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Thu 13 Nov 2008
Byline: BY JAMES NEELEY , EXAMINER STAFF WRITER;
After lying dormant for more than two months, a banner ad city bus campaign is igniting the fires of the
“Don’t let
The campaign is the work of the
Officials with the
But the ads are paid for by the Canadian Union of Public Employees.
“The local (CUPE Local 3908) is taking the lead and we are supporting them,” said Candace Rennick, CUPE Local 2280 president and second vice-president of CUPE
“Our national union approved at our most recent convention a multimillion dollar anti-privatization campaign and this initiative fits in nicely.
That’s how the ads are being paid.
“It’s an identified priority for the union and the union has committed resources into resisting locally wherever we can.”
But she said yesterday she was not in a position to release the cost of the ad campaign.
Local 3908 represents more than 500 contract faculty and student academic workers at
The campaign’s purpose is to raise awareness, she said.
“Ultimately it’s to try and put forward alternatives to the option
“The goal is to sit down and try and work through it.”
and
in the city’s north end.
Trent and Residence Development Corp. — the proposed developer and operator of the facility and operator of similar complexes at some other
The process will take some time while the city gathers input and
“Certainly in December or January there will be a more public process that the city will initiate around the whole site plan,” O’Leary estimated.
The University Heights Neighbourhood Association joined forces with
The neighbours association is supporting the
resident.
“We both have resistance to the plans
The neighbourhood group had no part in funding the ad campaign, he said.
“There was a conversation about it. But we hired a municipal planner for the committee of adjustment meeting (June 17),” Harris said.
“We spent quite a bit of money to have a professional represent us.”
Money hasn’t traded hands but mutual support is strong, he said.
It’s important to keep attention on the issue, said Dawson Bick, a member of the neighbourhood association.
“(
“If their application is defeated,
The private residence proposal was “front and centre” in the public earlier this year, O’Leary said, adding the ad campaign comes as no surprise.
“There was opposition to it and this (ad campaign) is consistent with the opinions those opposition groups expressed at the time,” O’Leary said.
“We would like to talk with students, residents or anyone else about the project and try to explain and see if there is an opportunity to reach a consensus on it.”
The campaign, he said, goes well beyond the proposed residence.
“It’s against commercialization of university operations in any way. That’s a philosophy, and quite different than what this project is really all about,” O’Leary said, explaining it is attacking
That plan began with the 99-year lease of a 25-acre property to Trent Rapids Power Corp. for the construction of a canal and hydroelectric generating station.
Other private ventures include the lease or sale of three parcels of land on
for private residential and commercial development. Proposals are expected for the 54.9 acres late this year.
In a March referendum, more than “75 per cent of students voted against a non-college, private residence on Trent-owned land,” said Meaghan Kelly, vice-president of student issues for the Trent Central Student Association.
“The students were uncomfortable with a residence that was not owned by the university.”
Word of a public process around the proposed residence was good news as long as it isn’t held during exams or Christmas holiday, Kelly said.
“I would like to see an actual public consultation,” she said, stating the first public session on July 4 was “just a Trent and (Residence Development Corp.) information session and not what was promised.”
“I would like to see a more open process and (
