Oct. 20, 2021

Students' Union byelection results fill vacancies on senate and Students' Legislative Council

Faculty representative positions in Social Work, Cumming School of Medicine, and Haskayne School of Business now filled
Armaan Sidhu and Nik Jarvis
Armaan Sidhu and Nik Jarvis Gene Baines

Students went to the polls for the Students' Union byelection in what has become a busy election season. The SU asked students to vote in several faculty representative races, a senate race, and a series of plebiscite questions with regards to the SU Health and Dental Plan.

For the first time, there were no immediate acclamations announced after nomination days. Instead students were asked to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ for uncontested races.

The results are in.

The Faculty of Social Work has chosen Nik Jarvis with 55 per cent of the vote.

Haskayne School of Business students chose Jaime Pablo with 61 per cent of the vote. He will join Adrian Alcantara as the Haskayne faculty representative.

For the Cumming School of Medicine, Emily Macphail will join Rafael Sanguinetti as faculty representative after winning 97 per cent of the ‘yes’ vote.

For University of Calgary Senate, Armaan Sidhu was elected with 86 per cent of ‘yes’ votes.

Several questions were also posed to students around the SU’s Health and Dental Plan. The questions are non-binding and seek to better understand student perspectives on how they use the plan and its future.

Students were asked for their priorities when it came to the dental portion of the plan and the medical portion of the plan. Of students who indicated a preference on the dental plan, the largest plurality of students (21 per cent) are willing to pay up to $15 more per year for improved coverage.

Of students who indicated a preference on the health plan, the largest plurality (33 per cent) are willing to pay up to $25 more annually to improve coverage. 

On the third question, 50 per cent of students who voted support a potential constitutional amendment to allow for price increases to the plan tied to inflation up to a maximum of four per cent annually.

The officials elected will serve until the end of April. The SU will run its general election next March to form the 80th Students' Legislative Council.