Archive for the 'sfss' Category

UPASS for BC Colleges/Universities

Published on June 9, 2010 in ams, british columbia, sfss, sfu, translink and ubc.

The Upass pro­gram was started by VanCity and Translink in part­ner­ship with the UBC AMS and the Simon Fraser Stu­dent Soci­ety at SFU. The Upass pro­gram was later expanded to Capi­lano Uni­ver­sity and Lan­gara Col­lege. UBC stu­dents cur­rently pay $23.75 per month for the Upass. SFU stu­dents cur­rently pay $26.09 per month for the Upass. Capi­lano Uni­ver­sity stu­dents cur­rently pay $32.00 per month and Lan­gara Col­lege stu­dents pay $38.00 per month for the Upass. Stu­dents who attend other post sec­ondary insti­tu­tions pay $81.00 for a one-zone bus pass, which can be used in all zones with their stu­dent card.

In the 2009 provin­cial gen­eral elec­tion, the BCLib­eral Party promised to deliver the UPASS to all post-secondary stu­dents in British Colum­bia. The BCLib­eral Party will be deliv­er­ing their promise this September.

Gor­don Camp­bell made an impor­tant announce­ment at Van­cou­ver Com­mu­nity Col­lege (VCC) today — an announce­ment that pro­vides afford­able uni­ver­sal tran­sit to all post-secondary stu­dents in British Colum­bia. The pre­mier announced today that schools will be able to hold ref­er­en­dums to opt into the Upass program.

Your stu­dent union (ie, Dou­glas Stu­dent Union, Kwantlen Stu­dent Asso­ci­a­tion) will be able to hold ref­er­en­dums before Sep­tem­ber to opt into the upass pro­gram. Suc­cess­ful schools will be able to take advan­tage of the $30.00 per month Upass for all the students.

The Cana­dian Fed­er­a­tion of Stu­dents in BC have reacted to this announce­ment. This is likely the first time in years where the CFS-BC have praised the work­ing of Pre­mier Gor­don Camp­bell and his exec­u­tive min­is­ters. The CFS-BC chair­per­son Nimmi Takkar said“the province and TransLink are to be con­grat­u­lated for imple­ment­ing a com­mon U-Pass pro­gram at an attrac­tive price.”

This announce­ment affects stu­dents of SFU and UBC! The con­tract between UBC AMS and SFU SFSS will be expir­ing in Sep­tem­ber 2011. Instead of using the old pric­ing, stu­dents at both schools will be pay­ing $30.00 for the Upass as well. This means a total increase of $6.25 per month for stu­dents of UBC ($25 per term, $50 per semes­ter) and a total increase of $3.91 per month for SFU stu­dents ($15.64 per semes­ter). The prices will need to be passed through a ref­er­en­dum next Spring.

Your cur­rent UBC AMS and SFU SFSS rep­re­sen­ta­tives will most likely be nego­ti­at­ing with Translink and Translink is most likely going to offer stu­dents the $30 Upass. I encour­age stu­dents from SFU and UBC to email their exter­nal rep­re­sen­ta­tive (UBC AMS VP Exter­nal Jeremy McEl­roy and SFU SFSS Exter­nal Rela­tions Offi­cer Kyle Acerino) to tell them that you do not want a fare increase to hap­pen. I also rec­om­mend you to email your local MLA, the BC Min­is­ter of Trans­porta­tion Shirley Bond, and the BCNDP Trans­porta­tion Critic Harry Bains to tell them that you do not want your bus fares to increase!

SFSS Election Results 2010

Published on March 19, 2010 in sfss.

The polls have closed for the Simon Fraser Stu­dent Soci­ety Elec­tions. The results are posted on the web­site. Con­grat­u­la­tions to the can­di­dates who ran in the elec­tion. You have took part in this elec­tion and showed SFU stu­dents that democ­racy is alive!

The term of the elected offi­cials will begin start­ing May 1. There will be a by-election hosted in the Fall 2010 semes­ter for the posi­tions of:

  • Fac­ulty of Applied Sciences
  • Fac­ulty of Arts and Social Sciences
  • Fac­ulty of Com­mu­ni­ca­tion, Art and Technology
  • Fac­ulty of Environment
  • Fac­ulty of Health Sciences

Sta­tis­tics

  • Most Voted Exec­u­tive Race: Pres­i­dent (1216)
  • Most Voted Ref­er­en­dum Race: Envi­ron­ment Tax (1323)
  • Most Voted Can­di­date (Votes): Diego Reyes
  • Most Voted Can­di­date (%): Todd MacDonald
  • Least Voted Can­di­date (Votes): Todd MacDonald
  • Least Voted Can­di­date (%): Richard Vickery

Voter Turnout

  • The most votes in the race is 1323.
  • There are around 27,500 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents at SFU.
  • Voter Turnout is 4.8%.

Con­tinue read­ing ‘SFSS Elec­tion Results 2010′

My SFSS Endorsements

Published on March 13, 2010 in sfss.

The polling for the Simon Fraser Stu­dent Soci­ety will begin on March 16 and will end on March 18. Vot­ing will be con­ducted elec­tron­i­cally. All the can­di­dates have worked very hard and I applaud them.

After look­ing at the posters, read­ing the plat­forms and watch­ing the debates, I have made up my final mind on who I sup­port for most of the positions.

Con­tinue read­ing ‘My SFSS Endorsements’

SFSS 2010 Election FAQ

Published on February 28, 2010 in sfss.

In order to under­stand the elec­tions of the Simon Fraser Stu­dent Soci­ety (SFSS), you will first have to under­stand what the it is.  Simon Fraser Stu­dent Soci­ety is an orga­ni­za­tion reg­is­tered under the BC Soci­eties Act that you auto­mat­i­cally become a mem­ber of if you are an under­grad­u­ate stu­dent at Simon Fraser Uni­ver­sity. Mem­bers of the Soci­ety (those tak­ing at least 1 credit dur­ing the semes­ter) will need to pay mem­ber­ship dues. Mem­bers will be able to take advan­tage of many of the ser­vices such as cam­pus clubs, free agen­das, U-Passes and etc. Con­tinue read­ing ‘SFSS 2010 Elec­tion FAQ’