Thank you for caring enough to take the time to read my platform - it is the product of countless hours of meetings, brainstorming sessions, internet research, conversations, phone calls and emails.

Instead of coming up with a series of random yet appealing points, I've spent the last 3 months talking to students - part-time, full-time, society and club presidents and members, service managers, SRA members, MSU volunteers, commuters, off-campus students, students in residence, students from different faculties - and full-time and part-time MSU staff, asking the same questions. What would you like to see from the MSU? How could the MSU improve itself? What could the MSU do to improve your student experience? What would make you care?

For every problem I identified, I developed a platform point. One of the primary criticisms I've heard is that what presidential candidates propose is either irrelevant to students or too lofty to ever be achieved in a 1-year term. The reality is that as an organization, a university and a union, we are facing difficult financial times. Students need pragmatic and achievable solutions. They need a strong voice to ensure their student government is going to address their academic, financial and personal concerns. They need to see promises being fulfilled, and failing that, clear and honest reasons for any shortcomings. In short, they need more. More solutions. More results. More pragmatism. More confidence that at the end of the day, their student government is making the most of their student fees.

My platform is not a thorough restructuring of the MSU. Rather, I would like to build upon the succesful work of this year's MSU President and his predecessors while integrating my own ideas in a solutions-orientated approach that will reap more results than coming in with a completely different agenda. Most presidential candidates promise change; I promise betterment.

From my research, I've grouped the needs of students into four broad categories: we need MORE sustainability, MORE communication, MORE networking and MORE services. And most of all, we need a President who is going to deliver these promises.

Cheers,