It is not uncommon for the commute to class to double during the campaign period for an election, be it for provincial, federal, or campus politics. While some may see canvassers as just another obstacle in the tunnels, students involved with political parties say it’s important to consider how valuable involvement with party politics—both on and off campus—can be.
Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) councillor Kevin Nguyen, a faculty of arts and sciences student, said his involvement in off-campus politics helped shape his political involvement on-campus as well.
“I was able to help with the election, build momentum on campus, and work with different students,” Nguyen said. “Off-campus, I volunteer at parliament in Paul Dewar’s office. I am also the youth rep for the Ottawa West-Nepean riding association.”
Nguyen said his involvement with the NDP was inspired by his belief in social justice and human rights.
“I really care about making sure that everyone has access to good stuff, like health care and education, so I figured I might as well get involved on and off campus to talk to other students about the NDP’s policies,” he said.
He added he was motivated by similar issues to become a CUSA councillor.
“My friends were voicing concerns about campus politics, such as food prices and the cost of tuition, so I figured I might as well try it and see how it goes. Thankfully, I was elected and became a councillor, so I got to start doing good stuff.”
He said his involvement with CUSA allowed him to advocate for similar ideologies to the ones his party believes in.
He said his involvement with politics, both with the NDP and CUSA, will benefit him in the future if he decides to pursue a career in parliament or in government. Nguyen said his involvement with these political organizations gave him an understanding of policy and the respective powers of political groups.
According to third-year University of Ottawa (U of O) student Marisa Maslink, her attraction to the Conservative Party “started at the dinner table.”
“My mother immigrated to Canada from Ireland, and my father owns a local small business,” Maslink said. “Those two things taught me the very essence of hard work and what it means to have individual opportunity.”
Maslink is the President of the U of O Campus Conservatives (UOCC). She said students aren’t required to be card-carrying members of the Conservative Party in order to be members of the UOCC.
“Our club isn’t just based off of political science students,” Maslink said. “We have engineering students, we have business students, we have arts students. We’re all bound together by the Conservative cause.”
During the school year, Maslink said the UOCC likes to host a variety of events that are both social and issue-based, such as talks by members of parliament and pub nights, “where people can bond over why they’re Conservative or what issues are going on.”
With Parliament Hill located minutes away from the U of O campus, Maslink added it’s important for students to realize that “what’s going on in the House of Commons, what’s going on day-to-day with the House sitting that’s affecting our future.”
“Our very essence is showing the youth that we are the future of government,” she said.
To Maslink, being involved with a political party “gives you the necessary skills and abilities to not only achieve a career in politics, but to achieve a career in opportunities elsewhere.”
“It builds your network, it gives you many skills like communication and deliberation,” Maslink said. “It gives you those necessary skills to carry on into whatever you want to do.”
However, not everyone thinks party politics are the way to go.
For political science major Christian Splinter, his initial decision to join the Carleton chapter of the Revolutionary Student Movement (RSM) four years ago was primarily due to its status as an anti-capitalist organization.
According to their online mandate, the RSM is “the Canada-wide revolutionary, combative, militant, and anti-capitalist student movement” that aims to “end exploitation, alienation, and all oppressions by supporting struggles against institutional and individual oppressions in their various forms.”
“RSM is a pan-Canadian mass organization, but the work of RSM chapters is local and campus-based,” Splinter said. “On campus we participated in the Freeze Tuition campaign, offering a radical and revolutionary alternative to the otherwise predominantly status quo discourse around tuition fees.”
Though Splinter said decisions made by the RSM happen “through direct democracy,” the group rejects the orthodox party system.
“It’s alienating to the masses and the majority of people,” he said. “The vast majority [of students] are not directly involved with any of the main political parties. Our goal is to have a mass-based organization, to be as inclusive as possible.”
“Students need to keep in mind that our current system is not a natural or spontaneous thing, but the result of a historical process,” Splinter added. “The RSM provides the space and platform for students to organize and challenge the status quo.”
Splinter said he sees his involvement with RSM as experience for future political endeavours.
“The model of the RSM—its practice, politics, and organization—is an example to me and will definitely influence the type of organizations or political parties that I will get involved with,” he said.
Though RSM was initially an initiative of the Revolutionary Communist Party, it is currently not officially linked to any political party, according to Splinter.
Nguyen, however, said that the party system has a lot to offer to students who want to get involved with politics.
“Not only can [students] meet like-minded people who share similar values, but they also get a say in what the party stands for and believes in,” he said.
Nguyen said youth are often discouraged from participating in politics, but their engagement could go a long way.
“By being involved in campus party politics, the party will be able to listen to what we as students believe in and which issues affect us the most,” he said.
