President: Ada Nadison

Grade: B

Nadison successfully organized Shag in the Magg to create a memorable experience for new and current students. As the campus ambassador, Nadison has been knowledgeable regarding SFU. She addressed the students on behalf of the Student Society and promoted the Society and its services. Nadison also helped with the Thriller Dance at SFU Surrey. She has discussed with the appropriate directors regarding Podium 2 and worked on the Collective Agreement Negotiations. She has worked with the SFSS lawyer, Susan Coristine, with regards to the ongoing Canadian Federation of Students court case and compiled a Frequently Asked Questions sheet for students of SFU.

Treasurer: Joe Zelezny

Grade: B

Zelezny did a lot of renovations and negotiations througout his term. He made the experience at the pub better by purchasing flat-screen televisions. He upgraded the sound system in the Forum Chambers to make the forum chambers more likable. He purchased a new plotter for the CopyCentre so that Interactive Arts, Clubs or Organizations can use it to print better quality images at an affordable price. He negoatiated space at W2 to allow SFSS expansion.

Throughout the term, Zelezny spent a lot of time making SFSS more efficient and conducted renovations. During the course of Zeleznys term, there was a recession in our economy. The federal government and provincial government are running a deficit budget but Zelezny managed to keep a balanced budget.

External Relations Officer: Alysia MacGrotty

Grade: C

Part of the duties of the External Relations Officer is to lobby the Provincial Government regarding funding for post-secondary education. MacGrotty met with Stilwell on October 14. Since Stilwell was elected in May and since MacGrotty started her term in May, the two elected officials have only met once. MacGrotty blamed the lack on contact with Minister Stilwell. Although I am not an official holding any post, I have talked to Stilwell more than five times in 2009.

MacGrotty has met with Translink through the VanCity U-Pass Service Review Committee. MacGrotty met to address the quality of transit for SFU students as well as the service frequencies for the 143 and 144. The committee session, from the sound of her report, seems to be a seminar on SFU Transportation as there were no progress on lobbying.

The only visible tasks that MacGrotty organized were a video and a set of postcards to the Ministry of Advanced Education regarding so-called funding cuts. Throughout MacGrottys term as External Relations Officer, no effected lobbying were conducted. MacGrotty did, however, raise awareness to students about issues concerning the students.

One good part about MacGrotty was that she did not embarrass the number one medium-sized comprehensive university by filing a complaint to the United Nations. Neither did she attend meetings to the Canadian Federation of Students on behalf of Simon Fraser Student Society.

Internal Relations Officer: Andrew Fergusson

Grade: B

Fergusson has the most boring and confidential job out of any director and has one of the well-designed iWork reports. Throughout his term, there were no picket lines or protests from CUPE. He has also aided the hiring committees. He has also worked while he was on holiday break in San Francisco.

Member Services Officer: Mona Law

Grade: A

Throughout Laws term, she has been working hard on planning events and making sure they go as smoothly as possible. She has collected a list of volunteers that the society can go to if they need volunteers and she organized a Volunteer Appreciation Event to thank those volunteers.

She has also set up meetings with the StudentCare representatives to resolve different issues that the students have.

Law organized one of the highlights of last semester – Shag in the Magg. It was remembered by many. Law also maintained the same amount of events for the Week of Welcome and successfully rolled-out the SFSS AGM.

Law has also called forum meetings to answer any questions that the students may have.

University Relations Officer: Shara Lee

Grade: C

Although elected as the University Relations Officer, Lee seems to have been focused on the Advocacy front – including meeting with the Minister of Advanced Education and Labour Development. Lee has also been spending too much time on SFSS renovations and repairs. From Lees report from Fall 2009, it seems like Lee did not meet with the school administration enough.

Lee did not ensure that progress was made on the Student Union Building – a plan that has been promised director after director. Not only did the project not continue forward, Lee put in more ideas as to where the Student Union Building should be built.

At-Large Representative: Jonathan Brockman

Grade: A+

As a At-large representative, there really is no specific duty that they need to preform. They just help when the Board needs help. Brockman is a second term at-large representative and still continues the same quality of assistance to the student society.

Over the fall semester, Brockman has worked hard to serve on the Constitution and Policy Review Committee. He has also worked hard with other directors through teamwork to achieve goals and make SFSS a more efficient society. Not only that but Brockman has showed up to almost every Advocacy Committee meeting despite not being on the committee. Brockman has contributed just as much, if not more, as other members on the committee. Brockman is dedicated to ensuring that Simon Fraser Student Society is doing its part to advocate on behalf the students that it represents.

Brockman has also been working on a project to restructure the Board to make it more efficient.

Throughout Brockmans term, he has made himself available to students. He will be of assistance when people need his help. Brockman is definitely an asset to our Student Society and will be missed if he does not run again in the upcoming elections.

At-Large Representative: Winnie Chung

Grade: I

No work reports were found for the semester of Fall 2009.

Applied Science Faculty Representative: Graham Hiscocks

Grade: A

During the course of the Fall 2009 semester, Hiscocks has worked very hard to help the Department Student Unions of the Faculty of Applied Science. He has also helped IATSU and Communications as they did not have their Faculty Representative. Although Hiscocks is not a Faculty of Applied Science student, he has contributed a lot to the faculty.  He has even help to create the Surrey Mechatronic Systems Engineering Student Society (MSESS) and write a constitution for them.

Hiscocks has also worked outside his jurisdiction and lobbied for Greater RCMP Presence on the Burnaby campus and SFSS Space Harassment Policy. He has brought new improvements to the Residence on campus and helped to create a sustainable SFU.

Hiscocks is one of my favourite Directors on the Board of Directors. He is always humorous and a great person to talk to. If Hiscocks should run again, the best position would be Member Services Officer.

Arts and Social Science Faculty Representative: Anton Bezglasnyy

Grade: A+

Bezglasnyy is a hard working Faculty of Arts and Social Science director who is an asset to the Society.

Bezglasnyy successfully organized Social II: Social Harder, the Social for students of Faculty of Arts, in conjunction with the Treasurer and the Department Student Unions in the Faculty of Arts. Over 350 participated in the 6 hour events. Bezglasnyy was highly successful in producing this revenue generating event.

Bezglasnyy also helped successfully deliver Shag in the Magg, Week of Welcome and the SFSS AGM. He has also attended board meetings, committee meetings on a regular basis. He also attended Department Student Union meetings as well as organized a All-Presidents Meeting for the DSUs of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Business Administration Faculty Representative: Karan Cheema

Grade: I

No work reports were found for the semester of Fall 2009.

Communication, Art and Technology Faculty Rep: Hannah Yoshime

Grade: B

Yoshime was elected in November.  Throughout her term, she sat on the Handbook Hiring Committee, Finance and Administrative Service Committee and Commercial Services Committee.  She has talked with the Dean Cheryl Geisler of her faculty, contacted the Department Student Unions in her jurisdiction, and followed up on student space at Woodwards.

Although this was based on her two-month work, she has tried her best.

Education Faculty Representative: Todd McDonald

Grade: I

No work reports were found for the semester of Fall 2009.

Environment Faculty Representative: James McNish

Grade: C

McNish was elected in November during the by-elections. He is developing the Sustainable Working Group under the Advocacy Committee to create a sustainable SFU. McNish was elected as the Environment Faculty Representative but his work report said nothing about his own faculty.

Sciences Faculty Representative: Chantelle Chand

Grade: A-

Early on in the fall semester, Chand held the first Science FROSH in September welcoming new science students to SFU. She worked with over 80 volunteers and representatives from the Faculty of Science office. This event was very well done and students new and current were enthusiastic about SFU at the end of the day.

Chand also organized and hosted Geek Week – a fun week filled with science activities to promote science to students around the campus. This event was well planned and well attended by many.

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There are 6 executive, 2 at-large and 8 faculty positions available during this election.

Executive Positions:

• President
  • Description: The President acts as the head and the voice of the society.
  • Committees: de-facto status on all committees.
  • Incumbent: Ada Nadison.
• Treasurer
  • Description: The person in charge of multi-million dollar finance of the student society collected from mainly membership fees and Maggie Benston Centre Food Rental.
  • Committees: Financial and Administrative Services Committee – Chair.
  • Main Duties: FASC gets together at the pleasure of the Treasurer to determine priorities and keeping track of the money that is being spent.
  • Incumbent: Joe Zelezny.
• External Relations Officer
  • Description: The director in charge of relationships between the Society and an external organization or government.
  • Committees: Advocacy Committee – Chair.
  • Main Duties: The occupant of this position usually meets with representatives from UBC Alma Mater Society, the Minister and Critic of Advanced Education and Labour Development, Minister of Transportation, and Translink.
  • Incumbent: Alysia MacGrotty
• Internal Relations Officer
  • Description: The director in charge of relations between the executives and the staff as well as hiring new staff.
  • Committees: Commercial Services Committee – Chair
  • Main Duties: Handling Labour Relations between the SFSS and CUPE.
  • Incumbent: Andrew Fergusson
• Member Services Officer
  • Description: Director in charge of services for the membership including clubs, DSUs and interest groups.
  • Committees: N/A
  • Main Duties: Organize and roll-out events and services. Also in charge of Forum meetings.
  • Incumbent: Mona Law
• University Relations Officer
  • Description: Director in charge of relations between the students and the school administration.
  • Committees: Constitutional and Policy Review Committee – Chair; Space Oversight Committee – Chair
  • Main Duties: Negotiation and talks between the Simon Fraser Student Society and President and Vice Presidents of the school based on the interests of the students.
  • Incumbent: Shara Lee

Non-Executive Positions:

• At-Large Representatives (2)
  • Main Duties: Attend meetings when called by the executives or committees. Sit on committees. Represent the interests of students. Assist the executives in projects.
• Faculty Representatives (8 positions at 1 position per faculty)
  • Main Duties: Attend meetings when called by the executives or committees. Sit on committees. Attend Department Student Union (DSU) meetings.

For the year of 2010, the elections will take place from March 16 to 18. The election will be conducted electronically. The campaign period will start from March 1 to March 15. Along with the election of the sixteen directors, there are also four referendum questions:

• Question 1: Fee for a Sustainable SFU (recommendation: YES)
  • Are you in favour of a new fee of $2 per full time student per semester and $1 per part time student per semester to be levied for the benefit of sustainability-related initiatives on campus through Sustainable SFU? (Sustainable SFU past projects include a Sustainability Festival, the SFU Local Food project, and the Sustainable Advisory Committee.) (Yes / No)
• Question 2: Space Expansion Fund (recommendation: NO)
  • Whereas the SFSS has a mandate to provide services and support for its members;
    Whereas the new SFU Woodward’s campus has no student controlled space;
    Whereas the SFSS has an opportunity to acquire student space in W2 at Woodward’s;
    Whereas the SFSS space expansion fund is limited to use for SFU-owned property;
    Do you support an exception to the terms of the Space Expansion Fund to allow the acquisition and maintenance of Student Society space in the W2 Community Media Arts Society space at the Woodwards development in Vancouver? (Yes / No)
• By-Law Change 1: Polling Hours (recommendation: YES)
  • Whereas By-Law 14.18(b) states that “Polling for all positions shall occur between the hours of 9:30am and 7:30pm”, the introduction of online voting makes it unnecessary to impose such time limits. It is likely that an increased number of voting hours will lead to a higher voter turnout since students can vote on their own time at any place with internet access.
    Do you agree to amend by-law 14.18(b) to read “Polling for all positions shall occur at least between the hours of 9:30am and 7:30pm”? (Yes / No)
• By-Law Change 2: Ombuds Office (recommendation: YES)
  • Whereas this bylaw is now redundant because the SFSS jointly funds the university Ombuds office with the GSS and SFU; Do you support the removal of By-Law 19 “Ombuds Office”? (Yes / No)

In order to vote, you will need to be a member in good standing with the Simon Fraser Student Society (usually a student who enrolled in a course at Simon Fraser University).  All students are eligible to vote for the executive positions and 2 at-large positions. Students may only vote for the faculty representatives that represent the faculty that they are taking a course in, or declared a Major, Minor, Extended Minor, Joint Major, Honours in.

Example: A first year Faculty of Applied Science Engineering Science student who is taking CHEM 122 (Faculty of Science), BUS 237 (Faculty of Business Administration), CRIM 101 (Faculty of Arts and Social Science), IAT 102 (Faculty of Communication, Art, and Technology), and HSCI 100 (Faculty of Health Sciences) can vote in six of the eight faculties where he is taking courses in five faculties and declared major in one.

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Paralympics

The 2010 Winter Paralympics will be held in Vancouver and Whistler between March 12 and March 21.  It will be the tenth Paralympic Winter Games in history and the first Paralympics hosted on Canadian sovereignty. There will be 30 nations competing in 5 sports during this event. The Paralympics Torch Relay will start on March 3 and start from Ottawa, Ontario and will make its way to Vancouver, British Columbia.

Pavilions

• BC Robson Square will be open during the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games. The Ziptrek and the BC-Canada Pavilion at the Vancouver Art Gallery will also be open during this time.
  • Venue Sponsors: General Electric, Robson Square, The University of British Columbia, Provincial Government of British Columbia, Municipal Government of Vancouver, Vancouver Art Gallery
• BC Hydro Power Smart Village will be opened from March 1 to 22 from 10 am to 6 pm daily. The venue will be located at 333 Dunsmuir Street in Vancouver.
  • Venue Sponsors: BC Hydro, General Electric
• Canada’s Northern House will be open to promote the culture of Canada’s north.  It will be open from March 1 to March 31 from 10 am to 5 pm.  The venue will remain at 602 West Hastings Street in Vancouver.
  • Venue Sponsors: Federal Conservative Government of Canada, Territorial Government of Nunavut, Territorial Government of Northwest Territories, Territorial Government of Yukon.
• LiveCity Downtown will remain open along with CentrePlace Manitoba, Canadian Museum of Human Rights and the Canadian Pavilion. It will be open from March 12 from 4 pm to 7 pm, March 13 to 14 from 1 pm to 9 pm, and March 18 to 21 from 1 pm to 9pm. It will still be located at Georgia/Cambie in Vancouver.
  • Venue Sponsors: Federal Conservative Government of Canada, Provincial Government of Manitoba, Canadian museum of Human Rights, and the City of Vancouver.
• Vancouver 2010 Olympic Line Demonstration Streetcar will remain open until March 21. The hours of operation will still be the same at 18 hours a day. The stops are located between Canada Line Olympic Station and Granville Island.  The vehicles are on loan from the Brussels Transport Company.
  • Venue Sponsors: Bombardier, Municipal Government of Vancouver
• The Royal Canadian Mint Pavilion will be open at another location.  Simon Fraser University Segal School of Business (current Pavilion Location) will resume classes on March 1, 2010. The location is uncertain.
  • Venue Sponsors (February): Royal Mint of Canada

Logo Copyrighted 2010 VANOC/COVAN

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As of current standing, United States has the most amount of medals while Canada has the most amount of Gold medals.  Prior to the game today, I have surveyed people about what they think the score was going to be.  Most of them were close but none of them guessed it.  Post in the comments what you think the score is going to be!

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He is scheduled to run at 7am.

Feel free to comment your thoughts!

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Lyrics:

There comes a moment, when my heart must stand alone
On this lonely path Ive chosen,
like a house thats not a home
sometimes when I feel Ive had enough
and I feel like giving up
you willed me to be all I can be
now nothing can stop me
I believe in the power that comes
From a world brought together as one
I believe together well find
I believe in the power of you and I

This is the moment we have dreamed of all our lives
Well be the change we wish from others
Well stand tall for what its right
And in my hearts therell be no doubt
The arms of the world will come reaching out
And embrace me to be all I can be
Now nothing can stop me
I believe in the power that comes
From a world brought together as one
I believe together well fly
I believe in the power of you and I

I believe the time is right now
Stand tall and make the world proud
I believe together well fly
I believe in the power..
I believe in the power that comes
From a world brought together as one
(Of you and I)
I believe together well fly
I believe in the power of you and I
(power)
I believe the time is right now
(Oh you and I)
Stand tall and make the world proud
I believe together well fly (Together well fly)
I believe in the power of you and I
(I believe in the power of you and I)

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Whereas 82% of Canadians do not smoke;

And whereas it has long been recognized that second hand smoke contains over 4000 chemicals including 50 known chemicals to cause cancer;

And whereas senior levels of government have taken actions under their respective jurisdictions to protect citizens from second hand smoke such as the Federal governments Non-Smokers Health Act passed in 1988 and recently strengthened in 2007 banning smoking and more recently smoking rooms from their workplaces and the Provincial government recently amended the Motor Vehicle Act to ban smoking in vehicles where a minor (under 16 years of age) is present;

And whereas the Fraser Health Authority supports limiting exposure to second hand smoke;

And whereas smoking restrictions increase the motivation for smokers to quit or cutback, decreases negative role modeling for children, protects the environment and reduces litter;

And whereas direct enforcement from the municipality may not be necessary as experience with outdoor and indoor smoke-free laws has shown that the by-law itself is enough to deter most people from smoking. In addition, peer pressure arising from the common understanding that the space is smoke-free also deters people from smoking:

Therefore be it resolved that the City of Coquitlam develop a ban on smoking on public patios and spaces where minors (under 16 years of age) might be present;

And that the City of Coquitlam invite municipalities in Metro Vancouver that have yet to develop smoking bans to consider such a ban;

And that the City of Coquitlam ask the Province to consider a ban on smoking in all public spaces.

As much as I do not like people who smoke in public places, I believe that this by-law will (a) drive consumers away; and (b) limit the rights and freedoms that are guaranteed under the constitution.  I believe that instead of banning smoking from our city, our city council should get the public aware that smoking is bad and try to discourage it.

Although it is going to be discussed today at the Coquitlam Council meeting, please comment what you think about this by-law.

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On February 8, the Torch Relay will start at Misson and will go through Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Walnut Grove, Fort Langley, Aldergrove, Langley (Township and City), Cloverdale, and Surrey. On this day, the Torch will go on the newly built Golden Ears Bridge to get from Pitt Meadows to Fort Langley. They will have Community Celebrations in Langley and Surrey.

On February 9, the Torch Relay will start at Surrey and will go through White Rock, Peach Arch, North Delta, Tsawwassen, Tsawwassen, Ladner and Richmond. They will have a community celebration at New Westminster and Richmond.

On February 10, the Torch will go through Bowen Island, Horseshoe Bay, District of North Vancouver, Tsleil-Waututh, City of North Vancouver, Squamish and West Vancouver. The community celebration will take place in District of North Vancouver.

IMPORTANT: On February 11, the Torch will go through the Village of Belcarra, Village of Anmore, City of Port Moody, City of Port Coquitlam, City of Coquitlam, City of Burnaby, Musqueam Aboriginal Reserve, the University of British Columbia and will finish off in Vancouver. The community celebration will take place in Mackin Park. The celebration will take place at 7:45am and the flame is expected to arrive at 9:00am. The Celebration Community Choir is the Coastal Sound Youth Choir!  This celebration is the last community celebration before entering Vancouver.  For more information about the Mackin Park celebration, visit the City of Coquitlam information page.

On February 12, the Torch will go towards the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics!
If you do not have a ticket to watch the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in person, you should witness this moment in history on TV. The Olympics will be broadcasted by CTV. Additionally, you can watch the Olympics on your Bell phone.

I encourage everyone to come out to the Mackin Park celebration.  It will be the biggest celebration in the history of the Vancouver 2010 Torch Relay.

As the time period approaches, I will post the specific routes that the Torch Relay will travel on.

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The iPod Classic invention revolutionized the music market. People started switching from Music CDs to MP3 and related file types. Apple started developing better iPods – such as the iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano, and iPod Touch. Eventually, this lead to the iPhone that is so popular these days. If you go onto a public bus, there will be at least one person with an iPod or iPhone.

Last week, Apple Inc announced the Apple iPad. It is scheduled to be released in March 2010 for WiFi editions and April 2010 for 3G+WiFi editions. For most people, they just saw it as a 10-inch version of the iPod Touch. With all the rumours that have been going around prior to the announcement, I was disappointed when they announced its features. I have been a fan of Apple products – but this time they have let me down. Even my Blackberry or NetBook have more features than the iPad and it is more portable than the iPad.

The iPad is a portable device that features a 9.7-inches LED-backlit IPS LCD display. My MacBook is 13-inches and my Tablet PC is 12.1-inches. The whole iPad is 0.5-inches thin and is 1.5 pounds (1.6 pounds if you are opting for the iPad 3G). The device is almost as thin as the iPhone and heavier than the iPhone 3GS. The weight of the iPhone 3GS is only 0.3 pounds.

It runs in a 1 GHz Apple A4 Chip. A regular iPod Touch and iPhone has an 833 MHz Chip that is underclocked to 600 MHz. If you do not understand this, this means that the processing power of the iPad is almost twice as fast as in iPod Touch or iPhone. I have used my friends’ iPod Touch and iPhone before. When I operate those gadgets, I usually crash the device within an hour. The iPad will be able to run all the apps seamlessly without any lag.  The best part about this is that it has a 10 hour battery life!

The iPad comes in 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB solid state hard drives. The memory on iPods and iPhone are using Flash Memory technology. This means that the iPad will be able to read and write the data faster than the iPod and iPhone.
The iPad has every input feature that an iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 3rd generation has, including: Multi-touch touchscreen display, headset controls, proximity and ambient light sensors, 3-axis accelerometer, digital compass
The iPad has the same WiFi connectivity feature as the iPhone 3GS, except for the fact that the iPad can connect to 802.11a and 802.11n. Just like the iPhone 3GS, the iPad has HSPDA technology on it thus it will be able to use the 3G features that Bell, Rogers, and Telus currently operate.

The iPad will have all the stores that the iPhone 3GS has, except that it will also have access to the iBookStore. Patrons of the iPad will be able to purchase books, novels and textbooks from the iBookStore.

Apple is not trying to make a Netbook. Apple is not trying to make a cellular phone either. What Apple is trying to do is to make an eBook reader – similar to the Sony Reader and the Amazon Kindle. Compared to the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle, the device is way better.

If you look at the Sony Reader and Amazon Kindle, they only feature a black and white screen and the only task that you can do is read. Apple is making a similar device that allows you to also watch movies, play games and do some word processing. (You can purchase iWork for $9.99 per product).

If I were to buy a keyboard-less Tablet, I would wait for the HP Slate or Asus EEE Tablet to come out. The HP Slate is powered by Windows 7 and the Asus EEE Tablet is powered on Google’s new operating system, Google Android. I would much prefer the HP Slate as I know that Windows 7 supports multitasking, which none of the iPod, iPhone or iPad products support.

Usually Apple products do not have a positive feedback during its first generation release.  I am expecting that Apple will release their second generation iPad next summer, with more features.  If you are planning on buying the iPad, I would recommend you buy the HP Slate or wait till next summer to see what happens.

Edit: And one more thing, Apple has to be more creative in their naming process. The name “iPad” shows how out-of-touch they are with our society.

Here is a funny video to watch.  If you get offended easily, do not watch!

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