The Daily's endorsements, featured prominently on the newspaper's website.

The Daily’s SSMU endorsements hit the stands this morning (they’ve been up online since Saturday morning), and comments are piling up, both on the endorsement page and a somewhat related story about campaigning violations by Stefan Link’s yes committee. A number of individuals are calling The Daily’s coverage biased against the candidate. As well, they’re suggesting that it is somehow “unethical” for the editorial board to endorse the candidates who it feels would best serve the student body.

These opinions are my own, and do not reflect the view of the McGill Daily Editorial board.

Are you guys serious? A moderately interested student press and the presence of a few critical SSMU execs on facebook are the only things making this election anything more than a popularity contest. Let me rephrase that: A student union election should not be won or lost on how well a candidate is able to use facebook. As I posted on one of those articles, the role of the press is twofold in these elections. They need to place as much focus on the issues as possible (see this nifty interactive, the incredible pull out in today’s issue, and The Daily’s qualified endorsements), and maintain the integrity of the electoral process (hence the story about Link).

The Chief Returning officer wields little power over the candidates, and aside from his (definitely headline making) ability to call off an election entirely, or disqualify a candidate, can only force individuals to pay for their own posters and web site costs (see the rules here). As a result, the press is the only institution with the ability to bring small campaign violations to light, without making other candidates seem petty. If The Daily news team didn’t cover these issues, candidates would be free to do all sorts of other things, and we might start heading down that slippery slope toward a Concordia-like elections shit show.

Further, I posted this on the endorsements story in defense of the editorial board’s ability to support candidates:

It is perfectly reasonable for a group of concerned students, who pay constant attention to campus politics and these issues, to offer humble opinions on the best candidates, in the same way that they write editorials on issues of interest to the general campus population.

If a student generally agrees with this editorial board, she can use the recommendations in her voting. If not, she can spread her views through any number of other means, or run for an editorial board position and help determine the people that this paper endorses next year.

The ability to craft facebook status updates, well designed posters, and a catchy slogan does not reflect well a candidate’s ability to run a Student Union. That’s why we have The Daily.

In short, get a grip, get back to your last day of campaigning, and talk about something substantive. Like fleshing out your seven bullet point platform.

I’ve spent a bunch of time this semester helping to produce the unfit to print podcast for The Daily. Producing audio turns out to be significantly more time consuming than one would imagine.

My own stories appeared in the first and last episodes of the semester. In episode 9, I spent the entire show interviewing contributors to The Daily’s special issue on “The University we Want,” and back in October, I wrote a shorter piece on the trial of Adil Charkaoui [second half of the episode]. They’re nothing special, but also my first go at radio production, and (hopefully) worthy of sharing.

These pieces originally aired on CKUT 90.3 in Montreal, and were posted online at mcgilldaily.com.

and now, a second video on how to upload a blog post:

With this free time, I plan on making some updates to this page. Current goals include:

• Adding a portfolio of Daily work, completed over the last two years as Design Editor there.
• Creating an archive of stories i’ve written or worked on for The Daily, that doesn’t require a google search.
• Building an “About Me” page that isn’t embarrassing.

Meanwhile, I’m also working on a few projects for The Daily’s website, which I’ll be administering next year:

• A re-useable flash-based ‘back end’ that will serve up multiple audio slideshows, or other flash movies (based on a similar theme), with the New York Times’ “One in eight Million” delivery mechanism as inspiration.
• A prettier, and more useful “about us” page.
• A basic archive of Volume 98′s PDF files. (DONE)
• The Daily’s transition to hot ink, a new content management system being developed by CUP.

Stay tuned!

It appears that Vogt, unlike Nelles, has emerged from hibernation.

One week and half a day after his last post, and one crushing defeat (at the hands of rival, Drew Nelles) later, former Daily-ite PJ Vogt is back, with two posts in the as many hours. It appears as though the blog of at least one blog-off blogger may survive past the embarrassment that was last week.

As for the fate of this fledgling little web community, I’ll continue to post my Daily stories when I get the chance (look for two later tonight), and occasionally make some comments that go beyond what I’m allowed to do in a simple news story. I may also continue to cover the petty posting of our former colleagues, although it may be limited by the amount of free time I have available, and the length of my attention span.

Students from across Canada will convene at McGill this week to discuss ways to mix business with sustainability.

The sixth annual McGill Business Sustainability Conference, which begins today and runs until Saturday, is focusing on the theme “Awake.”

According to conference co-chair Jacob Schickler, this year’s organizers chose the theme in order to reflect on the prominence that sustainability initiatives have taken in recent years.

“Five years ago, people used the word sustainability in a different way, it was a buzzword,” he said. “It’s not about people turning their lights off anymore; it’s about how we’ve become awakened to the fact that we have to do something right now.”

The conference organizers hope participants will critically analyze current sustainable business models, and discuss those that are mutually beneficial to the environment and the economy.

While the daytime sessions – which bring together representatives of corporations, NGOs, and professors for small presentations – are open only to pre-registered attendees, students may purchase tickets to attend either of the two keynote speeches, taking place on Thursday and Friday evening.

Tonight’s keynote speech features Steven Guilbeault, a founding member of Équiterre, which campaigns for ecological agriculture, fair trade goods, energy efficiency, and sustainable transportation in Montreal. He is also a spokesperson for Greenpeace’s climate and energy campaign.

Robert D. Weese, a Vice President at General Electric (GE) Canada who works with all levels of government in support of GE’s Canadian business, will give Friday’s keynote speech.

The conference will also host green groups from various universities at a sustainability fair from 3-5 p.m. on Friday in the Shatner ballroom, which is open to the public.

Both keynotes take place at 5:30 p.m. Thursday’s speech will be held in Moot Court, Chancellor Day Hall, and Friday’s speech will be held in Bronfman 151. Tickets to each event are available at the door and cost $5.

In an anti-climactic tick of the clock on Friday night, Nelles, who put up a post on Friday on the apparent connection between blog off participation and the reciept of job offers, took the first annual blog off trophy. Nelles fails to mention, of course, the still-unemployed status of this reporter. This is beside the point. Also, no word yet on a rematch challenge from Vogt. 

By not putting up a post in the 24 hour period on friday (or over the weekend, explaining extenuating circumstances), PJ Vogt has lost the blog of. Let the record show that Drew Nelles’ blog is superior to the blog of PJ Vogt. Once again, for the google bots, Drew Nelles is better than PJ Vogt. 

For the record, here is the final scoreboard:

The recently formed McGill Food Systems Project (MFSP) presented its mandate Thursday at a meeting that also included a presentation by McGill Food and Dining services of its sustainability projects.

The MFSP aims to unite disparate campus research in order to maximize the ecological, social, and economic sustainability of McGill’s food systems, according to Dana Lahey, one of the group’s organizers.

“We’re trying to engage the McGill community, get research done on campus, and help that research drive change,” Lahey said.

Lahey lamented that much student research never makes it out of the classroom. He hoped that the MFSP can bridge the gap between classes like “social context of business” and campus decision-makers.

“With a structure like this we can help fit all of the little pieces together,” he said. “If we can get research done through classes that are already happening, then we can put that information together and make concrete recommendations for changing things.”

At the meeting, Bill Pageau, director of McGill Food and Dining Services also highlighted his “Martlet social responsibility” program, which includes multiple sustainability projects.

Pageau pointed to successful initiatives, such as the adoption of fair trade coffee in most outlets and the implementation of a wet waste filtration system, as examples of sustainable solutions that succeeded because they were supported by strong economic drivers.

“I think that the ends have to justify the means when we’re looking at the environment,” Pageau said. “When asked, students support the environmental initiatives, but when asked if they’ll support them financially, the support isn’t there.”

Pageau also heralded the success of the McGill Farmer’s market, making note of the abnormally fast pace at which the project cleared regulatory hurdles with the administration.

“It really showed for once how administrators and student groups can really work together to achieve a common goal,” he said.

In closing, Pageau suggested that students get involved in groups such as the MFSP and the McGill University Student Dining Advisory Committee, and take an active role in bringing sustainable change.

“People have to legislate less and participate more,” he said.

Contact the MFSP at mcgill.foodsystems.project@gmail.com.

Over in the Nelles camp, it appears things are chugging right along: he’s got a post up this evening on douchebag Negroponte’s  One Laptop per Child programme (and babies). 

… that said, Vogt’s new layout
is acceptable… at best.