The McGill Tribune Vol. 19 Issue 26

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Evaluating wildlife welfare in Canada L o o m in g c h a n g e s in w ild lif e le g is la t io n b rin g C a n a d ia n s t a n ­ d a rd s into q u e stio n B y W ei L e n g T a y ______________

As C an ad ian s, m any of us take pride in the fact that our nation is home to some of the m ost b e a u tifu l and d iv e rse w ild life in the world. W hat far fewer people are aware of, how­ ever, is the degree of vulnerabili­ ty of a s ig n if ic a n t num ber of th ese sp e c ie s th at in h ab it our country. 340 species have been listed as protected species in Canada, with 151 that are vulnerable, 75 threatened, 87 en dan gered, 15 extinct in the w ild, and 12 that are extinct. The list was compiled by the Committee on the Status of Endangered W ildlife in Canada. COSEWIC is an independent scientific decision-making body, made up of scien tists from the p ro vin cial and fed eral govern­ ments, universities and museums across Canada, and non-govern­ mental organizations. The chair is M cG ill p ro fesso r Dr. D avid Green, a herpetologist with the Biology department. “COSEWIC makes its deci­ sion based on all the information that it can,” explained Dr. Green. “CO SEW IC does its jo b v ery thoroughly ...[an d ] tries to get facts straight so that we can give an ho n est assessm en t and an answ er to serve to anyone who wants to know.” The com m ittee’ s decisions on the classification of species in the five categories are based on e v id e n c e such as p o p ulatio n decline, abundance, and environ­ m ental d istu rb an ce. The c a te ­ gories reflect a step-wise deterio­ ratio n of the s p e c ie s ’ statu s, w h ich can e v e n tu a lly le a d to extinction. C o n tin u e d o n Page 21

Electoral inquiry sheds light on referendum disappointments S tu d e n t a sso c ia tio n s v o ice d isco n te n t o v e r th e e le ctio n s p ro ce ss referendum: third party involve­ ment and referendum question An Electoral Inquiry conduct­ choice. The question of third party ed on T u esd ay, M arch 28 by Leeanne Bourrassa, justice of the involvement was met with equal S tu d en ts’ S o ciety of M cG ill frustration by all faculty associa­ University Judicial Board, probed tions. The restriction placed by the series of numerous controver­ elections by-laws restricting cam­ s ia l d ecisio n s m ade by SSM U paigning to the Yes and No com­ C h ief R eturn in g O fficer Paul mittees resulted in the shared prob­ Flicker during the Cold Beverage lem of student associations being Agreement referendum campaign unable to communicate information and the ineffectiveness of election regarding the CBA to their con­ stituents. by-laws. “Faculties should be able to The inquiry consisted of issues brought up by the No committee, join ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ sides in a refer­ Y es co m m ittee, S cien ce endum. The CRO should have no U ndergraduate So ciety, and the control over Faculty Associations. Law Students Association, all of Our resp o n sib ility is to put out whom felt they were marginalized unbiased views, and the greater the through the course of the referen­ third p arty involvem en t in the dum process. The ultimate result process, the better. It was apparent was a charged examination of two that both sides put out a lot of mis­ of the most debated issues of the inform ation and I feel that our B y M ike B a r g a v

information was more objective,” dents and reach a mutual decision.” The SUS representatives fur­ exp lain ed A rif Chowdhury and Winston Maricar, SUS VP finance ther exp ressed regret that the CRO’ s decision to allow them to and academic respectively. Chowdhury and Maricar main­ dissem inate information to their tained that their objective was to constituents came too late, just one allow third party information dis­ day before campaigning closed. “We only had one official day sem in atio n as opposed to fu llto put out info rm atio n . There fledged campaigning, to aid their co n stituen ts in m akin g more wasn’t enough time to discuss the issue in council and come to a deci­ informed decisions. “I do not think that third par­ sion on w hat stand should be ties should have the right to cam­ taken,” said Chowdhury. The L SA rep resen tativ e paign and there should be bylaws brought up sim ilar concerns on that control third party actions. It’s not really our place to tell the ‘Yes’ both the crip p lin g restrictio n s or ‘No’ side how to run their com­ against furnishing constituents with mittees. It is, however, our place to inform ation, and the short time put out our opinion. We have more allowed to circulate information. “It seems to be nonsensical information to give out to students than they would otherwise have. that no external com m ittee can We see ourselves in a role where speak on the issu e ,” L iz Drent, we can debunk propaganda and C o n tin u e d o n Page 5 help interpret information for stu­

th at nutty m cg ill b o o k sto re bug ffHiftt FLQQM

I have something to tell you. What is it McBugg?

I just wanted to thank you for letting me run amok on the pages of the Tribune this year

No. Im not

I’m Edward McBugg, the reckless brother of my sister Alethea1


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