The Fulcrum

Campus cries
volume lxix, issue xxi feb. 13–25, 2009 sfuo election coverage

Current vp university
affairs takes reins of
SFUO
Wolfe
by Emma Godmere
Fulcrum Staff

THE MOST EXCITING race of the

2009 Student Federation of the Uni-
versity of Ottawa (SFUO) elections
also turned out to be one of the clos-
est.
Current SFUO VP University Af-
fairs Seamus Wolfe will be returning
to the SFUO executive for a third
year, finishing only 442 votes ahead of
runner-up Renaud-Philippe Garner.
“To be honest, I’m feeling a little re-
lieved,” said Wolfe. “I put my life and
my heart and soul into this campaign.
I had a lot of people behind me, and
most importantly, this campaign for
president was not about me—this was
about the people who supported me.”
Wolfe, who secured 36 per cent
of the vote, also acknowledged the
widespread popularity and interest
that surfaced in this February’s 12-
day campaign.
“I’m very, very proud to say that for photo by Frank Appleyard
the first time in the SFUO elections, Seamus Wolfe was all smiles after being elected SFUO president for 2009–10.
we had an extraordinarily interesting
race in each one of the races that were plished,” he said shortly after results to participate on campus next year, “All the things I’ve been talking “Oh, I’ll be barging into their of-
contested,” he said. were released on Feb. 12. “I’d love to Steeves was optimistic. about and saying, I’m going to keep fices frequently,” he said.
Wolfe continued to explain that his know ... if really 36 per cent, even 20 “I’ll always be involved, wherever doing,” Kelly said, after capturing just Those offices will be filled by the
main focus for next year is to “build a per cent of students without any coax- I am,” said the fourth-year manage- over 500 votes. “I think everybody rest of the newly elected SFUO execu-
community that’s built on respect”. Gar- ing will actually answer, ‘I’m satisfied.’” ment student. should be free to speak and decide tives come May 1. Wolfe indicated he
ner, who ran in last year’s presidential Third-place candidate Tyler Steeves Fourth-place finisher Marc Kelly, and have influence on the political is looking forward to working with
by-elections, offered somewhat of a seemed satisfied, at least with how his the deregistered sixth-year physics environment ... I don’t agree with the the fresh six-member executive in the
challenge to that promise. bid for president rolled out. student who encountered difficulty necessity to elect somebody to make upcoming months.
“I’d love to see a poll in one year’s “I feel like we ran a solid campaign,” campaigning before the university decisions on behalf of others.” “We have a very strong team and
time about how many students find he said after capturing 26 per cent of temporarily lifted his ban from cam- When asked about his direct in- ... I’m looking forward to be able to
[that] a community has been built and the vote. pus, was more certain about his fu- volvement with the SFUO, Kelly was make sure that next year is the best
that all the goals have been accom- When asked if he will continue ture involvement at the U of O. frank. year of our lives,” he said.

Results
Seamus Wolfe 36 %
“I put my life and my heart and soul
Renaud-Philippe Garner 30 % into this campaign.“
Tyler Steeves 26 % Seamus Wolfe
SFUO president-elect
Marc Kelly 7%
 vp university affairs
Horton all business after election win BOA,
Ted Horton comes
out on top in
four-way race
by Amanda Shendruk
Fulcrum Staff
THE STUDENT FEDERATION of
the University of Ottawa (SFUO) will
welcome Ted Horton as vp university
affairs for the 2009–2010 academic
year after he won one of the election’s
most hotly contested races on Feb. 12.
Horton, a current Faculty of Social
Sciences representative on the SFUO
Board of Administration (BOA), will
take over the position from current
VP University Affairs Seamus Wolfe
on May 1.
Horton secured 32 per cent of the
vote, narrowly edging out his clos-
est competitor, Jeremy Stuart, by 339
votes.
“I thought it was going to be a re-
ally close race, and it was. I’m glad
all the other candidates got up,” said
Horton.
Fellow candidates Sidney Loko and
Cameron Montgomery trailed Hor-
ton with 21.6 per cent and 19.5 per
cent support, respectively.
Soon after results were released,
Horton admitted to feeling “ecstatic”.
However, he quickly got down to talk-
ing business, emphasizing that after
next year he hopes students will look
back and say they were better off than
before.
“[My] daily concerns will focus
a lot on the really huge issues, and I
BOG,
Senate
Board of Governors
Amy Kishek
Board of Administration
Faculty of Arts
Scott Bédard
Melanie Book
Danika Brisson
Michael Cheevers
Robert Prazeres
Faculty of Law, Common Law
Arthur Dennis Stark
Faculty of Law, Civil Law
Bruno Gélinas-Faucher
photo by Frank Appleyard
Ted Horton was one of three first-time SFUO executives elected on Feb. 12.
Faculty of Education
think those are important, but we risk particularly disappointed with in my Both Loko and Stuart plan to soon Myriam Bérubé
neglecting the daily lives of students,” race,” he said. “They’re all good people.” graduate. Stuart will graduate in the
he said. “And if students aren’t inter- Both Horton and Loko had positive summer with a political science and Faculty of Engineering
acting with the SFUO on a daily ba- things to say about their competitors history degree, while Loko will finish Brandon Bay
sis, I don’t think they’re getting their and the campaigns. at the end of the semester.
money’s worth.” “It was a fair campaign,” said Loko, Montgomery, a current Faculty of Faculty of Health Sciences
Although the night’s results did not while Horton commented on the dy- Arts representative on the BOA, was Osama Berrada
fall in his favour, Loko, who helped namic among the four. not available for comment. Laura Raschotte
found the West African Youth Asso- “We all got along really well,” he —with files from Frank Appleyard Kyle Ryc
ciation on campus, was ready to con- said. and Emma Godmere
gratulate his competitor. Telfer School of Management
“He did a good campaign,” he said Results Khadijah Kanji
of Horton. “He was out there, and he
won.” Ted Horton 32 % Faculty of Science
Stuart, who received 26.9 per cent Jeremy Stuart 27 % Matt Alteen
of the vote, also felt the results of the Richard Mah
election were satisfactory.
Sidney Loko 22 % Jim Rae
“There was no one I was going to be Cameron Montgomery 19 %
Faculty of Social Sciences
Aminka Belvitt
Iain Brannigan
Peter Flynn

vp student affairs
Cam Gray
Sarah Jayne King

Lamarche cruises to victory

Kyle Simunovic

by Megan O’Meara
Fulcrum Staff
MICHÈLE LAMARCHE MAY have
failed to receive the support thrown
behind last year’s unopposed vp fi-
nance winner Roxanne Dubois, but
the new vp student affairs neverthe-
less impressed voters, securing 86 per
cent of the vote. This is Lamarche’s
first election to the Student Fed-
eration of the University of Ottawa
(SFUO) executive.
“I was kind of hoping it was going to
be a little bit higher because [Dubois]
got 91 per cent last year, but I am …
a little hardheaded and strongly opin-
ionated, so some people don’t approve
of me,” explained Lamarche. “I was
happy with the results overall.”
Due to the fact that she was unop-
posed, Lamarche didn’t let her cam-
paign take over her daily life.
“All my print material was sent be-
photo by Ross Prusakowski
Michèle Lamarche secured an easy win in the 2009 SFUO elections. fore I found out that I was unopposed
Faculty of Medicine
Marie-Ève Bérubé
so I still went ahead with all that,” she
said. “At the same time, I still go to
school full-time and work full-time so Senate
I decided not to take as much time off
and I didn’t skip any of my classes.” Telfer School of Management
When asked what she will do first Andrei Huranchyk
when she takes over the position in
May, Lamarche emphasized the im- Faculty of Arts
portance of collaboration within the Melanie Book
SFUO.
“I’ve been on other executives be- Faculty of Science
fore and I’m on the [Student Associa- Alex Bevington
tion of the Faculty of Arts] executive
right now, so [I know that] you have Faculty of Social Sciences
to first find out what the executive’s Kyle Simunovic
priorities are,” she explained. “It de-
pends on what the executive as a team Faculty of Medicine
wants to set as goals.” Andrew Boozary
Despite being near-certain that she
would be victorious, Larmarche was Faculty of Health Sciences
nevertheless thrilled about her new Shamin Mohamed, Jr.
position.
“I’m really excited to get started,” Faculty of Law
she said. “I’ve wanted this for a long Bruno Gélinas-Faucher
time.”

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 vp social
Guillaume ready to go when everybody gets involved.”
New vp social wants
to begin work as
soon as possible
by David McClelland
Fulcrum Staff
IT WAS A close race for the position of vp
social in the 2009–2010 Student Federation
of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) executive
elections, with fourth-year social work student
Jean Guillaume securing 55 per cent of the
vote to edge out Zoom Productions coordina-
tor Alexandre Chaput.
“I’m definitely happy,” said Guillaume after
the results were announced. “I want to start to
work on everything I’ve planned, everything
I’ve promised. I’m going to make sure they’re
going to happen.”
Guillaume campaigned on a platform that
promised to create inclusive and multicultural
events, in addition to having more and bigger
events. Guillaume felt that the inclusive nature
of his platform reflected some of the reasons
why this year’s election had a record 27 per
cent voter turnout.
“This shows how when we don’t leave peo-
ple behind [people get involved],” he said. “My
first point in my platform is inclusivity. We can
see the difference [and] we can see the results
Chaput felt that the campaign had been dif-
ficult, but rewarding nonetheless.
“It definitely got more intense in the past
couple of days where students actually got to
vote,” said Chaput, who went on to say that he
felt that the election had only been lost in the
last few days of class presentations.
Chaput also noted that the election had
been very good for Zoom Productions, and
was quick to note that he planned on remain-
ing involved in the U of O community through
Zoom.
“Zoom has been extremely present during
the elections, and it’s really put us on the map,
and I can only thank my co-workers [and] my
employees for that,” he said. “[It’s] literally put
us on the map in terms of getting students to
realize we exist.”
“There [are] big projects that Zoom is do-
ing. Mainly, I’ve been working on new renova-
tions of the office, and more visibility towards
Zoom,” he continued. “That’s something I’d be
interested in working with next year.”
Meanwhile, Guillaume is eager to start work-
ing towards his goals and election promises.
“I’m going to start to work as soon as pos-
sible. I would say tomorrow, to start to make
sure that I’m going to come and deliver what I
promised,” he said. “I’m very happy and excited
because I’m going to bring a lot of change.”

Results
Jean Guillaume 55 % photo by Ross Prusakowski
Alexandre Chaput 45 %

vp finance
Double-dip for Dubois Second serving for Séguin
by David McClelland
Fulcrum Staff
WINNING WITH A margin of over
1,200 votes, incumbent Roxanne
Dubois has been re-elected to the
position of Student Federation of the
University of Ottawa (SFUO) vp fi-
nance for 2009–10. Dubois captured
59.3 per cent of the vote, beating out
challenger Maureen Hasinoff who
took 41.7 per cent.
“I feel really happy. I think the en-
ergy was always really positive and
respective between the candidates,
which I think is essential,” said Dubois.
“A campaign has a certain rhythm and
it’s really hard for me because I already
have [the position this year] and at the
same time I had to work so hard to get
re-elected to be able to finish my job.”
In spite of the loss, Hasinoff was
happy with the way her campaign
had gone, noting that she was proud
of her hard work.
“I fought hard, and it’s really hard
to beat an incumbent, of course, but
I worked my butt off and I tried my
hardest,” she said.
Results
Roxanne Dubois
Maureen Hasinoff
For Dubois, the next challenge will
be implementing the platform she was
elected on, adding that she feels that
the experience she gained in her first
term will be invaluable in helping her
do so.
“The vp finance position, as I’ve
been saying for a while, is really heavy
in administrative tasks,” Dubois ex-
plained. “And I think having done it
once I’ll be in a much better position
to be able to make changes and adapt
some things that I wanted to do when
I came in, but kind of had to get over
that learning curve [first].
“[For] my second term, one of my
platform points was creating consul-
tative budgets,” continued Dubois,
noting that getting students involved
in the budgeting process would need
to begin before the end of her first
term. “I think we will have to put
[consultative budgets] in place in the
next few months to be able to have
this consultative budget before I [be-
gin] my second term.”
Hasinoff, meanwhile, is not ruling
out future involvement in student
politics.
59 %
41 %
photo by Frank Appleyard
“I’m not leaving student politics,
[and] I’m not leaving this campus any
time soon,” said Hasinoff. “I’m planning
on being involved for the rest of next
year and until I’m finished my degree.”
Hasinoff went on to say that she
might run for a position on the Politi-
cal, International and Development
Studies Student Association (PIDS-
SA) executive.
“I’ll probably run for [a] PIDSSA
[position],” she said. “I’m consider-
ing vp external, but it’s nothing of-
ficial yet. I haven’t decided [yet] …
and we don’t even have elections or-
ganized yet, [so] we’ll see what next
year brings.”
vp communications
by Frank Appleyard
Fulcrum Staff
CURRENT STUDENT FEDERA-
TION of the University of Ottawa
(SFUO) VP Communications Julie
Séguin secured an overwhelming
mandate for a second term on Feb. 12,
wrapping up 80 per cent of the votes
in her uncontested race.
“I’m very excited,” said an elated
Séguin shortly after the results were
announced. “I think next year’s exec
is going to be good.”
With little over two months re-
maining in her current term, Séguin
wasted little time in looking ahead to
next year, describing her desire to see
bilingualism requirements not pose a
roadblock to potential SFUO employ-
ees.
“We can make sure that there’s a
strong second-language learning pro-
gram for people who want to work at
the SFUO. If you want to get involved
in the SFUO as an employee, you have
to be bilingual, and I want to make
sure its open to everyone,” she said.
Despite an unofficial No campaign
launched by SFUO promotions team
staffer Tristan Dénommée and an
endorsement of a No vote in La Ro-
tonde’s Feb. 9 issue, Séguin was not
perturbed by the 1,440 votes cast
against her.
www.thefulcrum.ca // 02.13.09 //
“I feel like it was a very small num-
ber of people [that voted ‘no’],” she
said. “But I will take it seriously and
take whatever feedback they have to
give me.”
Dénommée was pleased with the
number of students who voted against
Séguin, admitting that his campaign
intended to shed light on Séguin’s
perceived shortcomings this year, not
to necessarily defeat the incumbent.
“I dreamed of 25 [per cent], and
the No side got 20 per cent. I think it’s
a victory for the No side,” he said.
In light of the opposition to her
campaign, Séguin displayed a com-
mitment to work with all students,
not only those who voted for her.
“I remember that last year when I
won, I said, ‘I will listen to both sides
and try and do my best,’” Séguin said.
“No one can blame me for that. I tried
to listen to 100 per cent instead of the
57 [per cent that voted for me] and I
think any exec that wins lower than
100 [per cent]—which is everybody—
should listen to every other platform
and listen to ideas that other candi-
dates have.”
Results
Yes 80 %
No 20 %
ELECTION // e3
 voter turnout
E-voting an enormous success
Students were met with laptops instead of ballots at polling stations.
referendums
Four out of six referendums pass
Students in favour of
restricting smoking on
campus
by Len Smirnov
Fulcrum Staff
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS
AT the U of O sent a strong message
through the referendums that were
part of the 2009 Student Federation
of the University of Ottawa (SFUO)
elections, voting in favor of restrict-
ing tobacco sales and consumption
on campus and expanding existing
student services. Four of the six ref-
erendum questions were ultimately
passed.
Students were united in their sup-
port for the two referendum questions
related to tobacco use on campus. The
Smoke-Free Campus campaign urged
the university to restrict smoking to
designated areas on campus. Current
regulations state that smoking is pro-
hibited within nine meters of a build-
ing entrance, but the regulations are
not consistently enforced. The cam-
e4 \\ ELECTION \\ 02.13.09 \\ www.thefulcrum.ca
photo by Martha Pearce
paign to ban the sale of tobacco prod-
ucts in SFUO businesses is a similar
initiative, calling for the SFUO to
place student values above profits.
“The Smoke-Free Campus creates
a healthy environment for students to
live and learn,” said Tapas Kulkarni,
a member of the Yes committee sup-
porting a smoke-free campus. “This
initiative is important because we
want to be fair to all students.”
While enthusiastic about the refer-
endum results, Kulkarni was reserved
about increasing smoking restrictions
any further. Instead, he is petitioning
for a stricter enforcement of the stu-
dent mandate.
“The students have spoken,” he
said. “I want the new SFUO to be ac-
countable to follow through with des-
ignated smoking areas.”
The referendum to increase the
student donation to the Bon Appé-
tit! Food Bank and the referendum
to provide equal access to the Stu-
dent Life Services (SLS) emergency
fund to all SFUO student services
were also approved in the election.
Amanda Bradley, former coordinator
of the Peer Help Centre, emphasized
Voter turnout more
than double last year’s
SFUO elections
by Megan O’Meara
Fulcrum Staff
THIS YEAR, THE Board of Adminis-
tration (BOA) of the Student Federa-
tion of the University of Ottawa (SFUO)
moved to reintroduce e-voting into
its February elections—a move that
was met with overwhelming success.
The SFUO elections office’s goal was
to make voting more accessible to all
students, especially those who are not
on campus on a daily basis. Consider
it mission accomplished: the turnout
for this election was an incredible 27.2
per cent, more than double last year’s
turnout of 12 per cent.
“Today, we make history,” said cur-
rent SFUO President Dean Haldenby,
who announced the results to the
crowd of students in the Unicentre.
He indicated approximately 8,200
students cast ballots.
SFUO elections chief information
officer Wassim Garzouzi was ecstatic
with the increase in participation.
“These are the most successful
elections we’ve ever had here at the
U of O, and I think it’s in a large part
thanks to e-voting,” explained Gar-
zouzi. “The feedback has been ter-
the benefit of extending access to the
SLS emergency fund to six additional
services.
“The SFUO services have so much
potential, but they are really limited fi-
nancially,” she explained. “The passing
of the referendum means that the SLS
can help students more effectively.”
The referendums to create the Ab-
original Counseling Resource Elder
Service (ACRES) and to get students
to donate $6 per year to Millennium
Villages project to aid sub-Saharan
African communities were less suc-
cessful. Both referendum questions
received a majority of ‘no’ votes.
Many newly elected SFUO rep-
resentatives are taking notice of the
referendum results. Ted Horton, vp
university affairs-elect, is planning to
promote the issues in the coming year.
“The [referendums] are about in-
creasing student awareness of the is-
sues on campus and their representa-
tives getting up to speed on acting on
these issues,” he said. “We will look
at how the new [referendum] agen-
das work for two to three years, and
then decide what changes need to be
made.”
rific. On the website, many people are
leaving great comments and overall
it’s been fantastic, so we’re extremely
pleased with it.”
While the increase in voters has in-
spired much praise, there was a tech-
nical error that left many students
without their identification number
needed to vote on the first day of vot-
ing, causing many undergraduate stu-
dents to lose a voting day. While the
committee was upset by this blemish
on the otherwise-successful election,
Garzouzi explained that it was not a
major issue in the end.
“Despite the delay, which was
frustrating for everyone, I think we
bounced back extremely strongly,”
said Garzouzi. “We started sending
out the emails [the night before] so
that everyone would see them then
instead of waiting until the morning.”
SFUO Chief electioral officer Sylvia
Lewis-Havard was pleased that this
hiccup was the only real issue for the
elections office.
“Other than the delay in those
emails, [the vote] went pretty much
without a hitch,” she said.
When the BOA’s implementation
of e-voting was challenged at the Stu-
dent Arbitration Committee shortly
27.2
per cent
Bon Appétit
Yes - 64 %
No - 36 %
ACRES
Yes - 35 %
No - 65 %
Student Life
Services
Yes - 63 %
No - 37 %
before the campaign period, the abil-
ity to recount electronic ballots was
a major concern. Garzouzi indicated
that, if necessary, a recount could be
done, but he hopes that no candidate
will contest the results.
“I don’t think many people are go-
ing to be thinking of contesting or any-
thing like that,” said Garzouzi. “The
Student Arbitration Committee, the
Board [of Administration] and now
almost 30 per cent of students said it
was constitutional, so I think these are
very good results for everyone.”
President-elect Seamus Wolfe
was pleased with the e-vote as well,
though he wanted more research to
have been done on the process.
“There were some small problems
that … we could have foreseen if we
put a little more research into it,” said
Wolfe. “In the end, though, I do think
it helped to increase voter turnout,
so that’s a good thing [and] it’s very
likely that we’ll use it next year.”
Lewis-Havard was proud of e-vot-
ing’s success and hopes it will be used
in years to come.
“I hope that everyone that had
questions about how good it was or
who wondered about it’s success are
now happy,” she said.
Tobacco
Sales Ban
Yes - 69 %
No - 31 %
Smoke-Free
Campus
Yes - 78 %
No - 22 %
Millennium
Village
Yes - 35 %
No - 65 %