Does Halifax need late night bus service?

The Halifax Student Alliance was successful in the municipal election in soliciting commitments from several elected candidates to support the implementation of a pilot service for late night transit. We were able to commit all three mayoral candidates to supporting late night transit during the election campaign.

U-News did a video streeter asking students about whether or not they think Halifax needs late night transit service.



It's important to remember that students contribute roughly 10% of the MetroTransit operating budget through their U-Pass fees. Its also important to consider the amount of money spent by students at institutions where there is no U-Pass offered and the amount of money spent during the summer months when U-Pass service is not offered. When you factor these numbers in, I would guess that the percentage rises to upwards of 15% of MT's operating budget.

Halifax Didn't Want Your Vote

Did you miss voting in the federal and municipal elections last week? Don't worry about it, the government didn't want your vote anyway. Ignoring the fact that voting is a constitutional and chartered right, students slip through the cracks of Canadian and Nova Scotian electoral law. Forget about democracy, the closest you'll get to that this year is casting your ballot in the DSU general elections in March of 2009.

On the day of the federal election I heard more complaints from students than in my entire term as Vice President Education for the DSU. Students were rightly riled about the new identification rules for voting that stop just short of asking for a DNA sample to prove your identity. During the last session of parliament the Harper Government brought forward several legislative changes to the way elections are run in Canada.

Unfortunately, the new regulations don't make any exceptions for highly transient students, many of whom change apartments on a yearly basis, and have difficulty proving their residency due to shared leases and bills that may not necessarily have their name on them. On Election Day, I asked the supervisor at the polling station in the SUB how many students they were forced to turn away. He consulted with his colleagues, and quickly informed me that at least sixty percent of students were being rejected.

On top of stricter ID rules at the polls, the new regulations have eliminated the enumeration (or door-to-door registration) of voters during election time. But, exceptions were made for enumerations to continue in student neighborhoods. In fact, Elections Canada sent student unions across Canada a document promising that every off campus student would be visited at least twice to attempt an enumeration, and that student unions would be consulted before the process began. That was a promise that fell through. Across the country, returning officers gave students the same story - we want to help, but we have limited resources: not enough people, not enough money, not enough time. "Please file a written complaint after the election" we were told.

Across Canada citizens were denied the right to vote. Students, senior citizens, first nations peoples, rural citizens and the homeless were all victims of these new electoral regulations. The new electoral rules were introduced by the Conservatives, supported by the Liberals and opposed by New Democrats and Greens. Recently, Liberals have been distancing themselves from their initial support of the rules, and hinting that they may need to be reexamined before the next writ drop.

Voting in elections should be as easy and straightforward as possible. The government of Australia has gone the extra step and made voting in national elections mandatory. Most national elections boast a voter turnout of around 95%. Under Canada's new voter identification rules, we've seen national voter turnout drop to the lowest since confederation at 59.1%. Anyone following the food-fight of an election we just experienced knows that Stephen Harper has taken the lead from former Aussie PM John Howard, on more than one occasion, often without giving due credit. Perhaps our reaffirmed Prime Minister should secretly drop him a line and get some under-the-table advice on keeping voter turnout high.

Maybe you tried to cast a ballot in the Municipal Elections that happened on Saturday. Unless you are a married student from Nova Scotia or an out of province student who spent the summer here, your participation in our election is considered illegal under the outdated and archaic electoral law of Nova Scotia's Municipal Elections Act. The act is so outdated, that its prevention of single students from voting outside of the district of their family home is a spirited violation of the Nova Scotia Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of marital status or family status, but is worded ambiguously enough to prevent any legal action on our part.

During the summer the Halifax Student Alliance sent a formal request to the Minister of Municipal Relations, Jamie Muir, asking for the act to be amended to allow students who spend the majority of their year in Halifax the right to vote. We were told since the house of assembly wasn't in session; there wouldn't be time to make any amendments before October 18th. The house has been adjourned since May 27th, and will not reconvene until October 30th. While students were busy working to pay off student loans, studying, and not exercising their democratic rights, I'm inclined to wonder how Muir spent his recess.

In a landmark year for democracy, the provincial and federal governments appear to be doing all they can to discourage young Canadians from voting. The province of Nova Scotia decided to put over nine million dollars into the Democracy 250 project this year. A project aimed at celebrating democracy and intended to promote involvement in the political process, especially among youth and first time voters. You've probably seen the product of D250 around. With the amount of money they've spent on promotional swag, the entire province could be clothed in their inmate-style D250 sweatshirts (conveniently stitched in countries where democracy has yet to exist). Halitosis should never again be an issue for Haligonians; from what I've heard, province house has been overflowing with democracy mints since early spring.

Our governments need to stop sending mixed signals about youth involvement in democracy. If they genuinely believe that our votes and voices are important (which they are), then electoral law should be changed to reflect that. Until then, stop wasting our money on advertising campaigns that encourage us to do something we cannot legally and conveniently do!

Young voters and party-tinted beers at Dalhousie bar

SYLVIA COLE, METRO HALIFAX

October 15, 2008 05:00

Students and locals sipped red, blue, orange and green beer at Dalhousie University last night while they watched the results of the election unfold.

“Elections are really exciting. What’s better than watching the elections and having a couple of drinks?” asked Adam Reid, a third-year history student who nabbed a prime leather couch in front of a large screen TV at the Grawood campus bar.

Reid’s friend, Marion Waldron-Blain, a third-year student at NSCAD University, said she’d like to see either the NDP or the Liberals win.

“I go to art school and the Conservatives aren’t very pro-arts at all. I would like to have a job sometime in my life, so that’s most of my reason,” she said.

Reid said he’d like to see more help offered to students paying back student loans, and to making school more affordable.

Not everyone was against the Conservatives. Kevin Forbes, a non-student watching the elections at the Grawood, argued the Conservatives have done a pretty good job in the last two years they’ve been in power.

That said, Forbes didn’t necessarily vote Conservative.

“I sent all candidates an e-mail with a few questions and only one bothered to answer it, so I voted for that guy, because it said a lot about him and the campaign he wanted to run.”

Elections regulations unfair, unconstitutional

CBC interviewed me earlier today for an article concerning the new voting regulations that have been detrimental when it comes to enabling students to cast their ballots in federal elections. More to come on this later.

New ID rules cause confusion at polls

Voters across the country had difficulties casting their ballots in the federal election Tuesday.

According to an Elections Canada official, many people were unaware of a new rule that requires voters to present either one piece of identification showing their name and address or two pieces of ID, each of which shows their name and at least one of which shows their address.

Elections Canada official Dana Doiron said people have been turning up with passports or other pieces of ID that do not contain an address.

He said that in most cases, voters eventually got the proper paperwork or they were vouched for by someone else. (In lieu of proper ID, an elector can take an oath and be vouched for by another elector whose name is on the list of electors for the same polling division and who has the necessary ID.)

But voters across the country — from Nova Scotia to the Northwest Territories — have still been reporting problems.

At Dalhousie University in Halifax, almost two-thirds of the students showing up to cast ballots on campus were turned away because they didn't have the necessary signed form from their university residence stating their address or were off-campus students, said Mark Coffin, vice-president of education on the Dalhousie student council. The form is the only way for some students to prove they live in the area, as many of them have IDs with an address from another region.

He said he feared students who were turned away didn't go back to vote.

"You know, 1.4 million young Canadians didn't vote in the last election," Coffin said. "Well, these new rules aren't making it any easier for students to vote."

In Vancouver, polling station representative Pendra Wilson said she saw several voters turned away after they arrived without proper identification.

"I think every Canadian should be able to vote," Wilson told CBC News. "It made me sick to see so many conscientious Canadians not allowed to vote today."

People turned away in North

In the Yukon and Northwest Territories, election officials told CBC News Tuesday that they have had some problems with the new rules regarding proof of identity.

"The new rules regarding addresses and address changes have created some difficulty with some electors," said Seann Springfield, a supervisor at a Whitehorse polling station. "Some people have been turned away."

Whitehorse resident Angel Hall said she was turned away because the identification she brought was not sufficient. Being turned away upset Hall, who said she works with young aboriginal people and had been trying to encourage people to vote.

"I was … really rallying people to come vote.… People who are, like, the toughest demographic to get to come out and vote," she said. "I had to come back and say, 'I can't vote!'"

The new rule was passed by Parliament last year but was highlighted in a $9.3 million advertising blitz during the 37-day election campaign.

Doiron said Elections Canada got a sense of how widespread the lack of awareness was at the advance polls when people failed to show up with the proper ID.

Other problems emerge at polls

Voters across Canada reported other problems at the polls as well. In Wild Rose riding in Alberta, Janice Tanton said she was turned away from her local polling station when she arrived at 7:25 p.m. local time.

"They weren't going to let us in, and I raised my voice that it wasn't 7:30 yet, and how were working families supposed to be able to exercise their right to vote in this country," Tanton wrote in an email to CBCNews.ca. "She let us in."

In Montreal, Beth Blackmore told CBCNews.ca that wait times were a major issue, saying she had to wait more than an hour to cast her vote in her riding of Outremont.

In Vanderhoof, B.C., Patricia Crosby said that confusion over the hours of her polling situation prevented her from voting. She told CBC News that she struggled to find a convenient polling station after she received a notice notifying her that the hours at her own local poll had changed.

"A country like Canada who send representatives to far-off lands to ensure foreigners' right to free elections would do well to safeguard their own country," Crosby wrote.

Predictions for Halifax

This is my guess for what will happen tonight:

Tony Seed (MLPC): 1%
Darryl Whetter (Green): 14%
Ted Larsen (Con): 18%
Catherine Meade (Lib): 30%
Megan Leslie (NDP): 36%

I know this is out of step with local pre-election polls, but I'm considering the fact that local polls don't include most university students in their phoning, and I'm factoring in what I've heard from students I've spoken with on the street today.

Yes, you are eligible to vote in Halifax!

I've run into so many people who are convinced they cannot vote in Halifax. So, if you are reading this, please pass the word along.

You are eligible to vote in Halifax if:

• You are a Canadian citizen and at least 18 years of age
• You have not cast a ballot for another riding (ie. mail-in or inperson ballots)
  

You DO NOT NEED TO BE REGISTERED OR ON THE VOTERS LIST IF YOU MEET THESE CRITERIA!

YOU MUST, HOWEVER

• Prove your identity and prove your address at the polling station (Click here to see how easy this is)
• Show up at the right polling station (enter your postal code here to find out where)

Please, please pass this information along to your friends and classmates.

Plays of the week(s)

Some videos I think are worthy of broadcast for this election season:


Rick Mercer on why students should vote:


Child size versions of party leaders: (The Elizabeth May one is uncanny)



I'm calling this one the Yes We Can of Canada... or maybe rather the "Oh no you don't!":


The bold, and the innocent:




A Model of Academic Integrity:

DSU says ABC if you care about education.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

October 9, 2008

STUDENTS DISAPPOINTED IN HARPER CONSERVATIVES

Halifax, NS – The Dalhousie Student Union (DSU) is encouraging voters who care about post-secondary education to strongly consider voting for anyone but the Conservatives in the upcoming federal election.

The Conservative platform was released on Tuesday, and besides a pledge to award completion grants for apprenticeships in the Red Seal Trades, there were no commitments to make any changes to the post-secondary education system in Canada.

“The Conservative platform is extremely discouraging,” explains Courtney Larkin, President of the DSU. “We try to stay impartial during election time, but there is no way we can stay quiet about what we feel is a slight to Canadian post-secondary students.”

Earlier this year, the Progressive Conservative government of Nova Scotia made several reforms to the post-secondary education system in Nova Scotia, including the implementation of a needs-based grants system, a tuition freeze, bursaries for Nova Scotia students and the extension of the cap on student loans available for professional students and students with dependants. At the federal level, the Liberals have pledged to commit over $25 billion towards access grants over the next twenty years, the NDP have committed to tabling a Post-Secondary Education Act and the Greens have pledged to relieve 50 per cent of student loan debt upon completion of a degree.

“All of the other parties have dedicated substantial portions of their platforms to post-secondary education issues,” says Larkin. “While we don’t endorse all of the party proposals, it is reassuring that they have recognized post-secondary education as an issue worthy of a platform plank.”

Students have been encouraging all parties running in this election to increase the accessibility and affordability of a post-secondary education through expansion of needs-based grants, Canada Student Loan System reform, increased tri-council funding for graduate students and a dedicated transfer for post-secondary education to the provinces.

“Stephen Harper and Conservative candidates across the country ought to follow the lead of the other party leaders and the Progressive Conservative premier of Nova Scotia,” encourages Larkin. “Increased funding for education is an investment, not an expense and Stephen Harper should recognize that in a period of economic uncertainty we need to focus on education.”

-30-

For more information, please contact:

Courtney Larkin Mark Coffin

President Vice President Education

(902) 494-1277 / (902) 499-5650 (cell) (902) 494-1275/ (902) 237-6275 (cell)

dsupres@dal.ca dsuvped@dal.ca

Anyone But Conservative

The conservative platform is out, and the party has unabashedly neglected students. I am extremely dissapointed in this. I've had my personal issues with many of the policies of the Conservative Party in the past, but this is reaching a new low.

The following exert is the only piece of platform that even remotely relates to students, and aside from being terrible policy, is nowhere near comprehensive enough:

"Enhance the Apprenticeship Incentive Grant with a $2,000 completion bonus for apprentices who complete their training in a nationally recognized Red Seal trade program." From CPC site

Really? That's it? Really?

In the last federal election the DSU and CASA chose the slogan "Vote, it's as easy as 1-23", since the election was on January 23rd (1/23/06). This time if you're concerned at all about the state of post secondary education in Canada, even an uneducated and illiterate bafoon could tell you what the DSU is telling you now: "Vote ABC."

The Liberals, Greens and NDP all have weaknesses in their plans for PSE, but they all have plans. They have recognized the importance of sitting down and saying "Hey, we need a policy on PSE." I wish this posting was a critique of the PSE plank of the Conservative Party Platform, but it can't be, because it doesn't exist. Shame. For shame.

Liveblogging the Mayoral Candidates Forum on the Environment

So, David Boyd, Sheila Fougere, and Peter Kelly are just about to enter the ring, and I have managed to get wireless internet, so you're getting a liveblog! If you are reading this as I write, you can also tune into the debate at Haligonia.ca.

10:06 Drawing for Opening Comments: Sheila, David, Peter

10:08: Fougere's Opening Statements: Talking about her achievements and efforts on council: Bike Lanes, Natural Step Framework, Anti-Idling Programs, Emissions Reductions... the list goes on. She's reading straight from her notes, so far unengaging.

10:10: Boyd's Opening Statements: David Boyd has actually read Silent Spring, and it turns out he was involved in starting the Earth Day movement. Impressive. Also reading from notes though. He's talking about the clean air act; I think he may be at the wrong debate. He gets cut off.

10:13: Kelly's opening statements: He's talking about his mid-summer dip in the harbour. Kelly is also reading from his notes. Seriously? All I want is a mayoral candidate who can speak without paper. Kelly admits the active transportation initiative in HRM needs work.

10:16: Uranium Mining - Do you support a bylaw to reccomend to the government banning uranium mining for the government of Nova Scotia?

Kelly: Yes, but we should be going towards geothermal.

Fougere: Taking issue with the question, but supports the bylaw reccomending a ban.

Boyd: Yes.

10:18: Top three steps to reduce GHGs.

Boyd: 1) Public Consultation 2) Make it Law
Fougere: 1) 2)Fleet Refits to city vehicles 3) Promote Energy Efficiency in Buildings
Kelly: 1) Geothermal 2) Fleet refits 3) LEED building design

10:21

David Boyd hasn't seen the Metro Transit five-year-plan

Peter Kelly just said Halifax has 196 commuters.


10:22 Road Pricing - What leadership will you show during your term to implement road pricing (congestion taxing)?

Boyd: It will be very hard to implement it, so public consultation is the route. People first he says. People pay too much taxes he says. Wants to have road construction work paid for by sponsorship.

Kelly: Tolls aren't the way to go.

Fougere: Likes the idea of road pricing and tolls. Doesn't feel bridge tolls are much of a deterrent, reminds the audience of 3 Million bridge crossings a year in Halifax. Would consider putting tolls on new road construction.

10:25 Do you support a late night bus?
Kelly: I whole heartedly support that approach. Ideally using the free (FRED) shuttles

Fougere: Yes.

Boyd: Yes, until about 2 or 3 in the morning.

10:28 Affordable Housing

Fougere: U-Pass has allowed students to live further out, and find lower provinces. Wants to partner with landlords on a user pay program to help ensure housing is affordable.

Boyd: Wants rent controls. Is concerned about quality of affordable housing.

Kelly: Wants to allot certain portions of housing to affordable housing.

10:32 First Audience Question: How can we make Halifax self sustaining (with respect to food security)?

Kelly: Community gardens are good. Lets maximize the use of local agricultural fields.

Fougere: Community gardens are good for her too. Is talking about wind energy, and public transit for some reason, not really answering the question.

Boyd: Launch a buy local campaign. Rooftop gardens.

10:36 Second Audience Question: How will the active transportation program be implemented (particularly around elementary schools)?

Fougere: Make sure adequate money is there to implement it.

Boyd: Proper Funding.


I apologize for not carrying this posting throughout the whole debate, I got in line to ask a question, and spent the last 45 minutes of the debate in line. More to come later.

The Debate for Halifax - Opening Remarks

Facebook readers click here to view the videos of candidates opening remarks.

Liveblogs

Thanks to all who came out to the debate tonight.

An especially great thanks to the dedicated bloggers, who liveblogged the event. The digital democracy revolution is on its way.

Here are the two Blogs:

http://keithtorrie.blogspot.com/

http://strongwinds.blogspot.com/

I will also have youtube videos of most of the debate uploaded by sometime tomorrow. Some are up already at the DSUtube channel , and hopefully the rest will be up later on. A few questions got cut out because we had to stop recording to unload the memory, but we captured the first and last 45 minutes.

Game Night

Tonight is the night. All of the candidates in the Halifax riding will meet to debate the issues that are important to Haligonians.

• Date and Time: Monday October 6th, 7 PM (Doors open @ 6:30)
  
• Location: McInnes Room, Dalhousie Student Union Building, 6136 University Avenue
  
• Moderator: Costas Halavrezos from CBC Radio Noon

What can you expect? With over 1.5 hours of debate planned for audience questions, anything is on the table. Ask your candidates about their platform: Education, the Economy, The Environment, Elector Reform, and other words that start with E. Everything is on the table.

I encourage you to attend, bring your friends, bring your questions, bring some popcorn, and lock yourselves in for what is sure to be the highlight of the local campaign in Halifax.

Is Dalhousie about to make The Green Shift?

Original Blog Posting

The Dalhousie University Senate recently approved the creation of a College of Sustainability, which will offer a degree in Environment, Sustainability and Society.

Here is a promo video for the new program:


An awesome video, I must say. Props to Jared and the ESS team for putting together such an awesome program, and great marketing.

Now here is the Liberal Green Shift Video:



Does the music sound similar to anyone? You've got to wait to 0:08 in the Green Shift video to hear it, but it's there.

Harper Knows Best

Stephen Harper was back in Atlantic Canada today. In Yarmouth. At first I thought this was odd, as anyone who knows Nova Scotia (or has ever looked at a map of the East Coast) will also know that Yarmouth isn't on the way to anywhere (in Canada), and just barely has an airport. So I checked out the results of the 2006 election:

• Robert Thibault (L): 17 734 Votes
• Greg Kerr (C) 17 222
• Arthur Bull (ND) 8512 Votes
• Matt Granger (G)1040
• Ken Griffiths (I) 682

512 votes is not a big win. Its the difference of a couple dozen lawn signs, as the Toby from the West Wing would say. The math geek in me also really wants to make sure everyone knows that 512=2^9, but that's beside the point. This was the closest riding in Nova Scotia in the 2006 election. Both Thibault and Kerr are running again, but Thibault may be weakened by some bad press he earned from a few ageist and sexist remarks.

So, the point is, Harper is incredibly smart, and incredibly tactical. He knows another campaign stop in Halifax isn't worth his time. Not to say the other leaders aren't operating the same way, but its easier to disguise it when your not travelling to the Middle of Nowheres, NS.

Change Jack Can Believe In

There's nothing that makes me want to support NDP more than bands that sound like Coldplay.

New Democrats from across Nova Scotia gathered in Halifax for a rally this afternoon. The place was full of interesting sorts, including old men in Obama T-Shirts, several Dalhousie professors, Canadian Autoworkers and disgruntled airline stewardesses.

I arrived just at noon, and was a bit thrown off by the awkward setup of the room. The podium was setup facing the cameras, with the crowd seating on the opposite side. I wasn't seated for more than two minutes when several NDP staffers tried to convince me to come stand in the crowd.

"Come down and stand around Jack, we need a big crowd" they said.

"I'm just here to watch," I said while pointing at my CASA sweater.

"But you need a sign!" they insisted. I held my ground. They eventually gave up. Only later would I realize that they were only asking young people to come down, and weren't paying much attention to the grey heads next to me.

Darryl Dexter introduced Layton, reminding us that there was only one leader standing up against big oil companies, fighting for public health care, and working families. This is frustrating to me, because I know its simply not true! Whether or not you agree that we should be standing up against big oil, privatization of health care, and the like, anyone with half a brain knows that the NDP share a similar position with other opposition parties on many of these issues.

Jack Layton is targetting Harper almost exclusively now. He has limited his criticism of Dion, simply calling Dion the Leader who supported Harper by abstaining on 43 confidence motions. He says the NDP is appealling to Canadians who would otherwise vote Liberal, who are thinking about voting Green, and who used to vote for the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. "If you want to stop Stephen Harper, only New Democrats can do it," he said at today's rally, "the choice is between Jack Layton and Stephen Harper."

For the (small g) Greens in the crowd, it may interest you to know that Jack flew from Iqualuit to Halifax last night. Not the most efficient route of travel. He also claimed that his plane flew through the Northern Lights. Sorry Jack, but the Northern Lights happen in the Ionosphere, at least 50 kilometers above sea level, which is 40 kilometers above cruising altitude.

The NDP Plan

Smilin' Jack announced his plan for Post Secondary Education about a week ago, but I didn't blog on it because of the monster flu that had my spirits low.

Today Jack is back in town for a Rally for Change with local New Democrats. They're targeting youth hard, draggin along Mount A rockers, In-Flight Safety and taking out not one, but TWO ads in Dalhousie's Gazette this week. As Keith Torrie points out there's not a whole lot to change here in Halifax. We've been solid socialist orange in Halifax for the past 11 years, with the former leader of the party also being the MP for Halifax for much of that time. Speaking of which, Keith I'm glad you brought this up. The New Democratic Party of Canada is actually 47 years old. I digress.

More importantly, if elected to government, the NDP will make the following changes for students:

Enact the Post Secondary Education Act as introduced by the NDP in the last Parliament.

Ensure that students don't have crippling debts when they graduate:

• Provide a $1,000 grant to all undergraduate or equivalent students who qualify for student loans, paid at the beginning of the school year.
• Support students and post-secondary education in Quebec and the Northern Territories with financing equivalent to their government's student access and post-secondary development programs.

Keep tuition fees affordable and improve opportunities in post-secondary education by negotiating with provinces and territories improved, dedicated funding to support and enrich publicly funded and administered post-secondary institutions. This will include new initiatives to increase financial support for in-demand professionals, such as doctors and nurses, linked to them serving in areas where there are shortages.

Reform the Canada Student Loans system, including interest relief, so students are not forced to start repaying their student loans while they are still completing their education through internship, co-op or placement programs.

Encourage the best young minds to stay here in Canada by increasing funding for university and college-based research, and for graduate and post-graduate studies.

Its not bad. The $1000 grant is very similar to the Liberal plan. This plan has something the liberal plan doesn't, which is a commitment to work cooperatively with the provinces. It also committs to a dedicated transfer to the provinces through the proposed PSE act, which is good, and hopefully it is allocated on a per-student basis, but there is no mention of that here.

The Liberal plan has something that the NDP plan doesn't, which is a firm list of details. I like that the Liberals know exactly how much money they will spend on PSE, but the NDP seem to be lacking on this front. Details on promises to graduates are scarce, which is troubling as well. The liberals committed to increasing graduate funding by a third of current levels at the tri-council level, while the NDP have simply committed to increasing grad and post-grad research funding.

To here more about the NDP's Post Secondary Education Act, watch this video:

Down with Downtown

Halifax Downtown Council Candidates met tonight to debate in front of an audience of mostly fine arts students from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. The student union SUNSCAD organized the debate. For those of you who live on the peninsula, this district encompasses most of the downtown area between Robie and the waterfront.

I managed to snag a few (shaky) videos of the debate while the candidates were discussing development in the downtown. I will warn you, its a good thing I forgot my tripod, and needed two hands to steady the camera, because if I'd had a free hand while some of the candidates were speaking, there's a good chance I would have been grasping for something sharp to stab myself in the eye. If any candidates should happen to read this blog, I assure you I'm talking about one of the others.

I am happy to report that every single one of these candidates supports at least a trial run of a late night bus service servicing the downtown and feeder areas. Crime and safety, transportation
and affordable housing are all central issues that repeatedly popped up over the course of the evenening.

"We have spread our city too thin," Candidate James Stuewe said, "Transit works when you have density... The rest of the world is moving forward on transit, and we seem to be stuck."

Incumbent Dawn Sloane who is defending her seat spent much of her time defending the decisions of council. She boasted of the new "FRED on steroids" plan her council pushed through; six hybrid buses giving free service to the downtown areas, and indicated that if reelected she would advocate to have these buses run late-night routes as well.

The candidates stumbled on questions about the arts. "Halifax is strong, we survived an explosion, we're not going anywhere," candidate Jerome Downey said. He also spoke of the need to provide opportunities for citizens to be able to pursue carreers that they are "passionate" about.

Cameron Ells said a fair new tax-reform plan is something that could benefitting the arts community.

Candidates Stuewe and Downey seem to have very similar ideas, and have similar appeal. Both young, both bright, and both first time candidates (as far as I'm aware). They'll eat away at one another's voter base, which is unfortunate for both of them.

Videos coming soon

Video: Candidate Introductions




Video: Dawn Sloane, Jerome Downey Discuss Development



Video: Cameron Ells Discusses Development



Video: James Stuewe Discusses Development

The Great Debate

Original Blog Posting

So, the fab five have flaunted their fluencies in both official languages. Last night we had a showing of the english debate at the Grawood and I was thoroughly impressed with the turnout from students. Our bar manager was less impressed with the fact that they weren't spending as much on booze as the Trivia crowd on the other side of the bar.

Unfortunately, there was essentially no mention of Post Secondary Education issues. Layton mentioned his plan for relieving family doctor debt during a discussion on health care, but otherwise there was no allotted time for discussion on access to Post Secondary Education or the projected deficit of a skilled and educated workforce with the impending labour shortage in eastern and central Canada. With the Canadian economy destined to follow the path of our southern neighbours it really suprises me that these issues never came up for discussion.

I was unimpressed that Harper went on the attack so early in the debate. Harper spoke first during the debate, and within his first minute of speaking he attacked Dion's economic plan. Its no wonder people get frustrated with the political process when smart, talented individuals like our Prime Minister stoop to this level of discussion so early in a debate, when in reality it should be them defending their plan. The other leaders are guilty of this as well, but Harper was full of criticisms and low on solutions (I'm not saying his solutions are bad ones, I'm saying he simply hasn't shown us what his solution is). Layton laid it down good, "Where’s the platform, under the sweater?"

Dion took the high-road, and it may have earned him some cred, Nanos polls have him closing in on Harper with a five point margin. Back in minority territory.

Over 100 Dal students surveyed on the university website were asked who they felt won the debate:

• 35% picked Captain Planet - Elizabeth May
  
• 23 % went for Smilin' Jack Layton
  
• 16% chose Stephen "I still haven't announced a PSE platform" Harper
• 16% said Stephane "Arts are Fun" Dion
• 9% were watching the wrong debate
• 1% liked the seperatist
  

May got several good one liners in against Harper last night, and did a good job at explaining Dion's carbon tax for him. Unfortunately we didn't hear much about what seperates the Greens from the Liberals and the NDP, which I think was a question on many viewers minds, including my own.

A lot of people were flicking channels last night. The Biden-Palin debate across the way was the most watched debate in history. Canadians were torn, not a big surprise given that 15% of us would give up our chartered right to vote in Canada, in order to vote for Obama or McCain this November.

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We're still waiting on an announcement from the Conservatives on Post-Secondary Education. They gave us a teaser announcement on apprenticeships today, which takes the form of a $2000 completion bonus. Let's hope they put more thought into their university related announcements, because this program is not targeted, nor is the grant provided up front. This means that it does relatively little for removing barriers to individuals wishing to pursue apprenticeships. What it does do is provide financial relief to individuals already enrolled in an apprenticeship program.