March 18, 1997

Opinion

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The Panther Prints

On theCFS Referendum

By STEPHEN DEGRACE

When the issue of the UPEI Student Union’s me n- bership in the Canadian F. d- eration of Students came 1 last year, I took a (belat: d) interest and began to look ir to the particulars of the matte - My inquiries, quite ap: rt from making up my mind, only left me feeling more ambig 1- ous as to how I should vote. On one hand | was disturbed by some of the charges against the CFS, but on the other hand I was also disturbed by the Student Union’s apparent lack of thought as to iat should replace the CFS. I remain con- vinced that national student or- ganisations are a necessity in our times in order to protect our interests in the current cli- mate of cuts and fiscal re- straint. Disgusted with both sides, I was one of the (as I recall) nine people who voted to abstain. However, having had a chance to observe how both parties have responded (or not responded) over the past year with regard to the points raised during last year’s referendum, I feel that I can now state an opinion as to which course I think would be best for UPEI. I chose to ex- ress my ambiguity publicly ast year in a letter to the Pan- ther Prints, and this year once again I feel the irresistible urge to vent my spleen. I would be most obliged if youd bear with me.

I will vote no to CFS. The reason is that while the CFS has shown no signs of addressing the concerns I have -with them, or even remote awareness that these issues are concerns, the anti-CFS party has quite adequately ad- dressed my concerns with their position. Inmy opinionthe CFS is a seriously flawed organisa- tion that does a poor job of representing students in the areas in which it has any busi- ness representing students, and actively mis-represents students in a number of areas in which they frankly have no business sticking their collec- tive nose. The CFS’s hard- left, strident “education is a

right” knee-jerk response to the issue of tuition increases is, in my opinion, a poor long term strategy for getting the best deal possible for students. (And it is precisely these kinds of bread-and-butter issues which should, in my opinion, properly form the organisa- tion’s mandate.) I believe that such rhetoric only serves to disgust the average Canadian taxpayer, thus playing into the hands of the right wing, which would quite like to see us move to the system of stratospheric tuitions favoured by the Ameri- cans. The fiscal crunch that is causing governments to re- duce funding for public serv- ices across the board is a fun- damental reality of our times. Everybody has to help bear the burden; whining, however forcefully, that students should

The opinions of students span the entire broad spectrum of political thought...

be exempt will only destroy the very public sympathy that is currently indispensable to our long term interests.

at really annoys me about the CFS, though, is their dabbling in political issues on which they have no right to represent their constituents. Quite frankly, the miasma of left-wing politics surrounding the organisation makes menau- seous. To take specific exam- ples, the CFS has chosen to take positions in favour of ac- cess to abortions and against the death penalty. In effect, they are saying that these are the positions of students. | don’t recall being asked at any time by the CFS how I would like to be represented on these issues. The opinions of stu- dents span the entire broad spectrum of political thought; although I am pro-abortion (I will not mince words) I re- spect the opinions of students I know who are anti-abortion,

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and | am angry that these stu- dents are being effectively mis- represented as pro-abortion by their national student organi- sation. And more personally, as one in favour of the death penalty, I am incensed that the CFS, of which my school is a member, dares to lobby against the death penalty in my name. In my opinion, this superfluous political meddling on the part of the CFS is a travesty, and one for which | have not seen one iota of re- morse in the year at least since these issues have been brought up.

At the same time, the Student Union Executive's stated preference for CASA sets me at ease with regard to my concern that the anti-CFS party was thoughtlessly leav- ing us with no larger represen- tation at all. My major reser- vation about CASA, the crimi- nal allegations of embezzle- ment against their former act- ing president, have been ad- dressed by Chris Burns; un- less I see believable informa- tion very strongly suggestin that the contrary is true, I will take him at his word that there is little danger of a repeat per- formance.

| My one criticism against the anti-CFS party this year is that I would like to see more information on what kind of perks CASA offers; the CFS (wisely) places a large part of the focus of its campaign on the perks it offers, soif CASA makes similar offers it would be a good idea if we were told so explicitly.

The criticisms levelled against CASA by Amber Allin as quoted in the December 3 issue of the Prints profoundly failed to move me. She says there are undercurrents of elit- ism in CASA; seeing that as University students we are an elite of a sort, the allegation fails to alarm me. However, I do invite Ms. Allin to explain further, as perhaps if I knew what exactly she meant by “undercurrents of elitism CASA’s position on education rights that post-secondary edu- cation is a “necessity” as op- posed to a “right” does not strike me as an unclear stance

as was suggested in the arti- cle. On the contrary, it strikes me as a suitably wise and moderate stance which is more likely to get us approximately what we want (given the cli- mate of the times) than the more radical stance espoused by the CFS. Rather than being concerned by CASA’s stance on this issue, I am encouraged by it. I like the idea of repre- sentation by population; I think that it is fair and that it is more likely to make people take the organization seriously. If an organisation has rep by pop, one may be more sure that its

‘pronouncements are truly re-

flective of the opinion of the majority of its members. Even the allegations that CASA has been lobbying the PEI govern- ment (for what we are not told) do not bother me; for one thing, no substantiation has been offered for these allega- tions, and for another thing these allegations would not bother me even if they were true unless it turned out that CASA were actively trying to rig the vote. If they are simply lobbying on our behalf, then I say more power to them; let them by all means show us what they can do for us.

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