Presidential candidates AMS VP Administration Ben Du and Remy the Rat — represented by Esmé Decker — talked about their relevant experiences and transparency during the Great Debate on Friday.
Joke candidate ChatGPT was again absent from last night’s debate. It did not respond for comment before publishing time.
Whether on the topic of AMS internal operations, constituency relations or the climate crisis, Du continually emphasized that he had the experience to tackle AMS issues, while sometimes alleging that Remy/Decker did not.
When candidates were asked how they planned to work with the AMS’s permanent staff after a year of major turnover, Du said he understands the AMS’s management structure, which would help bridge the gap between student execs and permanent staff. He added that he has established relationships with UBC administrators.
“As VP admin, I was heavily involved in conversations about management restructuring [at the AMS] and we need somebody who has the context of being behind those closed doors,” he added.
Remy/Decker said they recognized Du’s experience, but that it was important to hear from different students and “refreshing” perspectives during this transition period.
Following a series of audience questions on the AMS’s relationships with student clubs and constituencies, Du said he would use his VP admin experience to ensure clubs have access to the information they need through a virtual help centre.
Remy/Decker said they would make sure the VP admin and VP finance complete these tasks on time.
“Finance is more under the VP finance office and then room bookings is more under the VP admin portfolios, but the president has the responsibility of making sure that those are being managed well,” they said.
On the climate crisis, Du tried to downplay Remy/Decker’s policy knowledge on the AMS’s relationship with RBC.
The AMS uses RBC for its financial operations, including for the Nest’s construction loan, which has worried some student groups like Climate Justice UBC (CJUBC) due to the bank’s investments in the fossil fuel industry and support for the Coastal GasLink Pipeline project.
Du said that he condemned the actions of RBC, but said the AMS needed to do its due diligence before it cut ties with the bank and the loan.
“Any president who is not willing to do that is not ready,” he said.
Remy/Decker, who has been involved with CJUBC on this issue, said the AMS could move some of its finances to smaller credit unions like VanCity, noting that SFU did the same earlier this year.
The candidates also discussed AMS transparency — a point which they disagreed on at times.
When asked which AMS records the candidates believed students should have access to — after the AMS tried to pass a more restrictive version of its Records Policy earlier this year — Remy/Decker said they believed that emails should be accessible to students.
“I think that if people are acting respectfully and doing things right in those emails, then hopefully they would be okay to give access,” they said.
Du, meanwhile, would not commit to specific records, but said the AMS needed to be transparent while doing its due diligence and ensure private or confidential information is not shared with the public.
Voting opens on Monday, March 6.
The Ubyssey editorial board published an editorial in opposition to the amended Records Policy mentioned in this article when it came before AMS Council in October 2022.
Voting opens on March 6 and closes on March 10.
Follow us at @UbysseyNews on Twitter and follow our election coverage starting February 27. This article is part of our 2023 AMS Elections coverage.