Editorial: The TMSU needs to stop giving Team Re-Elect the upper hand in the 2025 general election

By Daniel Opasinis and Joshua Chang

In plain words, The Eyeopener has severe concerns with how the Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union’s (TMSU) current executive team—running under the slate Team Re-Elect—is working to extend their tenure for another year.

The TMSU annual general election is currently in the heat of its voting period, and Team Re-Elect seems to be attempting to tip the scale in their favour with questionable advantages and campaigning procedures.

The Eye has closely monitored the TMSU’s approach to this year’s general elections. We have observed shockingly unfair campaigning practices from Team Re-Elect and a repetitive lack of communication from the student union’s Chief Returning Officer (CRO) regarding the slate’s alleged demerit violations. We cannot allow outright alarming and dishonest actions from the current executive team to continue to go unnoticed.

An unfair head start

Team Re-Elect has a very obvious and significant advantage in this year’s election. As the TMSU’s sitting executive team, they have had access to resources and personnel completely inaccessible to the rest of the running slates.

For starters, Team Re-Elect’s campaigning video on the TMSU Instagram account, posted on Sunday, features a plethora of footage from events organized by the current executives throughout the year. 

Several events held and funded by the TMSU are used in their video as campaigning material, boosting the campaigns of Team Re-Elect’s aspiring returning execs. These clips, including videos of Team Re-Elect members hosting a student levy dollar-funded Offset and G-Eazy concert on campus, cannot be compared with slates who don’t have the same resources.

TMSU Elections Procedure Code (EPC) section 8.1.2. states that “Any current member of the Executive…wishing to engage in Campaigning and/or act as a Non-Arm’s Length Party must not act in their capacity during the Campaign Period and Voting Period.”

It is clear that Team Re-Elect members are leveraging their time in power to strengthen their re-election bids.

On Monday, Team Re-Elect members approached members of The Eye’s staff while handing out campaign flyers on Gould Street, reading “What We Have Done” with a list of accomplishments completed in their current term. 

The flyer mentions the Offset and G-Eazy concert, sponsored varsity games and their free breakfasts—all of which were initiatives accomplished with the TMSU’s funding.

While there is no by-law explicitly prohibiting this advantage, EPC section 8.3.7.3. bars the “Use of benefits acquired by virtue of office” in regards to campaigning—an election by-law that may consider Team Re-Elect’s use of TMSU footage to be worth up to 15 demerit points.

This poses a question of fairness to other slates in the election who don’t have equal opportunity—or funding—to match Team Re-Elect’s campaigning.

Bylaws ignored and students pressured to vote

Representatives of Team Re-Elect have been approaching students and pedestrians on Gould Street during the active voting period. These measures include but are not limited to asking them if they’ve voted and campaigning their slate while simultaneously urging students to vote on the spot.

These practices extend far beyond simply asking students if they’ve voted or encouraging the overall voter turnout. Relentlessly roaming the university’s campus well after hours of operation, approaching student after student and looming over them to ensure an additional vote in their pocket has no place in honest student politics.

A student verified by The Eye said they were approached in the Sheldon & Tracy Levy Student Learning Centre at 9 p.m. on Monday by multiple representatives of Team Re-Elect and voted in the election following their request, filling out the ballot as the representative watched.

“[They] asked if I could vote for them. And I said sure, and I voted. And they basically just told me where to go,” the source told The Eye. 

The TMSU EPC section 8.3.7.2. prohibits “Campaigning to students while they are voting,” with a penalty worth a maximum of 15 demerit points.

Alongside representatives promoting Team Re-Elect on Monday, The Eye verified that current TMSU executives and Team Re-Elect’s vice president operations candidate Muhammad Awais, vice president education candidate Aneesa Masood and vice president equity candidate Koby Biya were all on Gould Street approaching students.

Their campaigning offences don’t end there. 

Khushy Vashisht, The Eye’s communities editor, was approached on Gould Street on Monday just before 9 p.m. by someone on behalf of Team Re-Elect.

Vashisht was asked if she had heard of the ongoing election and was then directed to where she could vote for Team Re-Elect on MyServiceHub. The individual prompted her to vote on the spot and encouraged her to pull out her device to fill out a ballot while representatives watched.

Later that night, Biya approached Mitchell Fox, one of The Eye’s sports editors. He reportedly informed Fox that he was five votes away from fulfilling a “quota” and presented him with a QR code.

That same night, several other Eyeopener staff were approached by representatives of Team Re-Elect and experienced similar encounters, being asked to vote and pressured to take action on the spot.

EPC section 9.1.3. states that “Candidates are not permitted to access or assist Members in accessing their devices to vote online,” an act we believe blatantly breaches fair election practices.

Having been in power for nearly a year, Team Re-Elect should know these rules better than anyone, yet they continue to break them. How is the TMU student body supposed to trust their student union if it actively breaks its own election bylaws—the same ones being enforced on other slates?

A negligent Chief Returning Officer

The Eye has had consistent problems getting in touch with Tatiana Carrion, the TMSU’s current CRO, regarding this year’s candidates and election rulings.

According to an Indeed job description, “The CRO has the responsibility to organize and oversee the elections process. In addition, the CRO ensures adequate promotion to the TMSU’s 38,000 members.”

The Eye cannot confidently say Carrion has adequately fulfilled these duties or upheld election integrity.

Carrion failed to provide us with a list of the election candidates’ names until three days after an initial request and four days after the initial campaigning period began. As a result, this significantly delayed the publication of an article that would inform the general public of the running slates. 

Additionally, The Eye’s staff observed members of Team Re-Elect at a TMU basketball game in the Mattamy Athletic Centre (MAC) on Feb.19—during the initially slated campaigning period from Feb. 14 to 26—handing out TMSU branded T-shirts and facilitating giveaways on behalf of the TMSU during the halftime event. 

The Eye promptly reached out to the CRO about this incident and received word back that the matter would be investigated. However, this instance was not included in the election rulings posted by the TMSU on Sunday, nor did Carrion attempt to follow up with The Eye about it. 

It’s undeniably strange that Carrion failed to investigate this claim that, if investigated and proven, would violate section 8.1.2. of the EPC. 

Given these circumstances, we do not believe it’s a coincidence that Team Re-Elect is the only slate without any demerit points thus far.

From our eyes to yours

We recognize that concerns surrounding the TMSU transcend the general elections. We are dissatisfied with how Team Re-Elect has conducted themselves during the general election and criticize their approach to the campaigning process.

A union’s mandate is to represent its constituents and advocate for a better institution. Each full-time student at TMU is charged approximately $61 a semester to the TMSU. With a 2024 census calculating that about 36,098 students attended TMU, The Eye has calculated that the TMSU could receive an estimate of almost $5 million from students each year. 

While The Eye would prefer to publish official, up-to-date financial statements from the TMSU, their statements have not been audited during their annual general meetings since 2022 due to multiple failures to meet quorum, as previously reported by The Eye.

We have repeatedly reached out to the TMSU requesting transparency and information regarding the allocation of their funds throughout the 2024-25 school year with no luck in receiving any insightful responses. Students deserve to have their money put towards initiatives that will benefit them, not have it fund irresponsible practices.

We would like to call on members of Team Re-Elect to remember their responsibility to the students of TMU and to take accountability for directly breaching election guidelines. We call on CRO Tatiana Carrion to fulfill her duties and bring fairness and transparency to the election by acknowledging Team Re-Elect’s unprofessional behaviour during the campaigning and voting processes.

To the student body, we ask you to use your votes in this year’s TMSU general election to create a better campus for all students and to make educated choices—free from pressure or coercion—rather than ones imposed on you.

The TMSU will always hold a position of power at the university. As such, The Eye will continue to hold them accountable for their actions. We urge the student body to do the same.