The Students' Society's Legislative Council passed a motion last Thursday to join the Table de Concertation, a lobbying collective of Quebec university students' societies.
After leaving the Quebec Federation of University Students (FEUQ) in 2006 and being denied permanent membership in the Canadian Federation of Students in 2007, McGill has operated without formal ties to any provincial or national student lobby groups.
Vice-President External Devin Alfaro maintained that for SSMU to "carry more weight" when representing McGill students provincially, it was necessary to join the TDC.
"We've been trying to get our voices heard about issues like governance and ancillary fees, and it's been very difficult," he said.
TDC members include SSMU, the University of Sherbrooke Organization of Masters, Diploma, and Doctorate Students (REMDUS), and the University of Laval Confederation of Student Associations (CADEUL). In addition, the Laval University Graduate Students' Association (AELIES) and several students' associations from the University of Quebec at Montreal are waiting for student mandates.
TDC is currently negotiating official recognition and baseline operating grants with the Ministry of Education. According to Alfaro and next year's Vice-President External Sebastian Ronderos-Morgan, negotiations have been productive.
Some SSMU councillors voiced concerns about the new collective at last Thursday's Council meeting. "What if [TDC] just transformed into any other large student representative body?" said Law Councillor Alexandre Shee.
Alfaro pointed out that, unlike student organizations such as the FEUQ, the TDC doesn't levy student fees, and SSMU will have a direct say in the organization's policy. The TDC, he explained, will cut bureaucratic red tape associated with other large representative bodies.
Shee also raised concerns with the TDC's voting structure. As it stands, societies with up to 2,000 members receive one vote, societies with 2,001 to 10,000 members get two votes, and those with more than 10,000 members get three votes. Shee called this voting structure "random." Citing UQAM as an example, Shee explained that "they represent less people, but in the general terms, UQAM will have more votes than McGill or Laval." Under the current structure, McGill receives three votes. Since UQAM is represented by faculty associations with around 3,000 members each, each faculty waiting to join would receive two votes each. If voting together, their four votes would receive greater weight than SSMU's, which has a population 19,000 students.
Be the first to comment on this story