Thousands of protestors have descended on Wall Street in downtown New York City over the past three weeks, creating one of the largest revolutions in America in recent memory. The leaderless movement, called Occupy Wall Street, have no set demands but are protesting economic issues such as corporate greed, the influence of money over government officials, and the imbalanced distribution of wealth in America. The original idea behind the protest came from the Canadian group Adbusters, though they have no...

Canada’s oil sands have been a touchy subject for years. They have been cited as a destructive force in the Albertan landscape and environment.

The same oil sands are now attempting to expand and incorporate a brand new pipeline, dubbed ‘Keystone XL,’ between Alberta and Texas.

This has brought forth extreme opposition from environmentalists across Canada and the U.S. It has been argued that CO2 gas emissions from oil sands are the highest in comparison to other sources. Bitumen, or...

The polls are in and Ontario has once again elected the Liberal party to lead Provincial Parliament. Voting took place on Oct. 6 and at the end of the day the Liberals won the provincial election for the third consecutive time. Change was evident in the results though. The Liberals secured 53 seats, coming up one short of a majority government. The Progressive Conservatives secured 37 seats, a much closer second than in pervious years and with 17 seats the...

Next year, students may see the addition of a new fall study break, however, this may bring considerable changes to the structure of O-Week. A proposal of a two-day fall reading break, which would be placed at the third weekend of October, would potentially affect the placement and possibly the length of WLU’s traditional weeklong O-Week.

“It came up at senate last fall, when I was presenting the academic dates,” said Ray Darling, registrar and commissioner of oaths at WLU....

Gwynne Dyer to speak at Laurier Brantford

Gwynne Dyer, renowned journalist, broadcaster and commentator will speak at Laurier Brantford on Thursday, Oct 13. The lecture, entitled “A New Middle East” will take place in RCW 002 at 7:30pm.

Dyer will address the Middle Eastern political situation, analyzing whether its ramifications will have an impact on liberty, poverty and the rise of Islamist movements.

This lecture marks the final portion of Laurier Brantford’s “Lives of Leadership and Purpose” speaker series, a...

Dave Levac - Liberal The incumbent MPP for Brant has held his position since 1999. A major part of the Liberal platform for education is a 30 per cent reduction in tuition. The Ontario Liberal Party has already contributed to Laurier Brantford by securing a large portion of the funding for the new athletic complex. Levac enjoys classic cars and at one time owned a cherry red 1968 Mustang.

Michael St. Amant – Progressive Conservative A former Laurier professor, St....

With the upcoming provincial election candidates are hard at work on the campaign trail, one of their many stops was at Laurier Brantford for an all-candidates debate and open forum on the issues affecting students.

The debate was organized jointly between WLUSU and The Sputnik as a way of helping to promote student awareness of and involvement in politics, as well as to give students an opportunity to ask questions of the candidates for the upcoming October 6 election.

The...

Brantford hosted its third annual Peace Festival in the downtown core on September 18. Organized by Ten Thousand Villages and Peace and Diversity, the Brantford Peace Festival ran in conjunction with the International Day of Peace.

Founded three years ago by Julie Fancoeur, owner of downtown eatery Stir It Up! the Brantford Peace Festival hosts a variety of workshops and acts to commemorate peace in all of its forms.

Francoeur believes the purpose of the festival is “to educate, to...

The City of Brantford has arranged to purchase the largest property in downtown Brantford. The purchase includes Market Square, the downtown mall which currently houses Williams, and a large number of city services. The purchase also includes the building which houses the popular student nightclub, Club NV.

Club NV, which stands for “New Vision,” is currently one of very few nightclubs in the city, and the only one situated remotely close to campus.

Due to news reports last week that...

One of the things that many university students have in common is a love of coffee. That wonderful drink that fuels so many through late night work and study sessions and those marathon prep sessions that always seem to accompany exams.

WLUSU understands this and to that end has recently announced the opening of a new coffee kiosk in the RCW lobby. The kiosk will be solely owned by the Student’s Union, unlike the William’s franchise also operated by...

Brantford city council has recently agreed to a proposal to create a new downtown transit terminal.

The project is in its earliest stages as the city still has to proceed with examining several possible sites for the new terminal. While located within the downtown area, the sites being examined cannot currently be disclosed as the city does not own all of the property being considered.

A new terminal would mean several things for those who use Brantford Transit and for...

A surprising investigation into the operations of British tabloid News of the World recently revealed that the paper has been obtaining stories illegally. The tabloid is owned by News Corporation, the world’s second largest media conglomerate better known in Canada for owning Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, the corporation is run by media baron Rupert Murdoch.

Investigations running from 2005-2007 revealed that employees of News of the World and some other tabloids owned by News Corp. routinely used...

Nearly 100 people braved the storm clouds on August 24th to attend a vigil for Jack Layton at the Ontario New Democratic Party headquarters on Murray Street.

Many were dressed in the appropriate orange and white colours of the party, while one woman even wore orange Crocs in a tearful sendoff to the former leader of the official opposition.

Marc Laferriere, the Brant candidate for the NDP in the past federal election, and Ontario candidate for Brant Brian Van Tilborg,...

Up until a month ago, someone hearing the word “riot” may generally think of some conflicted Middle Eastern dictatorship or maybe a disappointing loss for the Canucks, but few people would think of London, England.

One of the most economically, socially and technologically advanced countries in the world, England played host to a surprising series of riots over four days in London.

The riots were sparked by the police shooting of Mark Duggan, who was suspected of planning an attack...

When a big event hits the headlines it becomes the talk of the town for a few days, but quickly fades away in today’s web-driven media world. However, many of these events continue to unfold long after the news desk has moved on. So here’s a look at three major stories that you probably haven’t caught up on in a while.

The BP Oil Spill In April 2010, an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico suffered an explosion resulting...