A Disheartening Choice

This post is very local. If you don't go to Queen's you really won't care. Queen's University is holding its elections for the executive of its student government, the AMS, tomorrow and Wednesday. My vote is lost as there is no way for students on exchange to vote. However, because I'll read anything that's political, I've been looking at the two teams running this year. I am completely unimpressed. Here's a brief summary of the teams.

CMM: Kingsley Chak et al. provide a laundry list for the voters. The green thing I like but I doubt the AMS' ability to make a difference outside its own offices. They also provide support for things like a video tour of Queen's for incoming students. This is clearly a vote getter for students already at Queen's. Some stuff about making it easier to get involved in the AMS. Unless you work for the AMS, you never think about it.

TPC: Alvin Tedjo et al. are proposing things that they will never be able to do. They propose a revived and expanded flex-card that's just too expensive to get off the ground. Their promise to provide cheap LSAT lessons makes my eyebrows go way up. How exactly do you make it cheaper? How do we pay for it? Any specifics whatsoever? They also want to interfere with the faculty societies which would seem to be overstepping their jurisdiction. Think of Stephen Harper telling Ontario how to run its schools. Like provincial premiers the society presidents will not like the intrusion into their turf.

Common: Mental health is on both platforms. A problem but not something that people are going to go out and vote for. So is the green stuff. The presidential candidates both have losing records. My memory says Chak was acclaimed or beat one horrible candidate for the position he holds on the board of trustees. Tedjo finished last in the ASUS race last year.

In other words, yawn!!! Apparently, the golden cockroach is going to solve the housing issues in the ghetto. Tuition's going up, no discussion. Big report on racism, CMM gives a vague PC paragraph, nothing from TPC. CMM seems to want to be in office to do some housekeeping. TPC has big ideas that won't work. Sigh. There's a campaign out there to spoil ballots. If I could get my hands on mine, I would do it. I don't believe in spoiling ballots normally but this is like choosing between Abercrombie and Fitch. These two teams are so inside the JDUC it's stupid. Voter turn-out will be abysmal. I think there will be a bunch of spoiled ballot for the returning officers to sort through.