By: Paige Riding, News Writer
By now, students should have heard about the upcoming Federal Election happening this October. Some, however, may not know where their political standings lie or where their potential vote may go. Members of the SFU community might find that schooling, work, or a busy mixture of both does not allow a great amount of time to research the candidates of one’s riding. Hopefully, the upcoming Federal Elections Debate being held at the Burnaby SFU campus may help SFU patrons to decide on which name to check off on the ballot come election day.
The candidates will provide their standings on a variety of issues that pertain to post-secondary students and members of the community. Shina Kaur, Vice-President of University Relations for the SFSS, says “the event will have two parts, a session with pre-selected questions surrounding the federal government’s role in post-secondary education & tuition, housing & affordability, and the environment & climate change. The second part will be a Q&A with audience members.” Students are encouraged to come with any questions or concerns and get some answers from their future MP.
The event features candidates from the major parties running in the Burnaby North-Seymour riding. This riding stretches from Burrard Inlet to the southeast portion of North Vancouver, also including Seymour Creek Indian Reserve No. 2 as well as Burrard Inlet Indian Reserve No. 3 (globalnews.ca). The New Democratic Party’s Svend Robinson, Liberal representative Terry Beech, Green’s Amita Kuttner, and the Conservative candidate Heather Leung were all invited to partake. However, according to Kaur, “The Conservatives did not respond to our invite.”
Hosted by the Simon Fraser Student Society and the Grad Student Society, the Federal Elections 2019 Debate will occur on October 3rd from 5:30 p.m.–7:30 p.m. in the evening in room C9001. The event is free, but registration is required. Free tickets to attend are available online.
To learn more about the debate, contact the Student Society at studentcentre@sfss.ca. Moreover, voters are encouraged to additional research on what their vote will go toward beforehand.
