Grad students grill candidates
http://news.guelphmercury.com/News/article/387475
Thana Dharmarajah

Graduate students often find themselves in a tight spot as
the University of Guelph increasingly develops partnerships
with corporations, says one graduate student.

Students are, at times, signing contracts that state they
can't disclose research results without the knowledge of the
corporation, said Megan Nicholson, a PhD candidate in social
psychology.

"The No. 1 piece of capital is publication in academic
journals," she said. "Not being able to publish your results
could significantly hinder your research career."

In an election debate, hosted by the university's Graduate
Students' Association, the candidates were asked where they
stood when it comes to including graduate students in
whistleblower legislation. Seven of the 10 candidates in the
federal election were present.

Philip Bender (Libertarian Party of Canada), Manuel Couto
(Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada) and Drew Garvie
(Communist Party of Canada) were absent.

NDP candidate Tom King said what bothered him the most about
corporate involvement in universities is the burden it
places on those doing research.

If elected, he vowed to support the cause.

"I don't think we should give universities to private
corporations."

Liberal candidate Frank Valeriote said he believed in the
commercialization of research but wanted to see industry pay
universities instead of students directly.

This would further support the possibility of research to be
turned into jobs, he said.

"We have a jewel here at the University of Guelph that's,
frankly, untapped."

Green party candidate Mike Nagy said it was vital to improve
whistleblower legislation, adding research funding should be
provided for the sake of research.

"We have people that are muzzled all around us in industry."

Masters student Andrew Morse said he hasn't come across any
controversial findings in his research. However, he knows
it's a reality for many of his fellow students.

"In doing research with industry, you may come across
research that is not favourable to industry," Morse said.
"Because industry has the power to restrict your results,
you are prevented from telling the truth essentially."

Morse said there was plenty of research he would have liked
to do, but it wouldn't necessarily have been approved by the
industry.

He would like to see a stipulation placed on industrial
grants allowing students to publish their results.

JCT: Okay, so the reporter didn't notice I was there. There
were only two chances to speak for a total of 5 minutes but
what's interesting is that during my second one, as I was
speaking standing and possibly waving my arms, I sensed a
commotion from Gloria Kovach as if I'd come close to
slapping her in the head. I could sense she was makkng a
show of moving further away but I ignored her and continued
speaking. She persisted in acting offended so I finally
turned to her and asked wondered what her problem was. After
it was finished, I asked her what had happened and she said
that I had hit her. I said she may have felt some wind but I
didn't hit her. Yes I did she said.

Remember tbat back during my protest at the Chamber of
Commerce exclusion, I had taken a sip of her water and she
had evinced such fear at my threatening sip that one of her
aides came on stage to protect her. Now she's doing another
song and dance about being hit!

So when you go to 33 minutes 10 seconds into the video, you
see her reaction to the alleged slap in the head. I really
didn't think that I had hit her at all though she really did
put on a show about being accidentally slapped in the head.
See for yourselves, it couldn't have hurt that much:
http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8797996894238459454&hl=en-CA
---

I had to submit a 300 word statement to the Guelph Tribune:

Vote John The Engineer Turmel for personal freedom, cops out
of gambling, sex, drugs and rock-&-roll; and for financial
freedom, an interest-free account at the Bank of Canada, no
more borrowing from middlemen banks at loanshark rates.

With the global financial crisis upon us, Canada could do
what Argentina did after their banking system crashed in
2000 to pay off all their international debts to the IMf and
World Bank by 2006: switch to a interest-free time-based
"creditos" banking system.
Google: Argentina creditos trueque

I made the speech on the banking system at the Millennium
Assembly at the United Nations which passed the UNILETS
resolution for a time-based currency. I can reprogram the
Bank of Canada's computer with LETS timebank software to
work like poker chips so that all Canadians, corporations,
and governments can log like PayPal, borrow enough to settle
all interest-bearing debts, make payments in currency or in
time-at-work against the principal so that everyone someday
settles up. Usury, unnatural growth of debt by interest,
that enslaves humanity in debt forever is condemned by
Jesus, Mohammed, Ezekiel, Bhudda.
Google: UNILETS resolution

I have led the fight to decriminalize gambling (largest
gaming house bust in history , marijuana (I brought 7 pounds
of marijuana for Prime Minister Chretien on Parliament Hill
resulting in the withdrawal of over 4000 marijuana
possession charges in 2003), and prostitution because shy
and less attractive people have right to get laid.
Google: TajProfessor, "Great Canadian Gambler," "Medpot
Engineer"

Vote for personal and financial freedom with John Turmel.
---

And I had to fill out a questionnaire


[Fwd: By-election Questionnaire from the Council of
Canadians - Guelph Chapter]
Wednesday, August 27, 2008 10:20 PM
From: "Dave Sills" <dsills@...>Add sender to

The Guelph Chapter of the Council of Canadians is putting
together a by-election voters guide for their members and
supporters. At the time that the original questionnaire was
sent out, we were unaware of your candidacy and did not
contact you for responses to our questions. However, the
candidates we did contact have taken a bit longer than we
expected to respond, so we've decided to give you the
opportunity to respond as well. You will have to act quickly
if you want your responses included in the guide. The
extended deadline for submissions is the end of the day on
Sunday, August 31st. Please send your responses to
dsills@....
So, please consider responding to our questions below.
All the best on your campaigns,
Dave Sills CoC-Guelph

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: By-election Questionnaire from the Council of
Canadians - Guelph Chapter
Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2008 09:38:37 -0400
From: Dave Sills <dsills@...>
To: gloria@..., FV@...,
campaign@..., GGreens Communications
<guelphgreen@...>, karen@...

Hello Candidates!
The Council of Canadians is a strictly non-partisan
organization with over 100,000 members and 70 chapters
across Canada. Maude Barlow is our voluntary chairperson.

The Council of Canadians - Guelph Chapter is preparing a
voters guide for the Guelph by-election, and it would be
greatly appreciated if you could provide answers to the
attached questions on important election issues. Your
answers can be as long as you like, but a paragraph or two
is all that is expected.

Your unedited answers will be provided to CoC-Guelph members
and supporters (currently numbering over 200) via a voters
guide that will be sent via email and published on our web
site. We will send you a copy of the guide when it is
finished.

Of course, the sooner you can get back to us, the better.
However, in order to make best use of the information you
provide, we need your answers no later than Tuesday, August
26th. Please respond by email to dsills@.... We
will follow up in a week's time if we have not heard from
you.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. We wish each of
you a good campaign. Sincerely,
Dave Sills / Norah Chaloner Co-chairs, CoC-Guelph
=========

Questions for all candidates:

1. Are you aware of the status of the Canadian government's
national policy on water? What is your position on the
commodification of water and Canada's stance on the human
right to water?

JCT: Just as for motherhood and apple pie, I support the
human right to water. Once the malfunction in the banking
system has been fixed, commodification of water would be
most efficient.

2. Would you support renegotiating NAFTA? If so, what parts
of the agreement would you like to see renegotiated and why?

JCT: Once the unstable money system has been upgraded, all
parts should be renegotiable.

3. Would you support changes in our health care system to
allow more private-sector participation, or do you believe
that our health care system should be run on a not-for-
profit basis? Why?

JCT: Once the positive feedback in the banking system
corrects the exponential growth of debt, private-sector
participation would take up its appropriate share of the
market.

4. What do you feel is the best role for Canada in the
Afghanistan conflict?

JCT: Surrender, plead guilty at the war crimes trials for
having ousted the legitimate Taliban government, and then
offer reparations in punishment of Canada's first bad war.

5. What concrete steps could the federal government take to
reduce poverty in Guelph, and across the country?

JCT: Allow all Canadians, Corporations and Governments to
open interest-free time-based accounts at the Bank of
Canada, allowing all to borrow enough new chips (credits) to
pay off all interest-bearing debts so that all payments to
the Bank of Canada could go against principal paid in either
currency or in time at work.
---

JCT: A report about the Guelph U. debate:

http://guelphbyelectionbeat.blogspot.com/search/label/john%20Turmel
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Showdown at PCH: This time - it's for the student vote!

In this corner: wearing a hard hat and with a brief case
full of visual aids, John Turmel

As for Nagy, it was pretty clear that he was amongst his
people this evening. He scored early points by saying that
the Green Party intends to forgive 50 per cent of your
student loan upon graduation. (Which got a jeer of "Charity"
from Turmel.) He also talked about the Greens plans to allow
every Canadian to earn a living income, and cut all income
taxes for people making less than $20,000 per year. But Nagy
spoke most clearly and most passionately about the
environment and hit the ground running talking about the
need for immediate action with the accelerating rate of
melting of the Arctic ice. And seemingly taking the cue from
a recently released poll, Nagy said that Guelph's poised to
be the first riding in Canada to elect a Green MP.

No matter the subject that came up, Turmel would launch into
his answer all: "Local Employment Trading Systems" (LETS),
which Wikipedia describes as "interest-free barter
arrangements," so that students can use the "Time Standard
of Money" to work off their student loans or just about any
other type of debt you can think of. Turmel plug how this is
his 67th election, which secures his place in the Guinness
Book of Records, next to the Queen or the Giant bagel,
depending upon the edition.
It seemed that Turmel's enthusiasm was catching in the hall
until he brought up the war in Afghanistan and 9/11
conspiracy theories, calling Canada a "patsy posse" for the
Americans in Afghanistan who started a war with the "white
hat" Taliban after staging the 9/11 terrorist attacks and
framing al Quada. Even the normally liberal university crowd
found this hard to swallow.

JCT: Despite its being true.
---

Frank Magazine zings Guelph candidates
http://guelphmercury.blogs.com/guelphvotes/2008/10/frank-magazine.html
October 06, 2008
The national political lampoon mag has singled out a few
Guelph candidates for criticism/commentary in its most
recent edition. To wit:

Karen Levenson - nominated for "most earnest/boring"
candidate

John Turmel - nominated for both "Canada's Biggest Loser"
and "Loose Cannon" categories. Frank calls him both "the Cal
Ripken Jr. of Canadian politics" and a "human electoral
treadmill." Among other things...

Manuel Couto - nominated for "Canada's Biggest Loser." Frank
predicts he'll soon be into "the Victory Gin" after bagging
58 votes in 2006

Kornelis Klevering - part of a "Candidate or Groucho Marx
character" quiz. One of five real candidates listed in the
item.