By Samantha Long
It’s no coincidence that vice-president nominee Mackenzie Campbell shares the same name as one of the most famous prime
minister’s Canada has ever seen.
As a member of the board of directors for the past year, Campbell oversaw the creation of a food bank on campus this year. He got the idea after visiting multiple college and universities in the Toronto and GTA area on behalf of Algonquin to find out how it can improve the student association and help the student body.
Campbell believes his leadership abilities is what will help him succeed in the vice-presidential position.
“I was assistant manager of Aldo for a year and a half and involved with cadets for six years where I rose to the rank of warrant officer second class,” said Campbell. “But I’ve flourished in the college environment.”
Campbell’s long-time friend and roommate, Brittany Lees, describes Campbell as a “very honest and responsible person who always takes initiative.”
Personally, as a bus rider himself, Campbell says he definitely sees the benefit of implementing a U-Pass at
Algonquin.
“There’s been a big what I like to call ‘scream index’ about the U-Pass,” said Campbell. “There’s a lot of confusion between what the student body thinks the U-Pass is versus what the discussions with the SA and city have gone through, so we’re hopefully running a referendum in November and I’d like to be the lead of that because I have all the prior knowledge the SA has done.”
Campbell recognizes the rising costs of tuition at Algonquin and has been taking action to make sure they stay at a considerable rate by sitting on the college’s academic council last year and he hopes to again next year.
“Tuition fees are extremely high,” said Campbell. “That’s a conversation we can have with the ministry of trades, colleges and universities on what can be done.”
Though tuition is high, Campbell wants to people to understand that as Algonquin grows, unfortunately tuition fees have to grow to sustain the college. Campbell doesn’t see himself running for municipal, provincial or federal politics anytime soon he states his dream job would be on the board of directors for an international corporation.