The Martlet

VANCOUVER (CUP) – The Kwantlen Student Association’s referendum to leave the CFS was temporarily stalled after the CFS petitioned the B.C. supreme court to have the referendum delayed.

The CFS petition requested the referendum at the Lower Mainland college be postponed until the fall. However the judge denied the decision, delaying the referendum only three weeks.

The judge ruled that the referendum be postponed to April 8, 9 and 10, with two weeks of campaigning to start on March 25. The judge presiding accused the CFS of attempting to delay the referendum, saying that CFS representatives “displayed no great alacrity in trying to bring this on in time.”

The referendum was set to run March 11, 12 and 13, the same day as referenda at Simon Fraser and UVic. CFS lawyer Martin Palleson said the CFS would be disadvantaged if the referendum proceeded the other two referenda.

The referendum oversight committee, the four-person group in charge of overseeing the referendum, contained two members each from the CFS and Kwantlen, and became deadlocked on major issues.

When Kwantlen hired a consultant to run the referendum as a third party, it violated CFS bylaws. The judge set out referendum rules that the two sides could not agree on in court on March 20.