internal


Cameron McKenzie (Because It Matters)
Votes: 1946

Shaun Cawley (Demand Better)
Votes: 1727

Spoiled: 78
Rejected: 171

VP Student Issues


Ashton Starr
Votes: 386

Carlos Chacon (Because It Matters)
Votes: 1635
Nicholas Bergamini (Demand Better)
Votes: 1729

Spoiled: 49
Rejected: 127

VP Student Services

Jessica Vasquez (Demand Better)
Votes: 1960

Shewit Kalaty (Because It Matters)
Votes: 1730

Spoiled: 81
Rejected: 163

VP Student Life


Alexandre Sirois (Because It Matters)
Votes: 2155

Omhenimhen Iyamu
Votes: 622

Yulian Ihnatyuk
Votes: 753

Spoiled: 72
Rejected: 249

As you can see, with the exception of the Student Life position, (the Demand Better candidate had to withdraw) the difference between the Demand Better and Because It Matters candidates was smaller then the number of ballots deemed to be spoiled and rejected. It remains to be seen how any appeals of the disqualified candidates will go, but after a lot of initial hope, it looks like broadly speaking, the establishment won again.

EDIT: Lots of rumours floating around that Bruce actually recieved more votes for President then Erik, around 1700.

CUSA flip-flops

http://www.cusaonline.com/Downloads/shinerama_release.pdf

So all it took was becoming a national joke eh? A good step, but the relevant councillours should still make a public apology for putting forth a blatantly false and discriminatory motion.

CUSA makes Carleton an international laughing stock

I've heard reports of the CF story getting airtime in Germany and on CNN internationally, and if you do a google news search, you'll find an Australian reference. Good job CUSA!

EDIT:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/11/25/ot-081125-shinerama.html UK

http://www.inquisitr.com/9716/canadian-students-pull-support-for-cystic-fibrosis-charity-saying-cf-is-a-white-disease/ Australia

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSBNG6759520081126 Reuters, international

CUSA lives up to its reputation again

As CFS Local number 1, CUSA is prone to being ridiculous, usually making at least one totally boneheaded move a year, and CUSA has not disappointed: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2006/12/06/carleton.html

This is what happens when you have an under 20% voter turnout rate.