I'm sure it comes at no surprise that there is a protest against the proposed 5.5% tuition increase for domestic and international graduate and undergraduate students this morn, starting at 7:30am in SUB.

But make no mistake: the fact that this proposal has been brought to our feet like a wet paper bag of dog shit means that our "esteemed" Board of Governors will certainly vote yes to raise our tuition during this unprecedented cost of education and living crisis. And all others in the highest positions of this University's governance, including our President, Bill Flanagan, or the Deputy Provost, Melissa Padfield, are in support of these tuition increases.

That is why we must not JUST be willing to protest today. Today is not the day for speeches, but action! I will be at the protest, as I hope you, the reader, the undergraduate and graduate student, our friends in Staff and Faculty, will too. But it will not be enough. A protest the day of the vote, a mere hour before it is expected to begin, will not be enough to change the minds of the Board of Governors. We must still protest today, but we must be willing to do more...

That is why I demand our SU and GSA to threaten a wildcat student strike if the Board of Governors votes yes to raising our tuition. Like Québécois students in 2012, or the AUPE-represented Correctional Officiers in 2013, if we strike, this institution will falter.

Let us teach this university that they are nothing without the students that pay tuition and perform most of the teaching and research on campus!

Let them remember that they need US far more than we need THEM!

"An injury to one is an injury to all." - David C. Coates

Thank you for your time.