"Mallory, education is the silver bullet. Education is everything. We don't need little changes. We need gigantic, monumental changes. Schools should be palaces. The competition for the best teachers should be fierce. They should be making six figure salaries. Schools should be incredibly expensive for government and absolutely free of charge to its citizens, just like national defense. That's my position. I just haven't figured out how to do it yet." - Sam Seaborn
Opposition parties appointed their shadow cabinets this week. For politically innocent reading this blog, a shadow cabinet is a set of opposition MPs assigned to each Minister's portfolio to critique the work they do (or in some cases, the work they don't do). Shadow is probably not the right word for it at the federal level. Unrelenting acid rain cloud is probably the more appropriate term.
The department responsible for Post Secondary Education (Human Resources and Skills Development Canada) is under the ministry of Diane Finley.
Her critics:
Liberal MP Mike Savage (Dartmouth Cole Harbour) NDP MP Tony Martin (Sault Ste. Marie)
The NDP critic is responsible for critiquing the minister based on NDP policy. The Liberal critic however, in addition to being the Liberal critic for the portfolio, is also deemed the official critic of the portfolio for all of Canada as a member of the official opposition. A great idea, keep the other guys in check, but realistically I'm not sold on the effectiveness of it.
Other interesting tidbits:
Halifax MP Megan Leslie is now the NDP Critic for Post Secondary Education and Literacy, along with some deputy critic duties for the department of Justice and first nations (urban issues). A very fitting portfolio given the landscape of our riding here in Halifax. Puzzling, however is the NDP's choice in cabinet posts. The NDP caucus is one seat short of matching the size of Harper's cabinet, yet the NDP have chosen to have critics (such as critic for Post Secondary Education, Poverty, and Youth) for ministerial positions that don't yet exist.
Harper has one of the largest cabinets in recent history (with 38 MPS) rivaled only by the cabinets of Brian Mulroney.
Cabinet members get tonnes of perks. Namely, a $67 700 raise from their standard MP's salary of $155 400/year (which alone puts all MPs in the top two percent of income earners in Canada). And, don't forget the limo rides.
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!
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.
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.
I´m Mark, and I´m the DSU´s VP Education.
You can come to see me about any academic issues you have with the university, or external concerns that I can relay to government and public officials.
I´m also running the DSU Speaker Series this year, so if you´d like to suggest a guest speaker, come see me, and we˙ll see what we can do!
ically innocent reading this blog, a shadow cabinet is a set of opposition MPs assigned to each Minister's portfolio to critique the work they do (or in some cases, the work they don't do). Shadow is probably not the right word for it at the federal level. Unrelenting acid rain cloud is probably the more appropriate term.
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