First Day at CASA

To call 10 hours in the same small room with 50+ delegates, staff, presenters, and translators exciting seems a stretch at first glance.Welcome to LobbyCon 2010. The introduction of a number of policies in the morning was followed shortly by the approval, with a few amendments, of each one. Exciting developments included the adoption of a child care policy, as well as a policy on advocating for a national teaching award. CASA also welcomed the Students' Administrative Council of Mount Allison University on as members, and we were pleased to have the University of Saskatchewan Student Union represented as observers.

It's hard for me to express how great it was to see the ideas that had come forward at 2009 Policy and Strategy Conference turned into policies penned by our members. I served on the Pan-Canadian Accord Committee this year and was excited to see the Road-map to a Pan-Canadian Accord that the committee developed approved by the membership.

Nearer the end of Day 1 we received lobbying training, some people around the table have just been elected to their respective positions with their student unions and its great to be able to offer help and feedback in our practice lobby sessions. Tomorrow is a light day for me, with two meetings, one with the critic for Human Resources and Skills Development with Eric Snow from DAGS. We are up late here going over some points on the lobby document and figuring out who would be best to discuss which issues, potential anecdotes to give a narrative, and going through potential pushback issues and our responses. I have to say, although I am very tired, this is probably the most excited I have been about what CASA does in Ottawa. We'll be advocating for a dedicated transfer for post-secondary education, eliminating interest on student loans, overall student loans program reform, increasing access for aboriginal first nations metis and inuit students, and spreading out mega graduate scholarships to benefit more students.

I'll keep you posted!