concordia’s independent newspaper ¿un pronunciamiento? since 1980 Sorry! RECALL PETITION TRIES TO KNOCK CSU EXECUTIVES BACK TO “START”; COUNCIL CHANGES RULES MID-GAME • PAGE 3 Language police stick(ering) it to ‘em • News page 4 • Features page 7 Outsourcing death: Canada’s death penalty debate Danny Williams: Hope shines between a rock and a hard place • Opinions page 13 volume 29, issue 17 • Tuesday, January 6, 2009 • thelinknewspaper.ca volume 29, issue 17 • Tuesday, THE LINK • JANUARY 6, 2009 • THELINKNEWSPAPER.CA/NEWS/ NEWS 03 Blais By-election and recall questions incriminating petition: how the posters • TERRINE FRIDAY cards stack up Concordia student and former Concordia Student Union executive Patrice Blais got a surprise during the exam break. Matter likely to be settled in court What he calls inappropriate posters of him were plastered around the Hall • GIUSEPPE VALIANTE, CUP QUEBEC building on Dec. 8. The posters featured a BUREAU CHIEF caricature resembling Blais carrying away suitcases full of money. Concordia Student Union President “It’s not like the person who put it up Keyana Kashfi said she is seeking advice is courageous enough [to come forward],” from her union’s lawyers and awaiting Blais said. the official reply from the Council chair- The rumor of missing money started person in response to a petition seeking during the recall campaign, which would to recall her and the rest of the execu- force a by-election within 40 days of the tive. petition’s delivery. Blais thinks it’s no The recall petition, circulated by a coincidence the posters with his name group of undergraduate students calling and face appeared around school during themselves “Students for Democracy, his bid to remove the current CSU execu- Accountability and Sustainability,” tive from office. reached the minimum threshold of 10 “I think anybody with a brain knows per cent of the undergraduate student where it comes from,” Blais said, noting body to trigger a by-election. But the that the CSU would deny it came from union’s governing body, the CSU them. Council, passed last-minute changes to The student union denies it was their the standing regulations that they claim doing and claim they didn’t know about void the petition. the smear campaign. The Council chairperson, “I haven’t heard anything about it,” Jessica Nudo, has the said Elie Chivi, VP communications for sole authority to inter- the CSU. pret if the petition is But Blais said he doesn’t want to be in legal since it does the middle of a squabble that he says has not conform to the nothing to do with him. new rules, said “If somebody stole money, then they Kashfi. should press charges, not hide it,” he said. Nudo has not returned The Link’s repeated requests for an interview. “I can’t predict what the chair will do,” Kashfi said. “I believe that the chair is Guy gets glassy aware of the will of Council. And Council’s The semester starts off with a fun game between two players. GRAPHIC AMY SMITH will was to put in these regulations to make sure that all petitions such as this hike in international tuition fees. Student’s Association in 2007. are fair and reasonable.” Kashfi said she has never spoken to Blais did not want to disclose all the Spokesperson for the group of petition- Blais, nor has her office received an offi- names of members who make up his “15 to ers, Patrice Blais, said he sent a copy of cial request for financial records from 18” petitioner team because he said they the roughly 3,700 amassed signatures to him. were afraid legal actions would be taken Nudo by bailiff on Dec. 19. Moreover, Kashfi said her executive against them by the CSU. He did mention But three days prior, on Dec. 16, and her political allies that ran the union that one other member, Ethan Cox, “was Council passed a motion in a closed ses- last year halted the fee increase for over 12 very efficient in getting these signatures sion at a special meeting that added sever- months and brought the university to done.” al rules governing how petitions can be court over the issue. After arriving at Concordia and regis- circulated. Blais says the measures–which “I don’t know why [the petitioners] tering as an independent student in the include adding the names of the union want to cost students another $10 to fall of 2006, Cox ran an unsuccessful cam- executives to each petition sheet–were not 20,000 for a by-election months before paign to recall the then-CSU executive, led included in his petition. the annual election in March,” Kashfi by former CSU President Khaleed Juma. “So after all the students had signed, said. “I do know that Patrice Blais […] Cox ran as an independent student they’re saying they are changing the rules. [has] been politically involved at councillor in the subsequent student elec- Let [the CSU executive] tell that to a Concordia for many years now. This isn’t tions that were mired by fraud allegations judge,” said Blais. “It’s a pathetic attempt the first time [he’s] done something like and lost. With Blais as his lawyer, Cox to save their own jobs.” this. Patrice Blais was a CSU executive at tried to bring the CSU to court, but noth- Blais said the goal of the petition is to one point and then he wasn’t anymore, ing materialized. rid Concordia undergrads of a govern- maybe there is some bitter feelings about Cox did not return requests for an ment that is unaccountable and not trans- that.” interview. parent. He said he’s asked repeatedly for Blais is a lawyer, but he said that he’s If Nudo declares the petition void, then copies of financial records–which, as an also taking undergrad courses in the John the matter will go to court, said Blais. And undergrad student he has access to–and Molson School of Business. He was presi- if the petition succeeds, students can The streets around Concordia’s still-unfin- ished JMSB building were closed on Dec. 28, was ignored. He also claims that the union dent of the CSU in 2001-2002 and was expect a by-election as soon as the end of 2008 due to falling glass from the structure. is responsible for the failure to stop the briefly president of the Graduate January–at a cost of at least $10,000. PHOTO JONATHAN DEMPSEY 04 NEWS THE LINK • JANUARY 6, 2009 • THELINKNEWSPAPER.CA/NEWS/ York stu- dents on Blue fleur-de-lys shows (forced) vacation store’s true colours • TERRINE FRIDAY Future Shop alone shows French logo downtown In Toronto, York University students still aren’t back to school as a union strike continues into its second month. The Canadian Union of Public Employees local 3903 has been on strike since Nov. 6. Teaching assistants, graduate assistants and contract faculty are seeking a new contract, which includes higher wages and more job secu- rity. Tyler Shipley, spokesperson for the worker’s union, said he has been in negotiations since summer and contract workers are still considered “a cash cow for the university.” According to the group, York President Mamdouh Shoukri has failed to comply with their requests for a public meeting and disclosure. Con U prez declares economic certainty Although English is encouraged, French is mandatory inside this store, no “si”, “et” or “mais.” PHOTO ELSA JABRE • TERRINE FRIDAY • JUSTIN GIOVANNETTI about this program and asked if we wanted to participate and we President Judith Woodsworth said sure,” explained Thierry Lopez, public relations officer for released a statement before the Across the island of Montreal, stickers on store windows tell cus- Future Shop. “We already followed the policy, we require our holidays reassuring the perform- tomers hours of operation, how they can pay for their purchases and employees to greet people in French,” Lopez continued. “This was ance of Concordia’s investments. what to wear. As of Jan. 5, they also tell them what language to simply slapping a sticker on it.” In her statement, Woodsworth speak. According to Lopez, all Future Shop stores in Quebec require noted the university’s endowment A new sticker, a blue fleur-de-lys inside a white speech bubble, their employees to speak French. “Only in stores like that in Pointe- fund and pension plan are being surrounded by the words “Ici on commerce en français”–here we do Claire, where the clientele is 80 per cent English, do we require our monitored, and concluded business in French–is the latest project of the Office Québécois de employees to know English […] and the French business policy “Concordia has a strong record of la langue française. applies there as well.” prudent financial management “When a francophone customer sees this sticker, they know that Bergeron cautioned that English Montrealers should not overre- amongst Quebec universities.” they can have their shopping experience completely in French,” said act to the stickers. “This program doesn’t take anything away from This comes shortly after Martin Bergeron, the spokesperson for the OQLF. “That’s why we Anglophone customers,” he said. “If the business can communicate Concordia announced its $1.3 have used the verb ‘business;’ it surrounds everything. This is more with customers in another language, good for them. This takes million payout to former than service; it is the billing, the signs and the products they buy.” nothing away from them.” Concordia president Claude Although Bergeron says between 3,000 and 4,000 stickers have The OQLF made headlines in early 2008 when it complained that Lajeunesse–10 per cent of the been distributed to businesses who have asked for them, only one antique signs at McKibbin’s Irish Pub were too English.