2026 SU general election supplement
F*ck, it’s election time already?
This election season, I find myself with a lot on my mind, especially as a student journalist.
Globally, metaphorical shit has been hitting the metaphorical fan. Attacks on democracy are becoming about as commonplace as Sunday brunch, blatant lies are being disseminated on some of the largest global stages, and free speech is increasingly under threat from hegemons of all shapes and sizes.
Just look outside: our government is sitting idly by as separatist movements like the Alberta Prosperity Project threaten to destabilize our sovereignty and put Alberta under the control of a government that sends armed militias into cities that don’t agree with its politics; that finds any way to justify shooting civilians dead in the streets and leaving others to die in detention cells.
Shit’s about as crazy as it could be right now… one can hope.
But hope isn’t a strategy. We at the Gauntlet are hot off the Canadian University Press’ (CUP) NASH 88 conference in Vancouver, where student journalists across the country came together to share information in this changing landscape, be influenced and inspired by one another, see that we’re not alone in our ongoing struggles to comprehend abstract political horrors and an uncertain future, and share a few beers when all was said and done.
We were all reminded just how special something like a university campus or a student newspaper are. Because they really are special.
The Gauntlet remains a place where any student can share their informed opinions, report on campus news, write a film review, cover campus athletics and much more. At the same time, the University of Calgary remains a place where students can engage in meaningful democratic processes, including but not limited to the right to vote for their student representatives for executive, faculty representative and student-at-large roles.
It’s easy to brush off the significance of something like this when it’s all you’ve known, but these are not guaranteed rights. They’re privileges: hard-fought and maintained year after year.
I did my undergrad at Brock University, a school whose student union disbanded executive elections in 2022, a time when the world was still reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic. Whether intentionally or not, that year’s Board of Directors stopped fighting for the students, removing a crucial membrane of integrity and instead opting for an entirely secret, behind-closed-doors hiring process. What happened at Brock was an erosion of democracy, if not a direct attack on it, and now students are protesting in the halls amidst other abuses of power, desperately trying to claw back what was taken from them.
Elsewhere, university administrations and student unions are actively clashing with their student newspapers: threatening to defund them, forcing them into cramped quarters and pursuing legal action when unsavoury truths are lawfully unearthed.
We’re not perfect here at UCalgary by any means, but we still have something special here, and it has to be maintained.
When I agreed to write this editorial, I was tempted to criticize the student population for their long history of low voter turnout, but I know better than to alienate ourselves even more than we already are.
I also know that student apathy isn’t really the fault of students who rarely see the impacts of their student government.
That responsibility falls on your figures of public authority: your student union and, yes, your student paper. If we can’t get you to care about university politics, then we’ve failed.
But you should care, because the people you put into these positions will be the people fighting on your behalf for the issues affecting us all: the rising cost of tuition, the rising cost of housing, the rising cost of food, the rising cost of fucking everything in this dystopian world we’ve put ourselves in, mental health initiatives, student support services, you name it.
And yet, we know that you’re busy. We know you’re stressed, and we know you shouldn’t have to bend over backwards to find this vital, democratic information while struggling to navigate a world on fire.
That’s why we put this supplement together, year after year. It’s not because we enjoy it (although we do, despite the hours of interviews and writing and meticulous editing), it’s because we want to make it as easy as possible for you to know each and every candidate, how effective their platforms are, and even how swag or cringey their campaign posters are.
We do it for you.
To make things as helpful as possible, we’ve given a rundown on each candidate, even the uncontested ones — of which there are many. Each candidate was given the opportunity to be interviewed by us; those who took us up on the offer have had their responses woven into their profiles, and those who didn’t have been judged based solely on their online platform.
And we have judged: with a star ranking system that is. Every candidate has been given a rating from one to five stars, a scale that I’ll quickly take some time to explain:
Those who receive one star don’t seem to understand the role they’re running for, what it constitutes or what students need from a representative.
Two stars are a bit more on track, but they lack a clear vision and actionable plans in attaining their objectives.
A candidate with three stars is doing everything right, but just alright; they have plans, they know what the students need, and they have the relevant experience to ensure their middling goals are accomplished.
Those who get four stars have not only concrete and unique ideas that will benefit the student populace, but they also demonstrate clear, specific strategies on how those plans will be implemented.
The five-star ranking is reserved only for the most excellent of candidates, those with an inspirational grasp on institutional challenges, precise strategies through which they will benefit student lives, and near-biblical leadership skills — think of it like getting an A+ on your final exam; it could happen, but it probably won’t, and you’re okay with that because an A is still a 4.0 GPA.
We’ve striven to be as objective as possible in these rankings, but we invite you to read through each candidate’s profile on the SU website: https://su.ucalgary.ca/about/elections/candidates-ge2026/
We invite you to disagree with us, and we invite you to do it at the polls.
If this supplement isn’t enough for you, especially for the particularly significant role of SU President, we’ll be hosting a three-way debate regarding the role on Tuesday, Feb. 24 on campus at CASIO AB at 2:00 p.m. Even if your mind is made up, come out to support your candidate and see them go head to head to head with their opponents.
Voting will take place from March 3 to 5, and students will have the choice to vote online through the My UCalgary student portal or in-person from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at polling stations located in the TFDL foyer, the MacEwan Student Centre, and the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) building.
You will also notice that many of these candidates are running uncontested, but that doesn’t mean they’re shoe-ins. Uncontested candidates are elected through a vote of confidence ballot question, with the simple options of “yes” or “no.” The choice is yours.
And finally (I swear, please bear with me), this election will present you with the option to vote “yes” or “no” on the referendum question: “Do you support implementing a fee, as outlined in the table above and subject to the Fund Rules, to finance the Mac Hall Redevelopment Fund starting in the Fall term of the 2026/27 academic year?” You get to decide whether or not students should pay for increased food options and study space that they likely won’t see, but will almost certainly benefit students down the road. Once again, the choice is yours.
Just do it, as Lady Nike would say. It takes all of 10 minutes to skim through this supplement, and it’ll take even less time to log in to your student portal, click a few buttons and guarantee your right to the democratic expression of opinion.
This is an opportunity people have died defending. Argue all you want, argue to the high heavens, but for gods’ sake, don’t let this election come and go. No matter how insignificant your voice might feel against the oblivion of the world, your vote is anything but worthless. This may only be student government, but butterflies and hurricanes show us that it’s more than just that: start this habit right now, and we might change the world.
— Cameron Sauder, Opinions Editor
Schulich School of Engineering