It’s the end of April, and that means it’s the end of the main school year. If you’re a student that works on campus, that also means its turnover time; you’re either entering a new position, or your leaving a position you invested a whole year in. Kayla Weiler is in the latter category.

Weiler has been the Vice-President External of the Central Students Association at the University of Guelph for the last two years. She first appeared on the podcast back in episode #74 along with her fellow incoming VPs Emily Vance and Becca Cheskes. It seemed like simpler times with concerns about alterations to the bus system, and renovations to club space being of immediate importance.

All that changed last June though when Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives took over as the Government of Ontario. The Student Choice Initiative was announced earlier this year, and it will allow undergrad students to opt out of non-essential services, almost all of which are administered by the CSA and include the CSA itself. Since dealing with the provincial government is technically under the VP External’s portfolio, it was Weiler that had to lead the charge.

So on this edition of the podcast, we’ll recap the last couple of tumultuous years with Weiler, and ask her what she thinks the next few years might look like for post-secondary students. Weiler also talks about the good and the bad about the CSA, and how she thinks she’s left her mark on the organization, and we also talk about her efforts to get students to organize and defend something they may not necessarily understand. And finally, Weiler will talk about how she feels now that it’s all over, what she’s doing next, and what she’ll be taking with her from the CSA and the U of G.

So let’s talk again about the politics of student politics on this week’s edition of the Guelph Politicast!

You can learn more about the CSA at their website, and if you’d like to take a small part in defying the Student Choice Initiative by helping CFRU become classified as an essential service, you can get in touch with Andrea at outreach@cfru.ca to find a petition nearest you to sign.

The host for the Guelph Politicast is Podbean. Find more episodes of the Politicast here.

Remember that the Politicast Podbean channel is also the host for podcast versions of Open Sources Guelph. The previous Thursday’s episode of Open Sources will be posted on Mondays.