After a year and a half of working as a casual staff member behind the counter at UTSU, Nathaniel Tang is running against Unite for Action candidate Corey Scott for the position of VP Internal and Services. Scott is currently a member of the UTSU executive, serving as VP Campus Life.
After StudentsFirst dropped out of the election this week, he became both the only independent candidate and the lone executive candidate running against Unite for Action. Tang says his campaign platform is based around five priorities for reform.
“My first priority is fiscal/financial transparency. I would like to propose posting up executive and committee expenses on the web, so students can see expenses on a weekly, monthly, or bi-monthly basis,” said Tang whose second priority centres around information accessibility. “Currently, there are very few documents online. I want to, at every stage that a budget is proposed, post […] that budget online; be it a preliminary one, a finalized one, or a revised one, as well as financial statements from the last five years.”
“My third priority is electoral fairness and reform,” said Tang. “One of the key things I want to do with this priority is force a mandatory registration on campaigners and people campaigning on behalf of the campaigners. That will make things easier for the CRO with managing the election. It also gives candidates reliability on who can speak on their behalf. Candidates can be responsible for something that was said but not authorized by them.”
Tang says that his fourth and fifth pillars are centred around democratic renewal and health and dental insurance reform. He wants to introduce both ranked election ballots and speed up the insurance refund period.
Tang believes his policies bring fresh new ideas compared to those of Corey Scott and the Unite For Action slate. “I’m bringing new ideas to the table,” said Tang. “I’m not recycling ideas that I’ve constantly presented at every single election every year. [I’m presenting] practical reforms that we can take to improve the internal structure of the student union.”
He says his campaign has not changed despite the recent boycotting of the election by the StudentsFirst slate. “I think it’s unfortunate that they decided to do the boycott. I don’t believe running with a slate of four would have impeded them in any way. That is their prerogative though.”
Tang also wants to improve the relationship between students and UTSU. “There is sort of a disconnect between the students union and the student,” said Tang. “Often, it’s the student union’s fault for not communicating properly to the [students], or not replying with prompt or proper responses.”
He says he has experienced slow email response times from the current union. “I’ve had this experience where I sent an email to an executive, and they hadn’t replied to my email. I would like to receive reassurance emails, to reassure those who have questions, to know their emails have been received.”
Despite not running for a slate, Tang claims he is ready to work in partnership with the United for Action slate. “I’m prepared to work with the slate. If I’m elected, I’m […] excited to work with people who have also been elected.”
