As the last meeting before the regular Students’ Union elections begins, the council is gearing up to announce whether or not they are intending to rerun for their current, or another, position. The dates for the electoral period are as follows:

February 13th-15th: First Nomination Period

February 16th-17th: Second Nomination Period

February 22nd-March 2nd: Campaigning

February 28th: Candidate Debate

March 2nd-3rd: Voting Polls Open

In conjunction with the impending electoral period, Indigenous Peoples’ Director Sheree Blacksmith announced that the Brandon University Aboriginal Student Council will be holding their elections for next year shortly as well.

Also related to the electoral period, Current BUSU President Nick Brown has requested a leave of absence from his position for the period of February 22nd through March 3rd. It is believed that he will be running for his current position once again. The BUSU By-Laws dictate that he (or any person currently holding a position) is not allowed to work for BUSU while he is campaigning for re-election.

Moving away from election related news, the date for the next Annual General Meeting has been set. BUSU intends to hold their next AGM on March 21st at 12:40pm (the free slot on Tuesday). The location and intended chairperson are yet to be announced, but information will be forthcoming as the details are finalized. In the past BUSU has held their AGM in the cafeteria (Harvest Hall) as well as in SUDS. Typically snacks are provided for union members (students) in attendance.

Lastly, a council members absence was noted at this meeting. Vice President External Greg Monias had previously asked for a leave of absence from him position for health related reasons. In his request, he detailed that he would be returning to his post on February 6th, 2017. On February 6th Brown informed council that at the time Monias was still away from his position as he had gone to Lobby Week in Ottawa on behalf of the Canadian Federation of Students (Manitoba). Monias had failed to notify council that his absence would be extended past his declared return date. As of Friday, February 10th at 4:00pm Monias had still not returned to his position. It is expected that he will return on February 13th, one week later than he had originally stated for his return to office.

The next BUSU regular meeting is slated to be held on February 27th at 5:00pm in the CLC Boardroom. This meeting may be cancelled or postponed depending on how many members of council are running for re-election (and thus are not able to attend), or how much new business is brought to the council. As always, students (members of the union) are welcome to attend meetings that are in the open session.

Republished from The Quill print edition, Volume 107, Issue 22, February 14th, 2017.