On March 30th, Turkey will go to the polls in nationwide municipal elections. After a summer of anti-government protests, an economic downturn, and a corruption scandal implicating prominent members of the ruling party’s inner circle, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has become a polarizing figure in Turkish society. Although he[Read More…]
Opinion
Opinions from our editorial board and contributors.
To vote or not to vote: a moral and logistical quandary
On Friday, Mathieu Vandal, head of the election revision board for a downtown Montreal riding, resigned over concerns that large numbers of non-francophones were registering to vote in the upcoming election without proper screening. At a press conference on Sunday, Parti Québécois (PQ) candidates accused “people from Ontario and the[Read More…]
A Campus Conversation: anglophones in the Quebec election
INTRODUCTION (Ruidi Zhu / McGill Tribune) As the race to the Quebec provincial election on April 7 intensifies, the role that students should play, especially those with a permanent residence outside the province, has become a defining issue in the campaign. Amid allegations of voter suppression against students with out[Read More…]
SSMU ‘outreach’ on building fee yet another abdication of duty
“Whereas, without this fee the SSMU would have to cut services to students in order to afford the rent and utilities payments to McGill” This line, snugly hidden within one of the 11 questions posed by the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) Winter 2014 referendum and jostling for voter[Read More…]
Fool me twice, shame on SSMU
SSMU has made its fair share of mistakes this year. We messed up frosh. We messed up on the Farnan apology. We certainly messed up on the building referendum. But all these mistakes would pale in comparison to the mistake President Larson seems to be planning on making. A re-referendum[Read More…]
Both a right and a responsibility
This question of the role of the anglophone students’ vote in Quebec provincial elections comes in the wake of accusations against the Parti Québécois for trying to bar anglophone participation in the upcoming elections. Students are being turned away this year for insufficient proof of being “domiciled” in the province.[Read More…]
In election, it’s common ground that matters
With the latest poll from Ipsos Reid showing a decline in support for the Parti Québécois, it is clear that voters are turning away from politicians who seek to divide the people of the province and rely on the fear and fervour created by wedge issues. The question of the[Read More…]
Voter suppression must be stymied at all costs
One would expect voter suppression and the arbitrary application of electoral rules to be the exclusive hallmark of states like North Korea, Syria, or perhaps Russian-controlled Crimea. The reality is we might have more in common with those regimes than we would like to believe. Official voting policy for Quebec[Read More…]
Some of us are wrong: why we need a culture of debate
Relativism is one of the biggest threats to academic rigour in the humanities. Institutions such as the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) and the McGill Daily, with their commitment to this dangerous brand of relativism—the concept that truth and morality are not absolute—validate the deep worries about educational trends [Read More…]
EUS Student Space Fund debate
During the Engineering Undergraduate Society (EUS) referendum period, which runs from March 24 to 28, Engineering students will be asked to vote on a referendum question that seeks to create a $15 per semester ($7.50 for part-time students) opt-outable fee for a Student Space Fund (SSF). The SSF would exist[Read More…]
