Douglas College Wrap Up By Matthew Steinbach, News Editor Second College Board seat won’t be won by acclamation According to Trish Angus, Registrar and electoral chair of Douglas College elections, there will be six people running for one seat on the College Board as a part of the second call for candidates that was sent out by. the college. The other seat was won by acclamation by David Guedes, the only student to put his name forward in the first call. Education Council, which had no one run for it either, saw one seat at David Lam filled by acclamation this time as well, and the other unfilled. New Westminster students will have a chance to vote though as both the New Westminster Campus seats are being contested as well. Campaigning has already begun and will finish on March 10", Students will be able to vote online where they or for courses between March 11°-18". CYC grad pub night Child and Youth Care Counsell The event included all thr systems, and live Rock Band 2 etcoances by Douglas students. DSU AGM reminder On March 11" the Douglas Students’ Union will be hosting the Annual General Meeting of its society. This is a chance for all students to vote on such issues as constitutional amendments and financial matters. It has been suggested that if the DSU presents clean audits at this meeting than there is a good possibility that they could be out of receivership within the year. The meeting will be happening in room 2201 at 4:30 p.m. _ Carrie McLaren takes another stab at politics Matthew ‘= .¥ Steinbach =) news editor he average candidate [= not run more than twice, and some parties, like the Conservative Party, actually have a policy that discourages more than two attempts. Running in two different types of elections (i.e. federal or provincial) is even rarer because there has been an attitude in the past that these two elections are exclusive or different from one another. Carrie McLaren is attempting to prove that there is in fact not that much difference between the two. After running federally in 2008 she is attempting to run again provincially in 2009. McLaren explained that “the issues will be closer to home, and there is more opportunity for residents to make a difference.“ “I want to show people that politics is not an exclusive club reserved just for business people/lawyers/ etc.” stated McLaren. “People in general have become so disengaged with the political process, many told me in the federal election it was because they thought their vote didn’t count.” However, McLaren stated that she believes voters have a chance to vote for change in this election because “we have the opportunity for our vote to count, big time... BC-STV is back on the table. For too many years governments have said electoral reform is a priority, but nothing has been reformed. Now it can be, by the votes of the people.” BC-STV is Single Transferable Vote, which is a system of proportional representation that is being proposed as a referendum question this election asking if British Columbians wish to switch to this system, which is currently used in Australia. However, the amount of time it takes to count up ballots, which can take over a month, and how the distribution have been a concern to many voters because it can be unclear as to how this actually works. Others are in major support of this initiative because it could allow for more than two parties provincially in British Columbia to win seats. For further information on the proposed system, yes, and no sides please check out http://www.elections.be.ca/ index .php/referenda-recall-initiative/referenda/. McLaren did not win in the Federal election, although she did increase the Green Party’s voter base by well over a thousand votes in her riding. The Greens did not win a seat in the last provincial election, however, they were expected to gain a few seats in the 2001 election when the BC Liberals blew out the NDP from government Those seats never materialized, and since then the party has basically stood pat without seeing too many breakthroughs in BC. Event Magazine sells books to raise money for publication By Matthew Steinbach, News Editor the concourse as part of a fundraiser that Event Magazine holds annually for one week to raise money for their magazine. “Fundraising is important [to Event because we] mainly deal with grant money,” said Ian Cockfield, - managing editor for Event. He went on to explain that the group “never knows if [grant] amounts will still be the same” from year to year. Grant money is set by governments typically and organizations are allowed to apply for them. Grant money is not the only way Event raises funds. Issues of the magazine are sold in the book store, but “single issues [do] not [make] enough money to keep the magazine going,” said Cockfield. So, how can the average person become involved and help Event out other than buying books at the sale? Cockfield explained that the books donated by faculty and staff are incredibly helpful in addition to any donations made throughout the year so, if people wish to become more involved any type of donation is a good start. However, if students are looking to actually participate with the magazine, the next Event activity will be their 22 creative non-fiction contest, one of the | ast week students were able to purchase books in oldest such contests currently running. Submissions are due by April 15". For more information on how to make a book donation or to enter the contest please contact Ian Cockfield at 604.527.5293 or email event@douglas. be.ca. What’s Event Magazine? Event is a creative writing magazine that Douglas students may submit too. Event Magazine began at Douglas College Campus of Douglas College separated and became Kwantlen College in the 1980s the magazine left with them. Event returned a few years later when Kwantlen 38 years ago, but when the Kwantlen was no longer able to maintain the magazine financially and Event has stayed at Douglas ever since.