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Science & Technology

People are rational—wanna bet?

by Morgan Sweeney on

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It’s the final round of Jeopardy! and the stakes are high. Martha wipes a bead of sweat off her face, her fingers descending to trace the pearls around her neck for good luck. Despite holding a bank account several orders of magnitude smaller than her opponent Patricia, both women bet approximately the same amount in an attempt to win the game. Irrational though this might seem, there is a whole subfield of economics dedicated to similar forms of decision-making.

In a paper from 2003, researchers explored a slightly different gamble: A single bet with a 50 per cent chance of winning $550 and a 50 per cent chance of losing $500. In the scheme of things, the $50 difference is negligible. However, despite the probabilistic promise, very few participants chose to take the bet.

The explanation for why people did not want to take the bet relies on a distaste for uncertain risks. The formal term for this phenomenon is risk aversion, a situation wherein people try to minimize uncertainty even when the odds are in their favour. This works in parallel with the endowment effect, where people tend to see losing something as more consequential than gaining a reward. This study, and many like it, explore the motivations that drive individuals’ decisions.

Perhaps less intuitively, the study also found that risk aversion to the 550/500 bet did not change based on overall wealth. This is as a result of a phenomenon known as narrow framing, which causes people to evaluate gambles in isolation, without taking information from other parts of their lives into consideration. In the Jeopardy! scenario, narrow framing would push Martha to match Patricia even though her bet had greater consequences for her outside of the game.

Risk aversion research is most relevantly applicable in the stock market. Although investing in the stock market generally produces returns, this does not inspire much interest in investment among the general public. The reasons behind this disinterest are similar: People are generally risk-averse and tend to frame situations narrowly. The stock market is perceived as risky, and, while it has relatively low returns on the day-to-day scale, even small returns can build over time. Meanwhile, most people do not evaluate their finances holistically when considering opportunities to spend. For those who already have money in bank accounts and real estate, it makes sense to diversify their wealth and invest in stocks, yet most people avoid investing.

Even though people generally like to think of themselves as rational agents who make good decisions,  an individual’s judgement is, more often than not, heavily swayed by factors they would think irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Science & Technology

Freedom is worth more than a billion dollars

by Margaret Wdowiak on

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Canadians typically enjoy high living standards yet tend to suffer from weaker social support networks than countries such as Mexico where, despite having much lower standards of living on average, residents often live in very tight-knit communities. According to a new study conducted by a pair of researchers from McGill and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, tight social circles in Mexico several important advantages.

“The aim of our study was to take a literature which is now firmly well-developed about the determinacy of happiness […] and think about what the implications were for the future,” Christopher Barrington-Leigh, associate member of McGill’s Department of Economics and associate professor in the McGill School of Environment and the Institute for Health and Social Policy, said.

The researchers used a statistical model which combined two sets of measures. The first set measured objective, material factors: Per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and life expectancy. The second set was based on social factors including corruption, freedom, charitableness, and social support. The researchers then observed the global changes in the well-being of individuals between 2005 and 2016, as self-reported by evaluations from the Gallup World Poll, a global poll created in 2005 which tracks quality of life statistics in more than 160 countries. Based on the changes to the measures over time, the study projected self-reported quality of life for the year 2050.

The researchers found that changes in ‘material’ variables produce modest improvements in global quality of life. These changes varied from an increase of zero to 10 per cent above present levels. Meanwhile, changes in the non-material factors showed up to a 30 per cent increase in quality of life. The greatest potential for such improvement was found in India, China, Eastern European countries, and sub-Saharan African countries. The most pessimistic scenario, on the other hand, showed a decline in non-material factors leading to a decline in quality of life of 35 per cent. The survey also showed that global improvements in material conditions were more significant when paired with enhanced average freedom and corruption scores and were negligible when accompanied by declining average social support scores.

This study suggests that the greatest benefits to well-being in the upcoming decades lie in the non-material realm, suggesting that states should focus their resources on explicitly social aims. This conclusion has interesting ramifications for public policy.

“Governments need to start thinking about cost-benefit analysis differently,” Barrington-Leigh said.

Certain countries have already started to weigh policy alternatives based on residents’ well-being.

“New Zealand has just started to implement cost-benefit analysis for its budgeting processes in terms of human well-being, so this, I would say, is the beginning of a revolution,” Barrington-Leigh said. “Wales has also done something similar by passing a piece of legislation which says that governments should be accountable to future well-being. In that sense, the implications for governmental policy are very radical, [and] they could really eventually change how things are happening in the world.”

Barrington-Leigh hopes that other countries will join New Zealand and Wales in considering non-material well-being in cost-benefit analyses. However, despite the many new insights provided by this study, its model is far from perfect.

“Implications for future research are to start being much more quantitative and predictive,” Barrington-Leigh said. “We painted two scenarios, but they were not predictive.”

Increased predictive power is crucial for shaping future governmental policy.

“Future research [should investigate] what policies […] we should be following in order to get one of those scenarios in 2050 versus another,” Barrington-Leigh said.

Utilizing the right policies will help to achieve the optimal scenario in 2050 in a world with increasing material standards and decreasing social well-being.

Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Solange’s ‘When I Get Home’ is an avant-garde celebration of black excellence

by Nicholas Raffoul on

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Three years after the striking A Seat at the Table (2016), Solange released her fourth album, When I Get Home, on March 1. Accompanied by a short eponymous film, the album is an homage to the artist’s Houston roots, her birthplace, and the city’s black pioneers.

A notable departure from her last studio album, When I Get Home offers a collection of brief, episodic thoughts, with 14 of the 19 tracks clocking in under three minutes, rather than the concentrated black power anthems of A Seat at the Table. Much like in her previous works, black solidarity is at the core of many of the album’s tracks, including “Almeda” and “My Skin My Logo.” The album is meditative, transitioning beautifully from song to song, with brief yet impactful interludes, including “Can I Hold the Mic” and “Nothing Without Intention.”

The album was released with a 33-minute short film featuring Solange and an all-black cast of performers, reimagining Houston through the artist’s eyes. Rather than reconstructing the Houston of the past, the film envisions the city’s future, depicting cowboys and futuristic technology in Solange’s imagined home with an Afrofuturist aesthetic. The film’s choreography is elegant but impassioned. Solange challenges herself by producing more experimental work and in the process challenges her audience: The video’s avant-garde sensibilities might render it bewildering and difficult for some viewers, but the dazzling aesthetics qualify it as a masterpiece.

When I Get Home transports the listener—and viewer—to Solange’s childhood and home, a visceral, culturally-rich, site-specific experience. Solange names some of her tracks after Houston streets and references the city in many of the album’s songs, adding to the complex layers of the album and accompanying video. Through experimental Rhythm & Blues, Solange reclaims and creates space for black artistry and experiences. The album and short film are equally eccentric and avant-garde, paving the way for a completely new genre of art and music.

The album represents the beginning of a new chapter for Solange. The artist’s last two albums, according to her, have one significant difference: “With ‘A Seat at the Table,’ I had so much to say,” Solange said in an interview with The New York Times about one of the collection’s tracks. “And with this album, I have so much to feel.”

Rating: ★★★★★

Sports

U.S. Olympic athletes move towards unionization

by Ender McDuff on

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On Jan. 24, 2018, Dr. Lawrence Nassar, a former United States gymnastics team physician, was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in a Michigan state prison for sexual abuse. One hundred fifty-six women testified against Nassar, recalling how he had abused his position for decades to sexually harass and assault young female athletes. The case highlighted the institutionalized separation between American Olympic athletes and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), the organization that oversees U.S. Olympic competition. To meaningfully address this, as well as the financial challenges that the athletes face, the Athletes’ Advisory Council (AAC) met to consider a solution: Unionization.

Donald Fehr attended the meeting between the AAC and the newly-hired CEO of the USOC, Sarah Hirshland, underlining the seriousness of the issue at hand. Fehr is the former Executive Director of the MLB Players’ Association and current Executive Director of the NHL Players’ Association. With his career’s worth of experience in the field, Fehr joined the AAC’s side of the table to help secure greater power for U.S Olympic athletes in negotiating with their Olympic committee.

Beyond addressing the many physical and legal concerns athletes may have, the call for unionization also seeks to resolve long-standing concerns surrounding athletes’ compensation and quality of life. In 2014, NBC paid $7.75 billion to secure American television broadcasting rights for all Olympic programming through 2032. Meanwhile, the U.S. Olympic athletes who generate the revenue are not earning dependable incomes; they are forced to rely on performance-based stipends from preliminary events and cash prizes from their home countries. The U.S. award bonuses fall well below those of countries like Singapore, Russia, and France and help only a few fortunate athletes—often those who are already benefiting from hefty endorsement deals. As such, most U.S. Olympic athletes struggle to cover expenses, forcing them to resort to part-time jobs, crowdfunding, or ending their Olympic careers early.

Throughout American history, labour has evened financial imbalances through the collective bargaining power of unions; for Olympic athletes, it could do the same. A scathing article in the Washington Post exposed how in 2016, the non-profit USOC had 129 employees make over six figures, 14 of whom took home salaries above $200,000, with the top paycheque peaking at $1 million. If U.S. Olympians collectivized as a singular bargaining body, their action could help ensure that revenues are more evenly distributed from the USOC to athletes. The credible threat of an Olympic Games boycott—not unlike lockouts in other professional sports—could prove greatly effectual, especially with the pressure an already-contracted NBC would put on preventing such an outcome.

Nevertheless, it remains challenging for Olympic athletes to unionize. With so few chances to compete, athletes have limited power against the USOC: Speaking out can cost athletes their spots on the Olympic team. Furthermore, athletes are usually not treated as actual employees, but instead as individual contractors, leading to further isolation and difficulty in unionizing.

After the Chicago meeting, Hirshland promised that the USOC will work to fix the current system. While Hirshland should be given a fair opportunity in her new position to keep this promise, she should also support immediate steps toward unionization. A healthy athletes’ union serves all who wish to see Olympic athletes at their best. Hirshland, the USOC, and Olympic athletes should go all in to make it happen.

Arts & Entertainment, Books, Private

Marlon James delves into fantasy with ‘Black Leopard, Red Wolf’

by Jonathan Giammaria on

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In an entertainment market dominated by superhero blockbusters and binge-worthy streaming services, audiences often overlook the fantasy genre’s literary counterparts. On March 5, Dimitri Nasrallah, author of The Bleeds, joined Marlon James at the Rialto Theatre to discuss his new novel, Black Leopard, Red Wolf. The novel has become a phenomenon in the fantasy world, achieving both popular success and critical acclaim. Hosted by Librairie Drawn & Quarterly, the sold-out event attracted an audience eager to see the literary powerhouse.

Set as the first instalment in a trilogy, Black Leopard, Red Wolf is a stark departure from James’ previous novel, the 2015 Booker Prize winner A Brief History of Seven Killings, a realist story revolving around the attempted assassination of Bob Marley. For his foray into fantasy, James adopts the same explorative view he uses in A Brief History to construct a world populated with diverse characters and settings. The story follows Tracker, a solitary protagonist who begrudgingly joins a mercenary group in order to hunt down a missing boy presumed dead.

When Nasrallah commented on the novel’s seemingly straightforward premise, James contested his claim, explaining that he intended to challenge readers’ notions of what a fantasy story should be. From its onset, Black Leopard, Red Wolf does away with tropes of the hero’s journey and the traditional three-act literary structure, and rejects the genre’s tendency to borrow from European mythology. James abandons familiar eurocentric settings and archetypal characters and instead spotlights uncharacteristic heroes in a dense African mythos.

“[Tolkien] had myths to go back to,” James said. “We need myths to create myths. In the absence of me knowing what those are, I couldn’t create a mythology [….] The initial stories are essential, but I had to search for them.”

Beyond the novel’s cultural inspiration, James sought to distinguish his work by experimenting with the narrative style that dominates the current literary scene. Fantasy writers often employ world-building to capture readers’ attention, though it often tests readers’ concentration when communicated through unwieldy blocks of text. James deviates from the exposition-heavy tradition by employing unreliable narration. His prose is sparse and kinetic, and he uses vague terminology in compact sentences that allude to a rich world instead of providing a complete picture for his audience. If readers don’t slow down to read between the lines, Tracker’s deliberately confusing narration will leave them feeling lost.

“I wanted to write a novel where everything is up for grabs, including reality, including identity,” James said. “Everything is fluid, everything is precarious, everything shapeshifts, and nothing is a given, including whether you should believe this novel or not.”

Near the end of the talk, Nasrallah inquired about how James’ transition into genre fiction clashed with his literary identity. Though James was quick to dismiss the literature versus genre fiction bias, Nasrallah remarked that perhaps the literary world only allowed authors of James’ renown to navigate the genre spectrum without consequence because of their reputation. James rebuked the idea, recognizing it as a uniquely western ideal that replacing make-believe with realism is a sign of intellectual maturity. James explained that he owes his literary imagination to the genre fiction of his childhood and that none of his previous works were without fantastical elements.

“I’ve always been in awe of fantasy,” James said. “Comics pretty much saved my life when I was a teenager. To me, it doesn’t feel like a change of direction, it feels like I was always headed there.”

Art, Arts & Entertainment

Thierry Mugler’s couture makes its world debut at the MMFA

by Jonathan Giammaria on

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Continuing the trend of haute-couture exhibitions like Balenciaga, Master of Couture at the McCord Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) debuted Thierry Mugler: Couturissime, a landmark exhibition which features 150 of the designer’s designs. Though he began as a professional dancer, Mugler entered the world of fashion in the late 1960s, first producing ready-to-wear garments in Paris, and eventually distinguishing himself with his 1973 collection Café de Paris.

“The MMFA [… had] the right people, with the right approach, to reinvent the past with innovative staging, eclectic mélanges, and a new vision of my work,” Mugler wrote in the press release for the exhibit.

To cover the breadth of Mugler’s work the MMFA foregoes chronology, opting instead to group the designer’s pieces by motif, a choice which highlights the timeless nature of Mugler’s style. The MMFA compare their sequencing of Mugler’s work to an opera in six acts, each concentrating on the themes permeating throughout Mugler’s design: Theatre, celebrity, urban style, photography, metamorphosis, and futurism. No two outfits better exemplify Mugler’s range than La Chimère’s rainbow bird-like dress, with a rugged silhouette that uses bright, wild colours and feathered accents, and Anniversaire des 20 ans’s metallic bodysuit, which harkens back to a medieval knight revolutionized with a flare of 21st century eroticism.

Throughout his career, Mugler has worked with the likes of Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and David Bowie. In the portion of the exhibition dedicated to his celebrity pieces, mannequins wearing his designs form a conga line down a mock runway.The celebrities listed are a testament to Mugler’s continued mainstream relevance. Notably featured is Cardi B’s peacock dress, which she wore to the 2018 Grammy Awards. The garment’s leopard print and glittering silver accents command attention among the extravagant dresses and costumes that crowd the room.

In Mugler’s work, grandeur often takes precedence over modesty. His eye for elaborate experimentation is seen in his costuming for the 1985 Comédie-Francaise production of Macbeth, in which Mugler adorned his witches in charred dresses with massive bustles and thicks ruffs. Mugler also designed an outfit for George Michael’s “Too Funky” music video, in which the singer sports fiery decals and is fitted with rear-view mirrors, transforming Michael into a motorcycle. The choices, though bombastic, are indicative of a creative voice that strives for showmanship rather than convention.

In conjunction with their celebration of Mugler, the MMFA has also decided to highlight several contemporary designers with Montreal Couture. A worthy adjunct to the main exhibition, this gallery recognizes local artists who seek the same worldwide renown Mugler has attained. The gallery also features seasoned professionals like Marie Saint Pierre and Philippe Dubuc, and offers snapshots of these designers’ unique takes on fashion. Variety is paramount here and though several of the garments harken back to Mugler’s aesthetics, each designer carves their own niche. In one corner of the exhibition, Ying Gao’s dresses, which look as though they are made from electrical wiring, shift and contort autonomously when viewers pass by. In another, Atelier New Regime’s branded orange jumpsuits blend sporty chic and metropolitan consumerism.

Bringing together a host of creatives both seasoned and new in Thierry Mugler’s: Couturissime, the MMFA popularizes high fashion, a craft that often seems inaccessible, reserved for the fashion elite of New York City or Paris. Fashion, though rarely exhibited in museum galleries, is at home here because, unlike on runways, the garments are stationary and available for close examination, engaging audiences more personally with the work than ever before. Much like a painting or a sculpture, the MMFA celebrates couture as the work of art that it is.

McGill, News, SSMU

SSMU and McGill join forces for a Fall Reading Week

by Nina Russell on

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As students return to classes from a week off, they can rest assured that the Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU) is working in conjunction with the McGill administration for the implementation of a similar break in the Fall semester.

Following a referendum question in Winter 2018 where 96 per cent of students voted in favour of a Fall Reading Week, SSMU released the SSMU Fall Reading Week Survey in Nov. 2018 to gauge student support for the various options that could create time for a Fall Reading Week. With 4,338 respondents, the most popular option to make up for the classtime lost to a break was to start classes before Labour Day in September. Arts and Science Senator Bryan Buraga vouched for this option as a way to give students a full week off instead of having to combine reading week with Thanksgiving. This option would also allow additional days to be added to the December exam period, push back deferred Winter exams to mid August, change Frosh and move-in dates for incoming freshmen, and may impact the summer courses’s schedules.

“Starting school a week early in the last week of August would give McGill the flexibility to have a Fall Reading [Week] while allowing the fall exam period to be extended, alleviating a lot of stress that students face during these times,” Buraga wrote in a message to The McGill Tribune.

The administration has raised concerns that such an option might force students to pay an extra month’s rent. However, only nine per cent of survey respondents had leases from September to April, giving some relief to concerns over financial consequences.

A different option currently under consideration is the addition of an extra four or five minutes to each class period. This would amount to an additional 35 minutes per course, which would affect the timing of continuing studies classes and potentially present conflicts for those reliant on daycare services.

Currently, the McGill ad-hoc Fall Reading Week Committee and a sub-committee of the Enrollment and Student Affairs Advisory Committee (ESAAC) are working together to weigh the feasibility of each option. Once an option is selected, students will be given a referendum question in March or April to affirm support for the break.

According to Fabrice Labeau, McGill’s interim deputy provost of Student Life and Learning, a Fall Reading Week in 2020 might be possible if ESAAC is able to secure approval from other administrative bodies.

“By the time we hit April, depending on the advancement, ESAAC may be able at their meeting to say ‘we endorse this choice,’ [though] this is all conditional on being able to get a buy-in from the rest of the stakeholders because we’re limiting our study to some extent to the student view and the logistical view,” Labeau said. “But, to me, [planning a Fall Reading Week for 2020 would be] a reasonable time frame.”

Similar debates about the feasibility of a reading week have occurred in the past; however, SSMU President Tre Mansdoerfer is confident that, this time, SSMU and the administration are working together to ensure that all options are thoroughly considered.

“I’m in my fourth year at McGill, and I’ve seen these discussions take place in my first year, and, originally, I think people had these ideas that they brought, but there was never any sort of formal committee made at McGill,” Mansdoerfer said. “There’s different leadership that is listening to students, and, if at the end of the day it turns out that it can’t work out, I’m appreciative because at least they were giving an honest shot […] at it. And that’s kind of the difference right now, is that there’s a genuine desire to explore it and to see what kind of happens from there that necessarily wasn’t there one, two, or three years ago.”

Album Reviews, Arts & Entertainment, Music

Weezer stumbles into pop music with ‘Weezer (The Black Album)’

by Joey Caplan on

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Before even pressing ‘play,’ Weezer’s Weezer (The Black Album) tempts listeners to write the album off immediately. With The Black Album, released on March 3, the band tried to emulate meme culture, adding a spork into the packaging of pre-ordered copies, and even making a cameo in the game Fortnite. These gimmicks are strange bells and whistles on what is ultimately an album with little to offer.

The band’s newfound interest in millennial internet trends is a departure from the counterculture-inspired aesthetic they had spent the last two decades developing. The release of an underwhelming album of cover songs, Weezer (The Teal Album) on Jan. 24 was just a preview of the onslaught of disappointment that the next wave of Weezer content would bring. While The Teal Album was meant as a strange, self-aware joke, The Black Album takes itself much more seriously, yet shows very little improvement.

There is an admirable, albeit undeserved, confidence that pervades the album. “Everybody’s playing it safe,” Rivers Cuomo sings on the The Black Album’s second track, “Zombie Bastards.” The song is taking a dig at bands who pander to their audiences, betraying their artistic integrity. Ironically, Weezer themselves are attempting to appeal to a larger and younger audience, and a broad, generic pop style that only serves to further contradict their lyrics. “High as a Kite” sees Cuomo metaphorically plugging his ears to drown out anyone who criticizes his band: “Miles above, it’s so serene […] Way up here, no one can touch me,” he croons.

“The Prince Who Wanted Everything” is a forced tribute to the late, great Prince, and like The Teal Album, acknowledges music icons without coming close to doing them any justice. Every song feels manufactured to be as catchy as possible, but “Byzantine” is the only track which successfully harkens back to the Weezer of old.

Despite these shortcomings, Weezer (The Black Album) is not messy, nor is it poorly produced. It’s the pop fixtures and referential quality that are antithetical to Weezer’s musical identity.

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆

Science & Technology

Eat your greens

by Léa Perret on

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Among other changes, Canada’s 2019 Food Guide places dairy and meat in the same category as other sources of protein including fish, beans, and tofu. The diet of every Canadian is at stake, with the Canada Food Guide influencing the recommendations of teachers, doctors, and dietitians across the country.

The new guide reflects a global trend toward more plant-based diets. In Canada, consumers have increasingly been avoiding meat and dairy. Statisticians have noted recent decreases in milk consumption among Canadians, with total consumption falling to 66.68 litres per capita in 2017 compared to 69.53 litres in 2016. In addition, nearly one out of 10 Canadians, half of whom are under 35, consider themselves vegetarian or vegan.

There is precedent for these changes, with previous food guides representing largely different scientific and social attitudes towards nutrition. For example, the previous food guide, from 2006, does not highlight the danger of processed foods, which have been strongly linked with cardiovascular diseases. It also included a decrease in recommended vegetable and fruit portions alongside an increase in meat portion compared to the previous guide from 1992. Several studies have since found that plant-based diets are more environmentally friendly since they require less natural resource input and produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

“[I am] excited that the new guide brings a focus on plant-based options, as the scientific evidence points to the health benefits and lower environmental impact of having a more plant-based diet,” Andrea Rubin, a nutritionist and registered dietician, said.

However, deemphasizing the importance of meat for a healthy diet has prompted resistance among established interests. The government created the past 2006 Food Guide under the watch of an external advisory committee which included representatives from Food and Consumer Product Manufacturers of Canada, the Vegetable Oil Industry Council, and the BC Dairy Foundation. According to reports, Health Canada diminished the influence of meat and dairy industry lobbyists in the new 2019 Gude by banning them from meeting with Health Canada personnel working on the project.

“[The new guide is a] move toward a more science-based versus a politically-motivated guide,” Rubin said.

Beyond current food trends and lifestyle choices, the new Canada Food Guide also reflects Canada’s varied demographic groups. The 2011 National Household Census illustrated this diversity, which showed that one out of every five Canadians is foreign-born and one in five identifies as a visible ethnic minority.

The new guide also emphasizes individual responsibility for health. The notions of mindful eating, food labels, and food marketing put more onus on the consumer to make more conscientious food choices. This contrasts with the view that the government is responsible for regulating marketing, food labels, and production.

Canada relies heavily on imported fruits and vegetables throughout the winter, making it difficult to prioritize local produce for families facing food insecurity and simply cannot afford a diet rich in nutritious food.  A recent study shows that 90 per cent of Canadian youth did not meet the recommended fruit and vegetable servings from 2006. Furthermore, a 2017 UNICEF report ranked Canada 37 out of 41 high-income countries on child hunger. Canada is also one of the only high-income countries not to have a national school food program. This new food guide is undoubtedly a step forward; the next challenge is empowering Canadians to be able to meet its standards.

Montreal, News

Liberal victory in Outremont by-election

by Yasmine Atallah on

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The Feb. 25 by-election in Outremont, which includes the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough, saw the victory of Liberal candidate Rachel Bendayan. In the past, Liberals have almost exclusively held the riding since 1935 until New Democratic Party (NDP) leader Tom Mulcair’s victory in 2007.

Bendayan won the seat with 40.4 per cent of the votes while NDP candidate Julia Sánchez came second with 27.5 per cent. Green Party Candidate Daniel Green came in third with 12.9 per cent, Bloc Quebecois candidate Michel Duchesne came in fourth with 11.1 per cent, and Jasmine Louras, the Conservative candidate, came in fifth with 6.1 per cent. The voter turnout was 21.35 per cent.

Daniel Minden, vice-president (VP) Communications for Liberal McGill, worked closely with Bendayan during her campaign. Other members of Liberal McGill helped by knocking on doors and hanging posters. Minden credits Bendayan’s victory to her efforts to make the campaign personal for the people in her community.

“She’s from the riding, and [she] really knows the community well,” Minden said. “She has a lot of connections with community organizations. She has been very involved with all those communities, and they came out to support her”.

Mulcair’s win in Outremont as part of 2011’s ‘orange wave’ saw the NDP earn official opposition status for the first time in Canadian history. However, in 2018, Mulcair resigned after the party voted to hold elections for a new leader, stating that that he would not run in Outremont again.

“We’re very excited that this riding has returned to the Liberal Party,” Minden said. “We hope that it is emblematic of something larger that’s going to come in October.”

Celeste Cassidy and Sarah Mikhail, co-presidents of NDP McGill, considered the historical tendencies of voters in Outremont to be a deciding factor in this by-election, in spite of their candidate and group’s efforts to mobilize NDP voters.

“It was a different candidate [this time around], and Tom Mulcair was the leader of the party, so that also holds some gravity,” Cassidy said. “The seat was traditionally Liberal, so it was not that shocking.”

However, both Cassidy and Mikhail remain hopeful for the party’s future following Jagmeet Singh’s victory in Burnaby-South, where he gathered 38.9 per cent of the votes.

“[Now that he is elected], I think that will really bring a shift into how his leadership is viewed and, hopefully, how the party fares in the coming months,” Cassidy said.

Ali Gürsoy, VP Finance of Conservative McGill, likewise explained the loss of the Conservative candidate, Mouras, as a symptom of the riding’s political history.

“In my opinion, many Conservative-leaning voters didn’t [come out to vote] because it was a safe Liberal seat,” Gürsoy said. “If it’s a safe seat, then turnout is low, and the opposition voters are just not interested in that campaign.”

However, the low voter turnout could also be a consequence of the vote being a by-election, which Minden, Cassidy, Mikhail, and Gürsoy all agreed tend to see lower numbers. Taharima Habib, communications coordinator at Apathy is Boring, a non-partisan charitable organization aiming to increase youth engagement in the democratic process, believes that by-elections are unfairly undervalued.

“By-elections indicate an empty seat in the House of Commons [since Mulcair left],” Habib said. “This means that [the Outremont riding] is not represented, and representation is important.”

The McGill clubs involved in the by-election, as well as Habib, also agreed that youth involvement in politics is crucial. Not only are youth the new voter demographic, but the current policies will affect their lives and should, therefore, include their input.

“It’s fantastic that we’ve seen campus clubs of all parties be involved in this election,” Minden said. “I think there’s a real sense on campus that politics, including federal politics, really affect students, and there’s a desire to get involved. As we lead up to the federal election in October, we hope that that sentiment only grows.”

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