On November 11, the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) held the candidate debate for the VP Internal by-elections.
Following Céleste Pagniello’s withdrawal of her candidacy “due to personal attacks and threats directed towards [her] family, and [herself],” former presidential candidate Alexei Simakov is the only candidate remaining in the electoral race.
As part of the structure of the debate, SSMU executives, students from the audience, and online viewers asked various questions to Simakov, which ranged from concerns about a lack of focus on the Events portfolio of the VP Internal position, to Simakov’s views on equity and accessibility.
Speaking at the debate, Simakov highlighted the fact that he wanted to add a diversity of opinions to SSMU Council and to show that SSMU could have a “moderate candidate.” Simakov also mentioned that he would be mainly concerned with the administrative aspects of the position, which he believes corresponds to 90 per cent of what SSMU executives actually do.
The quotes in the live-blog may not be verbatim.