BREAKING: LSRC Referendum Proposal contains false information

I've got some important information regarding the LSRC Fee referendum. This information appears to show

that the proposal from the university is based on false premises, and that the University has potentially been

giving the Yes Side false information.

The referendum's purpose is based on the idea that the University cannot pay for the Recreation Centre

without this fee. In addition, the Yes side of this campaign has mentioned multiple times that the only way

to fund this project is through this referendum because of “MTCU Policy.” Before we get into that, I want to

establish for the record that the University of Windsor had enough money outside of the operating budget to

pay for this project. Below is a screenshot from a document the University released when faculty were

questioning the spending practices of the University. It shows that the useless Welcome Centre had 8 million

dollars spent on renovations through debt financing. Several buildings had their costs debt financed, rather

than receiving grants from the government.

Based on this document, it is clear that the University had the money or the ability to get the money to fund

this project, and likely still do. If you look at the Debt Financing column, a total of 36 million was spent on

projects, not including “Debt Financing - Ancillary.” This is also not to say that several of the buildings that

were renovated didn’t deserve renovations.

The argument becomes, why didn’t the University simply use these funds or continue to use debt financing

to cover the cost of this facility?

This is where things get interesting. One argument was that, even if the University had this money or these

avenues, they couldn’t spend it on the Recreation Centre because of MTCU policy, and that the University

had to go through the referendum route. I decided to actually reach out to the Ministry of Training, Colleges

and Universities(MTCU) - a Ministry of the Ontario Government - to find out if this was true. According to

Adam Mably, Senior Policy Advisor for the MTCU, this is false.

Here is a direct quote from the conversation I had with Mr. Adam Mably(emphasis, and information within

parentheses mine):

“ Akbar: So essentially, they (the University) could if they wanted to, fund it (the LSRC) through

bond debentures, through debt financing, they could raise it through sponsorship, right?

Adam Mably: We don’t place any restriction.

Akbar: So there’s nothing stopping them from funding it through those types of projects?

Adam Mably: Not from our point of view. ”

I’ve heard that this referendum is “the ONLY way” to get the funds for this project, and this has been spread

a fair amount throughout the campaign. I’ve attached some screenshots of this, as well as one Yes supporter

accusing me of “not looking like a person who uses the facility”, something that is true particularly because I

live in Waterloo

Finally, and most importantly, this information has irrevocably been presented to the mass of students.

According to Kieran Buzek, who created the Yes Vote’s event page, this information was presented to

students when collecting signatures. and over 1400 valid signatures were collected. This means that there

are 1400 students who are engaged and aware this referendum is happening who are convinced of

something that is simply false. It also means the Yes side precampaigned. Either way, the result tarnishes the

results. No matter who wins, there is no way to guarantee which students are voting based on false

information that the University has been pushing. In addition, it shows that the proposal from the University

itself is based on false information. The results of this referendum have been compromised, and the integrity

of the referendum must certainly be in question.