Two members of the St. Thomas University students’ union spent last week in Ottawa bringing student issues to the attention of federal decision-makers.
President Mark Livingstone and vice-president education Craig Mazerolle made the trip as part of the union’s membership with the Canadian Alliance of Student Associations (CASA).
Mazerolle said CASA meets every summer, this year in Hamilton, to decide on the top issues they’ll bring to Ottawa in the fall.
This year, the list includes changes to the Canada Student Loans program, changes to the post-secondary education student support program, which the federal government uses to fund first nations students, changes to copyright, and issues related to international students and graduate students.
Throughout last week, Mazerolle met with MPs from every part of the political spectrum. Mazerolle served as vice-president education during the last school year too, so it was his second lobbying trip to Ottawa.
“I found that most of the meetings went fairly well. The document was politely received and you’re asked a couple of questions,” he said.
Notable names from the hill that Mazerolle got to meet with include Green Party leader Elizabeth May and Nova Scotia NDP MP Peter Stoffer.
May, who is the only Green Party MP elected in Ottawa, had a rushed meeting with CASA members, but offered suggestions to all of the students, Mazerolle said.
“It was a lot of fun. For someone who is essentially a one-woman party, she was able to speak to a lot of points. Sometimes you meet with a lot of points and post-secondary education is just not their thing.”
Before sitting down to meet in Stoffer’s office, the MP asks everyone to sign a guestbook and hands each visitor three darts. If they get a dart in the centre of the board, they get their name on the plaque.
Stoffer’s office is covered wall-to-wall with pins and hats that visitors have brought him. Mazerolle posted the photos on his Twitter feed after the visit.
“It was a blast.”
Although it’s only been 12 months since Mazerolle was lobbying on the hill, the look of Parliament has changed since then.
Now, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has a majority government, which has changed the way some of the MPs respond during lobbying, Mazerolle said.
Some voice their own support for an issue, but are concerned about what their colleagues think as the power rests solely in the Conservative MPs’ hands.
“It’s definitely a very different atmosphere than when I was here last year. We were still in a minority government. You never really [knew] what [was] going to happen.
“This year, it seems like the general feeling is we kind of know what’s going to happen for the next four years. That was definitely played into some of the meetings that we were in.”
With the European debt crisis holding the world on edge, the economy is a more unpredictable than the last time Mazerolle was on the hill.
But it doesn’t mean you stop asking for funding just because times are tough financially, Mazerolle said.
“It’s not so much you change the things you’re asking for…but you kind of change the tone and approach that you have,” he said.
“[We’re] talking about education from a more long-term perspective. When they’re talking about cost, they’re saying times are tough.
“We have to plan for the long-term and this is the best time that we can do it. We all know what can happen if we don’t really think ahead.”
The STUSU pays for CASA conferences each member attends. The union has budgeted $10,000 for conferences for the 2011-12 year.
