Lochlann KerrEvery year, The Gateway hosts a panel to discuss the Students’ Union (SU) election. This year’s panellists provided their insights on the candidates running, student politics, and who students should vote for in the 2025 SU election.
Opinions expressed by the panellists do not reflect those of The Gateway.
The Panel
This year’s panel included:
- Areeha Mahal: The Gateway 2021–22 News Editor, former Deputy Arts and Culture Editor, and former Deputy News Editor
- Mason Pich: fourth-year political science and religious studies student at the University of Alberta, former SU arts councillor
- Habby Zoud: second-year philosophy student, secretary of the Campus NDP
The Candidates:
Ryley Bazinet, a second-year accounting student.
Levi Flaman, a third-year East Asian studies and computing science after-degree student. He is the current VPOF.
Nathan Thiessen, a third-year political science (honours) student, a 2024–25 SU arts councillor, and a faculty of arts representative on the General Faculties Council (GFC).
In terms of general presence, all three panellists agreed that Thiessen is by far the strongest. Zoud cited seeing Thiessen’s posters and signs all across campus. Pich mentioned swiping through “six or seven stories of [Thiessen] being reposted” when campaigning began.
In comparison, Pich found that Flaman’s social media campaign and physicial presence on campus has remained “lackluster” during this election cycle. Flaman ran for VPOF in both the 2023 and 2024 SU elections.
“To this day I’ve maybe seen one [Flaman] post and a couple of posters. And that’s through three election cycles,” Pich said.
All three panellists agreed that Thiessen’s performance in the forums was the strongest. Pich noted his ability to answer questions, consistently “sticking to his principles but also coming forward with new ideas and addressing new concerns brought up by students.”
Thiessen’s strong communication skills and clear vision stood out to Mahal, whereas Flaman “banks a lot [on] his previous experience.” While this is not necessarily a bad thing, “it feels like he lacks a lot of new ideas … and is instead just relying on the work of his past two terms,” Mahal said.
Flaman, if re-elected, would enter his third term as VPOF. So far, he has not completely justified why he needs that third term, Mahal said.
The panellists discuss the VPOF candidate’s platform points
To Zoud, Flaman’s platform has the most potential. Specifically, his goal of revitalizing the co-curricular record stands out. But, Zoud noted that “the only issue is that his record is really not great.”
“I don’t think if he was re-elected he would be able to achieve a lot of the things he talked about.”
On the other hand, Zoud said it is likely that Thiessen will be able to accomplish most of his platform points. Although “a lot of his promises are kind of big and uninspiring, and don’t seem very ambitious,” Zoud said.
Bazinet is one of several candidates promising to reduce their salary by $10,000 in order to cut SU fees. To Zoud, this comes off as a “gimmick.” He thinks Bazinet’s proposals could even increase the operating cost of the SU.
Out of the three candidates, Mahal liked Thiessen’s platform best. Although, she believes there is “a bit of vagueness in there.” While she specifically liked his plan to offer the SU election infrastructure to SRAs, she “would like to know more about that [and] what that would look like.”
Although she found Flaman provided more specifics, she had an issue with vagueness. Specifically, how he intends to support new initiatives to improve food affordability on campus.
While Bazinet’s plans to reduce SU fees and expand food security programs are “good in theory,” Mahal doesn’t know if these are tangible platform points.
Ultimately, Zoud said he would have liked it if Thiessen’s platform had more specific promises and goals.
“If you’re going to accomplish [these goals] during your one year term, you have to be pretty focused,” Zoud said.
For Pich, Thiessen’s campaign was the strongest. Flaman’s, however, “is a regurgitated piece of his last two platforms and he hasn’t been able to accomplish it over the last two years.”
“This year he’s made some progress, which is great, but we’re still seeing the same points over and over again.”
Pich pointed to Thiessen’s platform point about opening SU-run childcare spaces on campus, which he thinks will have a “huge impact on students.” He also commended Thiessen’s focus on financial accountability for the SU.
“I strongly believe that [Thiessen’s] platform brings a new vision to [VPOF] that I think is much needed,” Pich said.
Flaman first proposed the creation of a group purchasing organization (GPO) to reduce SU costs during the 2023 SU elections. Pich thinks that Flaman has put too much effort working on GPOs, as “it’s taken him two years to get the minimal win that he’s got so far.”
Mahal and Zoud agreed that Flaman’s platform was repetitive. Both expressed doubts he would make any progress on his platform if given a third term.
Who will win: three votes for Thiessen
Who should win: three votes for Thiessen
