Ah, the provincial budget – an uneasy time of year for many U of C students. With the consistent potential for cutbacks, its a time for students to ask themselves whether their weekend nights will be spent with a pint of beer, or a mop-bucket. CJSW spoke with student union president Charlotte Kingston and Alberta Advanced Education and Technology representative Kevin Donnan to find out what the budget means for students.

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Paul Hughes, local food advocate and president of the Calgary Liberated Urban Chicken Klub (CLUCK), was recently ticketed by the City of Calgary for raising chickens in his backyard. Hughes pledges to fight the charges and is arguing for what he calls his right to have access to food.

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Post-secondary education can be a juggling act at the best of times. Tuition, books, paper deadlines, part time jobs, and for some, children. Some students at SAIT here in Calgary are still searching for child care options.

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The federal riding of Calgary-West is once again making headlines across Canada. Most recently, the majority of the local board has resigned in protest of the party headquarters’ decision to take control of the organization.

Donna Kennedy-Glans is the main figure behind the Our Calgary West campaign. Launched in January of 2009, the group has been actively selling conservative party memberships and encouraging political action in the riding. Ms. Kennedy-Glans is also planning to run against current MP Rob Anders

Ms. Kennedy-Glans spoke to CJSW about the Our-Calgary West campaign, and her thoughts on the current situation in the, let’s say eventful riding.

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Links:
MP Rob Anders’ Homepage
Our Calgary West Homepage

Last week, CJSW News ran a special on the U of C’s proposed tuition hike. We included interviews with Colleen Turner, the VP of External Relations, and Charlotte Kingston, the SU president.

Well this week, we hear from you, the students. As part of our continued coverage of the tuition issue, CJSW’s Emily Ask spoke to students at last week’s Tuition Day of Action.

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Also, feel free to check-out last week’s coverage.

Von Allen is an Ottawa-based graphic artist. In “The Road to God Knows…”, his first graphic novel, he deals with the real issues that youth face. But for Von Allen, the story was the easy part. His own parents separated when he was young and while living with his mother, he learned how to co-exist with a parent who was coping with schizophrenia.

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In 2002, the Red Deer Advocate published a letter written by former youth pastor Stephen Boissoin entitled “homosexual agenda wicked”. Concerned that the letter would promote hate crime against homosexuals, now-University of Calgary professor Darren Lund filed a human rights complaint against Boissoin. Late last year, a human rights panel ruling in favor of professor Lund was overturned by court of queen’s bench justice Earl Wilson on the grounds of legal errors made by the panel. As of this airing, Professor Lund has not decided whether an appeal will be made, but he did sit down with CJSW NEWS volunteer Nathan Taylor to discuss the history of this marathon legal case.

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The U of C is set to apply for a significant jump in some faculties tuition costs.  Faculties like engineering, business, law and medicine could be hit by what is being called a “market modifier” increase.  The increase ranges from faculty to faculty.  Medicine students could see a $4000 jump, while law students could see a jump of $1823. This rise would be on top of the allowed 1.5% annual hike.

Our sisters-and-brothers-from-another-mother over at The Gauntlet have also been following this issue. Check-out their website for more coverage and analysis.

Listen to interviews:

Listen to the entire SLC meeting, courtesy of NUTV (part 1 of 2):

Listen to the entire SLC meeting, courtesy of NUTV (part 2 of 2):

Listen to student response from forum: