There are nine referendum questions on the 2023 UOSU by-election ballot; one is asking if the OPIRG Levy should be stopped.
OPIRG
“if OPIRG does all this amazing work and has been around for so long, why are we receiving a defunding referendum question? The University of Ottawa Student Union [UOSU] may have some answers for that, but we’ll save you the trip.”
Colorinpractice founder Jamal Boyce speaks to the Fulcrum about the grassroots non-profit for Black and racialized nature lovers.
The UOSU, BSLA, OPIRG, CUPE 2626, WISE and 16 student governments say the U of O ‘fails to address systemic racism in a meaningful way’ and calls on U of O president Jacques Frémont to implement eight demands for action.
An average of around one-quarter of students at the U of O opted out of campus services deemed ‘non-essential’ under the Student Choice Initiative, a policy introduced by the provincial government this semester. Services impacted include the Office of the Ombudsperson, financial aid, clubs, student governments and campus media.
Student organizations on campus are already feeling the pressures of the Student Choice Initiative as the opt in deadline of Sept. 27 approaches, leading groups to develop tighter budgets and cut staff.
“(These changes are) not benefitting anyone except Ford and his cronies … we’re going to have to fight back.” — Susan Spronk, president of the Association of Professors of the University of Ottawa.
“They’re putting a Band-Aid on a (major problem) and it’s not the right type of Band-Aid, it’s going to fall off after your first shower,” said Brittany Wilson, who uses OSAP’s soon to be scrapped free tuition grant.
Obviously, students’ money shouldn’t be going towards something that they don’t support, but defunding OPIRG entirely isn’t the right way to go about it.
Unlike some recent scandals and controversies for which voters and “tax payers” have no chance of opting-out (including a weapon’s trade with Saudi Arabia, one that even the new government cannot opt out of), OPIRG has a levy policy that allows every individual student to ask for their levy back.
On Oct. 14, Marcus Mattinson, a fourth-year public administration student at the U of O, started a Facebook campaign asking students to sign his petition to remove the levy for Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG)
Communist sympathizers love to compare violent communist regimes to the early forms of developed western countries. This approach is academically dishonest and fails to give credit to contemporary and developed democracies like Canada.
Apart from the general conservative cold-war platitudes and red-baiting used by Mr. Mattinson as arguments to denounce socialism, all the while holding up Canada as a “free” country of “hope and opportunity,” he conveniently omits many issues that one would expect such a strong advocate of human rights would consider.
The problem with redbaiting is this: it demands accountability for the historical crimes of some (the scary communists) and not others (the colonists and the capitalists).
I’ll be the first to say, communist radicals should continue to enjoy their right to speak about their ideas, no matter how baneful they are. However, their activities must be on their own dime.
Dear Editor, From now until Friday, December 5, full time undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to opt-out of paying fees to Ontario Public Interest Research Group-Ottawa (OPIRG). According to their website, OPIRG’s mandate is to “facilitate and support campus and community activism in Ottawa and strive to work in an anti-oppressive framework.” In …
“Don’t wait for the cops to read you your rights, they usually won’t.”
