In a surprising turn of events the Canadian Federation of Students’ Quebec chapter has decided to revoke the prospective membership of the Student Society of McGill University. The federation had originally granted the SSMU an extension on its prospective membership until February so that McGill students could have the opportunity to vote on CFS membership when CFS-Q resumes normal operations.
Since last summer the SSMU, the Concordia Students Union, and the Dawson Students Union have been locked in a crippling power struggle over control of CFS-Quebec, one that remains unresolved.
Max Silverman, VP external of SSMU, said the CFS-Q broke its legal obligation to the SSMU by failing to extend membership after the SSMU agreed to postpone the referendum.
Amy Cox, president of the McGill Post- Graduate Students’ Society, told the McGill Daily that SSMU “destroyed the CFS-Q in less than a year.” Cox further accused SSMU of trying to hijack CFS-Q’s financial resources.
CSA and DSU representatives, along with those from the University of Toronto Students’ Union and the Continuing Education Students’ Association of Ryerson, also spoke out against the SSMU at the meeting.
Silverman said that SSMU was active in fighting tuition defreeze, while its detractors “were doing absolutely nothing.” Denouncing the allegations as “bullshit and nothing more than lies coming from people with very petty political agendas,” Silverman also denied that SSMU has a pending legal case against CFS. “That’s another lie,” he said
