Health and dental plan fees increase approved in Students' Union byelection

The Students’ Union last week announced the results for its 2022 byelection.

In the three-person race for vice-president external, Mateusz Salmassi won with 39 per cent of the vote.

Faculty representatives were also elected for the Haskayne School of Business, Faculty of Kinesiology, and Schulich School of Engineering. The vacancy for the UCalgary Board of Governors student-at-large role was also filled by election.

For the Haskayne School of Business, Aly Samji was elected by business students with 64 per cent of the vote.

In Kinesiology, students elected Jessie Dinh with nearly 67 per cent of the vote.

The two students running for the two previously vacant faculty representative positions at the Schulich School of Engineering were each successful in achieving a majority of ‘yes’ votes required to be elected to the role. Jacob Artuso and Abhari Limbu received a majority of ‘yes’ votes and were elected.

Finally, Muntaha Aamir was elected to the UCalgary Board of Governors with 50.6 per cent.

Amendments to constitution supported

Students were asked to vote on proposed amendments to the SU constitution in relation to the SU Health and Dental Plan. The cost of the health and dental plan is currently subsidized by the SU and the viability of the plan is at risk.

The proposed amendment was to allow the Health and Dental Plan fees to increase with the Consumer Price Index by up to four per cent per year to keep up with inflation, without requiring further referendums each time an increase is necessary. Students voted in support of this with nearly 69 per cent of the vote.

In all, 2,132 students voted in the 2022 By-Election. The results announced are provisional and become official on Oct. 24, 2022.

The roles of vice-president operations, finance, and faculty representative for the Faculty of Social Work will remain vacant and may be filled by appointment at a later date.

Those who have been elected will join the 80^th Students’ Legislative Council and will serve until the end of April 2023. All SU elected positions will go up for election in March 2023 to determine the student leaders who will make up the 81^st Students’ Legislative Council.