It’s three men fighting for one of the biggest jobs in Canadian student politics. The University of Western Ontario’s Students’ Council President is the head of the third most-powerful student union in Ontario and one of the largest in Canada. It’s not a job to be taken lightly and one that is a full-time job for the winning candidate.

So who is the best man for the job? Read our unbiased cheat sheet for the uninformed after the jump.

David Basu Roy

Bio: DBR is a member of the executive of two clubs (the wine club and the outdoors club). He is a fifth-year student completing three degrees in music, engineering and social justice & peace studies. He has no elected experience at UWO but he is the USC’s publication commissioner.

Platform:

• Greenhouse on the former Brescia fields to grow organic produce and herbs
• USC exam bank “revival”
• Public appearances every second Sunday at The Spoke
• Textbook loan service

For more information: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Andrew Forgione

Bio: Forgione is a fourth-year sociology student who happens to be the current social science students’ council president. If you take a look at his website bio, he also is or associates with street sign thieves.

Platform:

• Cell phone charging stations in UCC
• Improve cell phone reception by using signal boosters
• Advocate for a greener campus
• Increased promotion for Purple Fest, farmers’ markets and presidential office hours

For more information: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Omid Salari

Bio: Salari is a fifth-year ethics student whose experience could put him at the head of the class. He was the USC speaker for the past two years and the current president of the UWO Comedy club. Basically, his experience is like a guy in a tuxedo t-shirt because it says he wants to be formal but he likes to party.

Platform:

• Increasing holiday security for off-campus housing in partnership with London police
• Film classes to be put on the internet
• Update outdated USC policies
• Increasing marketing of USC services

For more information: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Now, I’d normally endorse someone here but I’ve learned my lesson this year. First, if I endorse someone on behalf of the blog/podcast, they will lose. I’m just a curse. Choosing a loser four out of five times is a good batting average. Second, this is the weakest crop of Presidential candidates I can recall in terms of platforms and experience in the six years I’ve been covering USC Presidential elections. None of the three combine a strong platform with quality experience.

The problem is that I think that candidates are now focusing on campaigning and marketing themselves rather than thinking about what they can bring to the job. Having a strong campaign with fancy posters and funny videos does not make you a good president. Emily Rowe may have been attractive and had a unique “boom-de-yada” video but that didn’t make her the right person for the job. I recall that after the Rowe video came out, a campus blogger for a Canadian news website (I can’t recall if it was MacLean’s or the Globe and Mail) wrote that the video proved that these elections are glorified popularity contests. And we’re going down that path again.

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