2008 Woodie Awards
Fall GA fails to meet qualified quorum; six motions go to online vote
Tuesday's Students' Society General Assembly in Three Bares Park failed to reach qualified quorum, necessitating SSMU's first-ever online GA plebiscite. Under bylaw changes approved in last year's fall referenda period, two per cent of the undergraduate student body (currently 397 students) must attend a GA for motions to become SSMU policy.
Suite 1100 chosen, MISN lounge to be relocated
After two hours of heated debate last Thursday night, the Students' Society Legislative Council voted to expand the SSMU daycare service into Shatner suite 1100, bumping the McGill International Students' Network from their lounge. The motion-put forth in a special General Assembly before Council's bi-weekly meeting-passed decisively with only one vote against and one abstention.
University may not be the only bidder for the century-old hospital
Facing a need for more modern, user-friendly buildings, the Royal Victoria Hospital is building a new hospital complex in Notre Dame de Grace, which it hopes to move into in 2013. The move will leave the hospital's current buildings up for sale, and McGill University is already eyeing them as a potential solution to its space deficit.
Papineau candidate faces tough race against incumbent Bloc MP
Justin Trudeau's campaign to take the Papineau riding in eastern Montreal for the Liberals stopped at the Bronfman Building last Wednesday, as Trudeau answered questions at an event run by Liberal McGill. With the October 14 election approaching, Trudeau, a McGill alumnus and the son of former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, fielded questions from students about his candidacy in the Papineau riding, the tight race in the area, and his general political views as a member of the Liberal party. Vivian Barbot of the Bloc Quebecois is the current MP for the riding and Trudeau's main opponent in the race.
Canadian instrument crucial to finding
As Canadians prepare for colder temperatures in the coming weeks, some may be surprised by an early snowfall 672,000 km away. The Meteorological Weather Station on the Phoenix Mars Lander has discovered the presence of falling snow in the Martian atmosphere using a Canadian-developed instrument.
Competition from supermarkets and illegal tobacco sales cause decline
With depanneurs boarding up shop across the province, Quebec convenience store managers are now working Herculean shifts just to put bread on the table. Raymond Guillep, the Montreal Regional Business Director of the Association des Marchands, Depanneurs et Epiciers du Quebec (AMDEQ) reported the number of depanneurs in the province has halved in the past 20 years.
Project funds came from various sources
Last Thursday marked the much-anticipated opening of the new courtyard behind the Arts Building, located west of the Ferrier Building entrance on Doctor Penfield Avenue. The project began two years ago when the administration approached RJ Kelford, former Arts Undergraduate Society president and current Tribune columnist, about installing an accessible outdoor space behind the Ferrier building.
University still evaluating consequences of shift from CIS to NCAA
One year after first expressing interest in joining the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the University of British Columbia is still deciding whether or not to apply for a Division II membership. The university wants to be sure that the NCAA is the right fit for its athletes.
Saideman's conclusion goes against conventional political theory
Contrary to the popular view that globalization of economic markets has led to ethnic conflicts, McGill political science professor Steven Saideman recently proposed that governmental economic intervention is the main catalyst. Working with former masters student David Steinberg and colleagues from the University of Maryland, Saideman found that increased government intervention in the local economy has a strong correlation with increased violence and rebellion.
Following a recent discovery by McGill University researchers, geologists from around the world are flocking to northern Quebec for a chance to study the world's oldest rocks. The McGill team, in collaboration with researchers from the University of Quebec and the Carnegie Institute for Science, discovered the prehistoric rocks on the Hudson Bay coastline.
Green Party candidates from around Montreal gathered in Leacock 232 last Friday for a town hall discussing policy-making, the upcoming election and what it means to be "ecology-stupid". "As a political party, we have always been a little different," said Jessica Gal, a Green Party candidate representing the NDG-Lachine riding.
