LUSU Elections Debate Recap

In the span of three hours, many ideas came to the forefront during LUSU’s electoral debate. Every candidate was unique, but it was also reassuring to hear that most of the candidates (for all the positions) mentioned similar, if not the same, goals. The similarities mean that Lakehead's main issues have been noticed and hopefully will be improved in the upcoming school year. Three major topics that were discussed were food security, mental health resources, and student voice/transparency. 

In the Q&A portion of the debate, these were some points worth mentioning and highlighting candidates' respective answers. 

Question asked by the audience: What will you do as president in terms of advocating for the mental well-being of students, especially with the recent incident regarding the maltreatment of our women’s basketball team?

Answers by LUSU Presidential Candidates: 

Wadika Faisal: Emphasized creating more of a budget to have access to more psychiatrists/counselors.

Katie Simmons: Mentioned that she has connections to community partners that can help Lakehead University with these struggles. 

 Yash Gahlot: Stated that mental health resources need to be more easily accessible for students to use. 

During the VP Finance debate, both Yamandeep Malhi and Sanpreet Singh stated that they would work on setting aside a significant amount of the budget to go towards aiding food security if they were elected. 

Another interesting comment made by Presidential candidate Yash Gahlot suggested that the food security issues in Thunder Bay seemed to be getting better. VP Orillia Candidate, Brandon Amyot continues to worry about the food security in Orillia, and shares that they are going to work on accommodating all people when it comes to the food served on campus, as everyone deserves a safe space to eat. 

Q: What plan do you have to engage with Orillia students? 

Answers by LUSU Presidential Candidates: 

Wadika Faisal: Spoke about the importance of services being offered at both campuses, providing the same opportunities for every Lakehead student.

 Katie Simmons: Emphasized that Orillia needs growth and support and the importance of taking their differences into consideration when making decisions. 

Yash Gahlot: Emphasized the importance of seeing the Thunder Bay and Orillia campuses as one cohesive unit, one family. He states that it is important to have open communication with the Orillia campus at all times: “how can we be better for you, Orillia?” 

It would be impossible to go over three hours of content in a short article, but if you are interested in seeing what other candidates had to say explicitly, click here for the full recorded version of the debate. It was a pleasure to watch how passionate each candidate is about promoting change where change is needed. The Argus has high hopes for our future leaders of LUSU and wishes all candidates the best of luck!