It seems like there will be some big changes next year regarding tuition hikes, so what would be your big plan of action to fight them?

There are two parts to the strategy, one which is the more traditional lobbying set of things, meeting with MPs, presenting them with alternatives to tuition increases, things that they can do to finance universities other than through shifting the financial burden towards students. And number two is just getting the word on the street, informing students, thinking about the impact that tuition increases may have on them.

Other than lobbying, what would be your biggest goal for the QSR?

Our strongest stance in on out-of-province and international fees, that’s something that the Quebec Student Movement in general has been able to put aside partly because the majority of students in most Quebec universities pay Quebec tuition whether or not they’re international, so that’s something I would like to work on. More generally I think QSR can expand its policy work with the federal government.

How would you engage McGill students in Quebec politics?

Something that past externals have done is sort of lay out the positions each political party has in relation to post secondary education, provision of flyers so people can read the facts and make up their minds, so providing that kind of information would be a priority if there would be an election. Otherwise beyond party politics, there’s a lot going on in Quebec in terms of social movements, and a lot of the time the problem is that is doesn’t get translated into english both in terms of language and culturally, so I think a lot of my job would be to get people to know about the issues.

Another traditional role of the VP external is dealing with the Milton-Parc community, and it seems as if every year the problems remain, would you adopt any new strategies?

Vis-à-vis the Milton-Parc community I don’t think there’s anything to change in terms of our relations with them, they’re pretty good, there’s this sense of community endeavor. I don’t think that the changes that have to happen are necessarily at the level of our interaction with them, if anything it would be at the level of Frosh, often they feel that students are noisy. It’s not a question of inter-organizational relationships, it’s a question about sort of the culture that students have, and I wouldn’t be the one to change that.

If you were a cocktail what would it be?

 I’d say a rusty nail because I’d like to think I’m tough as nails.