The McGill Daily Editorial Board makes several false claims in their editorial, “Vote No to Mooney”.
They write, “Mooney has repeatedly disregarded explicit mandates from his constituency” and “in spite of his mandate to represent PGSS members, Mooney voted in favour of the University’s Statement of Values and Principles … which served as the preamble to the University’s controversial protest protocol.”
I challenge the Editorial Board to produce a single example of a mandate which has been disregarded. There is no mandate from any PGSS governing body to oppose the Statement of Principles. Moreover, the Statement does not serve as the preamble to anything; the Operating Procedures are not mentioned anywhere in that document.
The Editorial Board writes, “Mooney has demonstrated a tendency to resolve political disagreements with personal attacks…a year-long conflict with PGSS Equity Commissioner Gretchen King and External Affairs Officer Errol Salamon culminated in a vote of censure against the former.”
I challenge the Editorial Board to produce a single example of an actual personal attack. A censure motion is not a personal attack; it is a legitimate means described under Robert’s Rules to deal with a question of a member’s conduct. Moreover, Ms. King has attempted to move no fewer than four censure motions against me since 2012, all of which have failed. The executive committee moved exactly one censure motion against her, which passed with an over 2/3 majority at PGSS Council.
Addressing additional lies requires more than 300 words.
I wholeheartedly support the right of the press to offer fair comment on election candidates, including recommendations to vote no. However, the Daily Editorial Board should engage in fact checking to avoid misleading its readers with false statements that could have easily been avoided with even the most basic level of research.
–Jonathan Mooney