Mehdi Bouchentouf is a second-year political science student running as an independent presidential candidate in the 2018 Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) executive byelection.
Bouchentouf is running against five other candidates, who will all face off in an executive debate that will take place on March 19 in the University Centre atrium.
He said his past experience working for TD Canada and his growing frustration with CUSA is what propelled him to run in the byelection.
“I think that it’s the frustration that comes with the election process, I think historically you’ve seen certain groups dominate other groups,” he said. “Regardless of whether or not it’s One Carleton. . .I just want to see different people win different positions.”
Bouchentouf’s campaign promises include an increase in transparency, accountability and communication in next year’s CUSA governance. He said he believes that the money CUSA receives must be made open to students.
“I’ve noticed that the high amounts of money [that CUSA receives for benefits] is not broken down any further,” he said.
Bouchentouf said he believes that next year’s elections must be advertised better so that different students are given an equal chance.
“Rather a connection based system where if you have connections than you get hired, all students should have the same opportunity to be a CUSA employee,” he said.
Bouchentouf also has views on the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) and the ongoing Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Local 2424 strike.
“Now, a lot of students think that the CFS does nothing for them, I think that if you look at a lot of corporations in the political world, they hire a lot lobbying groups [like the CFS],” he said. “Even if the question of defederation is rampant on campus, you still need to understand their services.”
Bouchentouf also said he doesn’t think CUSA should be neutral about the CUPE 2424 strike.
“Being neutral means that you’re not actually utilizing your position [as a student organization],” he said. “If I was a CUSA president right now, I would analyze the entire strike, [and] I would side with one side.”
He also said he understands the risks of running as an independent candidate.
“Realistically, it’s very difficult for an independent to win,” he said. “However, I’m doing it in the way that I think that I could win, and I don’t think I would have the same liberty to do that if I was running with a slate.”
