Putting Finances in Order
With budgetary issues central to many of the challenges faced by the Arts and Science Federation of Associations council this year, the three-way race for the position of VP Finance should make for an interesting campaign.
So who are the candidates striving to maintain the checks and balances for the $324,000 pot?
The first candidate to speak with The Link was Pier-Luc Therrien Peloquin, currently acting as VP Finance in the Political Science Student Association. Taking a strong it’s-your-money approach to the campaign,
Peloquin made it clear that he’s doing this “to invest in the academic and social experience of students.”
One of his main platform points is to find ways of giving member associations more of the annual budget so they can spend it on their departments—instead of student money being spent on the professional operating costs of the executives.
“Currently it’s at 43 per cent, and I want to make it at least 50 per cent,” he said. “If students are seeing the concrete things that ASFA and their MAs are doing, and seeing themselves as the winner, apathy will go down.”
Another point he made was on the issue of Frosh—who gets to attend, and at what cost. Traditionally, he said, there is a long waiting list for Frosh every year and it’s budget is by no means proportional to the 250 students it can host.
“How can we reduce Frosh spending? Or, if we cannot reduce it, how can we increase the number of students that can go?” he asked. “With a $300,000 budget, how can you spend $50,000 on 250 students to go to Frosh? I mean, it’s good to have the time of your life, but I don’t see why we can’t keep it local and do it for more people.”
Though the second contender to speak to The Link, Laura Gomez, didn’t mention Frosh, she had her own ideas about how to handle the ‘scrilla if elected.
“I know it’s at the beginning of the year that most of the controversy on ASFA surrounded the budget, which is why total transparency, organization and accountability are central to my platform points,” she said.
“Everything should be online. All the documentation, that’s my main thing. If people can see where the money is going […] and if the budgets are clear and really specific in terms of what the MAs are doing, there shouldn’t be any problems.”
Gomez, VP Information Management with AIESEC Concordia—a student-run leadership and cultural exchange organization—also maintained that creating student awareness about ASFA would be a large part of her mandate if elected.
“Unfortunately we don’t have anyone running for VP Communications, which is really important,” she said. “[If elected,] I plan to work with the executive making sure we fill this position, promote events and get people to the website, so people start to know who ASFA is and how we can work for them.”
Ben Prunty, the third VP Finance candidate, only communicated with The Link via e-mail, describing his main platform points as “dedication, transparency, balance, co-operation, communication and hard work.”
