TttE MCGILL Wednesday, October 12,1988
e n v ir o n m e n t c o m m is s io n
The National Round Table on En vironment and Econom y, which Prin cipal Johnston will chair, was an nounced by the Prime M inister on September 29, and the Principal is hopeful that the com mission will “get underway by the end o f the calendar year.” The Round Table stems from the recommendations o f the Brundtland World Commission on Environment and Development, which called for all members o f the United Nations to create national com missions to de velop ways to simultaneously protect the environment and allow the econ omy to grow. The objective o f the National Round Table is to examine ways o f attaining “sustainable econom ic growth,” which, according to Princi pal Johnston, will involve “building partnerships between business and environmental groups.” The members o f the Round Table have not yet been appointed, but Johnston makes it clear that he ex pects no interference from Ottawa when it comes to making decisions. “The Prime M inister has assured
m e that he will be content with my ap pointments, within the mandate pro vided by the government.” The Round Table will consist o f about 2 0 members, drawn from vari ous communities; business groups, academic and scientific bodies, labour and social organizations, and environ mental groups. Johnston is confident that the group will be able to com e up
some "innovative solutions to these very com plex and important problems.” Within Canada, Principal Johnston is looking forward to the creation o f provincial counterparts to the National
Round T able. The governments o f Ne w Brunswick, Québec, Ontario and Mani toba have already announced the establishm entof complimentary groups, andotherprovincial and territorial gov ernments are expected to follow suit. He hopes that the group will be able to act as a liaison for the various provin cial organizations as well as to act on a national scale. W hen asked if he was concerned about the speculation that his appoint ment and the establishment o f the Na tional Round Table were politically motivated, Principal Johnston replied “I ’m sure that the Prime M inister in Ottawa is very much aware that the environment and the economy are is sues o f great concern to the public.’ Johnston did express regrets that the launching o f the Round Table occurred during a bitterly-contested election campaign. “I ’d prefer that the timing had been better, but these things do happen,” he said. The position will be part time, “only about two day s a month,” according to the Principal, and the Round Table will meet quarterly. Those who were speculating upon a new full-time ca reer in the political area for Principal Johnston after he retires from the top administrative position will be disap pointed; he plans to return to his teach ing duties at M cG ill Law School in September.
V o te r c a rd s p ro p o se d by Stéphane St-Onge The Students’ S ociety’s C h ief R e turning O fficer has proposed sending voting cards to students prior to this Novem ber’s referendum instead o f ‘pin-punching’ ID cards. These cards would be a temporary m easure, replacing the previous method o f punching pin-holes through student identification cards to show poll returning officers that a student voted only once. B y next September, the SSM U will use computers capable o f reading the bar-code on new ID cards to check voters. Joanna W edge, S S M U ’s C hief R e turning O fficer, believes that this method would increase voter turnout for the SSM U referendum November 9th to the 11th and for the general student elections in March. “B ecau se the cards would be arriv ing in the mail a few days before the referendum, they would be great pub licity, so we expect a greater turnout. It would make people want to look up the issues andgetinvolved,” Wedge com mented. This turnout increase would lead to an improved chance in referendums and elections being declared valid. “Generally, we get about twelve to thirteen percent turnout. A referen dum needs ten percent to be valid,” said Wedge. Election cards would be sent to all eligible full-tim e students, and holepunched at the polls when presented
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with a validated M cG ill ID card. I f the voting cards are lost, those voters with out cards would only be able to vote at a designated polling station. A com puter-generated list would be checked o ff and reviewed at the daily closing o f the polls. As reported earlier in the T ribu ne, puncturing the new M cG ill ID cards would invalidate them. “It was decided by the administra tion that the ID cards could not be punctured. I imagine that this decision was made because the whole card was being used for the computer system ,” stated Wedge. J. P. Schuller, Registrar at M cG ill, met with the C R O to discuss the new voting procedure. “Voter turnout was small enough that there was no harm (in puncturing the old ID cards) yet it was never authorized,” Schuller commented. The cost o f this proposal is to be shared by both the university admini stration and the Students’ Society. “The Administration and the SSM U are proposing to pay ing the total costs, which would be about $11 0 0 0 ,” said Wedge. Amanda Kalhok, S S M U ’s V .-P. Internal, approves this temporary measure and the payment scheme. “The university has been helpful as they would be sending out a voting card to all students. The administra tion would pay for mailing out the cards,” stated Kalhok.”
Schuller believes that fair voting procedures are important in the process o f student representation. “Anyone in an administrative capac ity wants to support student elections and support this democratic process,” Schuller commented. The voter card proposal would be replaced by an infra-red computer sys tem which would read the bar-codes on the new ID cards.
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i Volume 8 Issue 6
Published by the Students’ Society of McGill University
P r i n c i p a l to h e a d by Paul Michell McGill Principal David Johnston has accepted a Mulroney Govern ment appointment to head a non-par tisan commission on the environment and its relationship with the econ omy.
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Library asks fo r volunteers
by M ike Craw ley The recent decision by the ad ministration o f M cLennan Library to ask for student volunteers has evoked some criticism and contro versy, but according to Branch L i brarian B ill Curren, no jo b s have been cut back. However, SSM U V.P. University Affairs M aria Battaglia told thc T rib u n e, “It was shocking to see [the request for volunteers],” as, in her opinion, “The library should really make some effo rt.. .tohirestudents”. Contrary to the impression given in a September 13 T ribu ne article. Dr. Eric Ormsby, Director o f Librar ies, admitted, “W e did reduce some o f the casual staff,” but added, “W e didn’t single out students to be cut”. Dr. Ormsby vehemently maintained the call for volunteers is not a scheme to reduce paid positions but serves only as a measure to com bat the overload o f work caused by the con version o f ancient Cutter books into the Library o f Congress classifica tion. The decision to ask for student volunteers was made by Curren and his planning committee. The volun teers are involved in “sorting, shift ing and shelving,” said Curren. Only six students have signed up, so the
majority o f the work has been per formed by library staff volunteering their time. No one interviewed by the T rib has heard complaints from staff regarding this tactic, but Curren commented not everyone had volun teered. W hen asked why no paid employ ees were hired to tackle the project, Curren replied, “W e didn’t have the financial resources.” He added, “I have asked the Director o f Libraries for additional funds and he has not re sponded”. Funds are obviously short in the li brary system. Director Ormsby thus faces “a painful dilemma: should we cut back here (services),” for the pur poses o f obtaining more books? “The university made a commitment sev eral years ago to rebuild the strength o f the collections,” he explained. M any students have complained that poor service is a result o f this pri ority. Dr. Ormsby declared, “That didn’t com e from theregular budget,” but instead a special grant from the M cG ill Advancement Program. “No, we have not tried to cut back service to gain money fo r collections,” as serted Dr. Ormsby. M eanwhile, B a t taglia stated she would look into the decision to use volunteers instead o f paid employees.
In s id e : - A b s o lu te ly n o th in g a b o u t D u k a k is : e v e ry w h e re - Im a g in e Jo h n
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- M c G i l l l o s e s t o B i s h o p ’s : sto ry o n p a g e 10