Though the second day of the Rideau River Residence Association (RRRA) election campaign leading up to the March 8 vote began as a race between the slates “Vote For Us” and the “ABC Party,” it ended with “Vote For Us” running unopposed.
The drop-out of the “ABC Party,” consisting of Cody Chenier, Luke Phelps and Adam Norton, was announced late in the day and was the result of an internal party vote.
“Our reasoning behind our secession is for the people we would have represented, as we feel our party could not perform to the fullest that Carleton RRRA has shown in the past,” the party said in a written statement.
The now unopposed slate “Vote For Us” consists of first-year communications student George Parry for vice president (programming), second-year commerce student Ariel Norman for vice-president (administration) and second-year political science student Karim Khamisa for president.
“Vote For Us” plans to expand the RRRA bike share program, create more all-ages events, advocate for wireless Internet within residence and create a residence write-up committee to review residence offences.
“RRRA only has 10 bikes and there are approximately 2,800 students in residence," Khamisa explained. "There is a high demand for them when the weather is good so we hope to acquire more bikes to allow more students to access this service.”
In the effort to create more all-ages events at Oliver's, Khamisa said “certain events such as the frost week DVD release party that was held at Oliver’s should be open to all students regardless of age.”
Moving forward with the election, members of “Vote For Us,” said they feel confident in their platform as well as their ability to perform in their respective positions.
“The VP (administration) is responsible for running all committees under RRRA," Norman said. "I have already sat on the political action and sustainability committee, the financial review committee and this year I’m chair of the dining services review committee so I have a lot of experience with committees.”
“I’ve worked very closely with John Dawe, who is the current vice-president of programming for RRRA now because I sit on the RRRA council," Parry said. "I also sit on street team, the special events council, as well as helping [Carleton University Students' Association] with promotions for their events.”
“I have been involved with RRRA from the very beginning. I have been a floor rep for the past two years, as well as [having] sat on the financial review committee, as well as the political action and sustainability committees last year,” Khamisa said.