Sole VP external candidate talks experience, climate priorities at great debate

Uncontested VP external candidate Solomon Yi-Kieran answered questions at yesterday’s great debate on concerns around their previous partisan experience, climate action and plans to keep the student body updated on their priorities.

Because much of the VP external work happens off campus or in-camera, Yi-Kieran started off the debate by discussing how they plan to inform students on their work if elected.

As a current student senator, Yi-Kieran has been publishing monthly updates and recaps — they said they would carry this practice over to the VP external role by providing “detailed recaps of everything [they’re] allowed to share to students” through their “own communication channels.” Yi-Kieran also said they’d make themselves available for “frequent interviews with The Ubyssey” to ensure further transparency.

The work of a VP external involves lobbying the provincial government on the behalf of students. When asked whether their past work with the BC NDP, who currently hold a majority government, could influence their lobbying ability, Yi-Kieran promised their partisan experience wouldn’t interfere with their student advocacy.

“Voters can rest assured that I will be bringing the experience and the connections, but not the allegiances, to this office,” Yi-Kieran said.

Yi-Kieran also said they would “push the federal government to pass the motion to establish a Canadian Youth Climate Corps [(YCC)]” if elected, as stated on their campaign website, despite there not being a push from students or previous VP externals to do so.

In explaining their reasoning for this, Yi-Kieran spoke to their “strong belief [in] the importance of tackling the climate crisis” and said they are a “big supporter” of the Youth Climate Corps BC — which “provides paid work and training to young people in climate action projects,” per the organization’s website.

Yi-Kieran believes the creation of a Canadian YCC will provide “jobs and volunteer opportunities for students in BC to do direct work with communities in BC [and] on a federal level,” and while they only said this would benefit forestry and environmental sciences students, these opportunities are also available to people outside of those programs.

In the first debate, Yi-Kieran said they would advocate for more provincial funding, especially as many universities are currently facing budget cuts. In this debate, they elaborated on this goal by saying they plan to meet with Minister of Post-Secondary Education and Future Skills Anne Kang to discuss concerns, as they have previous experience working with members of her office through the NDP.

According to Yi-Kieran, this funding would be not only for the university itself, but also for student services like student dental care plans or student housing.

On the proper role of the federal government in supporting post-secondary education, Yi-Kieran discussed how student loans should be adjusted. They said they want to increase the Canada Access Grant — no Canada Access Grant exists, but there is a BC Access Grant.

Yi-Kieran finished off the debate by saying that their plan to get a BC Ferries student rate will entail using their connections in the Ministry of Transportation.

“[I] believe that because of … the need to make BC Ferries more attractive to youth, this won't be hard to get BC Ferries to return.”

This article is part of our 2025 AMS Elections coverage. Follow us at @UbysseyNews on X (formerly Twitter) and follow our election coverage starting March 3.

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