AVEQ General Coordinator Resigns

A Deficit Is Also Expected

NewsVince Morello — Published September 13, 2016

AVEQ represents university students at the provincial level. Concordia students voted to be represented by them in a referendum question in Nov. 2015.

The board of directors will have a meeting on Sept. 13 to open the position, and then a by-election will be held at AVEQ’s next congress in early October.

“With such a short vacancy, there shouldn’t be too much impact and an interim general coordinator won’t be named,” said Kristen Perry, Coordinator of Mobilization and Associative Development at AVEQ.

She also specified that naming an interim general coordinator is not in their bylaws.

In their 2016-2017 budget, AVEQ is projecting a deficit. With total revenue being $228,690— 91 per cent of comes from Concordia Student Union student levy fees—and expenses totaling to $302,287, a $73,597 loss is expected.

With that money AVEQ is planning on hosting a mobilization camp on Oct. 21 to 23, with the goal to teach students the different issues AVEQ will be campaigning for. It will also teach students effective methods to organize campaign on campus.

AVEQ is also conducting research on a variety of topics, such as austerity in regional schools, and health insurance for international students.

“We really want to make sure that we’re producing things that are useful to students, and giving them what they need,” Perry said.

Currently, AVEQ is affiliated with only two student unions, the aforementioned Concordia Student Union and the Association générale étudiante du campus de Rimouski, from the University du Quebec a Rimouski.

There are six other observing members, but it remains unclear as to when and if they will join AVEQ. They also do not collect any money from observing members.