Forget Occupy Wall Street.
If Santa Claus really does exist, he's been occupying the North Pole for an eternity, and that would be a cause for concern for Matias Margulis, an international studies professor at UNBC who will take part in tonight's 18th annual Great Santa Claus debate.
Margulis will draw on his background as a political economist when he brings up Santa's exploitation of elves, the challenge he poses to national sovereignty and Mr. Claus's seemingly limitless supply of coal as examples of why he doubts the existence of the man in the red suit.
"I've had my students look into issues like global protests about international financial reform and the occupy movement and if Santa Claus really did exist and we looked at some of the implications of what he means to the global economy there are some things we would be concerned about," said Margulis.
"As far as I know, Santa's elves have to work 364 days a year, they're forced to live at the North Pole, and they're paid in candy. That, to me, is a clear violation of international labour standards. If there really was a Santa Claus, we would have had an international campaign to at least provide more appropriate remuneration for elves and give them the right to organize and have paid vacations."
Joining Margulis among the Santa Claus doubters are UNBC student Matthew Church and history professor Sasha Auerbach. Auerbach, who grew up in New York state in a half-Roman Catholic half-Jewish household, was always on Santa's good list and also remembers regular visits from the gift-bearing Hanukkah fairy.
But he started to doubt Santa's existence when he learned the jolly St. Nick had been removed from the council of saints. Auerbach also believes he has the definitive answer to the question of whether Santa 'claws' exists.
"I have never seen Santa portrayed as having claws," Auerbach said. "He's always portrayed with warm helping hands, sometimes wearing gloves, but never with claws."
The cast of believers for the debate includes UNBC history professor Dana Wessell Lightfoot, international studies instructor Heather Smith and commerce student Charles Scott. The yes-there-is-a-Santa-Claus camp has an unblemished history of winning the debate.
"The pro-Santa side is 17-0, so what does that tell you," said moderator Todd Whitcombe. "For the first three years of the debate I was on the no side and for three years I got zero Christmas presents. The fourth year I started out on the no side and switched to the yes side halfway through the debate. I got 13 Christmas presents that year. That convinced me."
Will Fundal of CBC radio will judge the debate, which starts tonight at 7 at UNBC's Canfor
theatre.
