Your Executive

Aaron Hunt – President

Coming from a small town called Tottenham, Aaron Hunt has been interested in conservative politics since Grade 11. Aaron has been actively involved with politics for five years now on both the provincial and federal level. Getting his start with the University of Ottawa Campus club, Aaron volunteered heavily in the 2007 Provincial Election Campaign in the Ottawa region, and was elected as a Vice President of the University of Ottawa Campus Conservatives for second year. In second year, during the 2008 federal election Aaron volunteered for the Ottawa South campaign as well as various others in the Ottawa region.

During his time in Ottawa, Aaron has gained valuable experience on Parliament Hill working part time for both the Honourable Laurie Hawn as well as the Honourable Gary Goodyear.

Aaron has also worked previously at Queen’s Park for Jim Wilson, Member of Provincial Parliament for his home riding of Simcoe-Grey. Currently, Aaron is in his final year at the University of Ottawa, and remains a Vice President of his campus club while also serving as President of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association (OPCCA).

Aaron believes that his experience in both provincial and federal politics will lead OPCCA through the upcoming provincial election as a necessary part of electing the Ontario PC Party as a majority government in October 2011.

Craig Draeger – Vice-President

Craig Draeger is in his second year at Queen’s University, studying Politics and Philosophy. He grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario in the riding of Thunder Bay-Atikokan, one of the least Conservative-friendly ridings in the province. As such, he did not become involved in the PC Party until he moved to Southern Ontario, but took on a very active role upon his arrival.

In his first year at Queen’s, he served as Director of First-Year Students in the Queen’s Campus Conservatives, becoming President in his second year. He currently divides his time between his positions in OPCCA and the Queen’s Conservatives, and other pursuits in student activism and campus journalism.

As Vice President, he looks forward to travelling across the province of Ontario and organizing training events for young Ontarians in preparation for a Tim Hudak majority!

Patrick Beatty – Director of Communication

Patrick just finished his last year of a Political Science Major and Psychology Minor undergrad. He served as the Vice President Federal of the University of Western Ontario Conservatives. He will be Masters of Public Policy student at the University of Calgary in the fall.

Patrick’s first participation in partisan politics was in the Hon. John Baird’s 2006 nomination for Ottawa West-Nepean. However it wasn’t until 2008, when he worked for MP Hon. Michael Chong, that Patrick developed his passion for politics. In 2009, Patrick was selected to participate in the Conservative Internship Program in the office of the Minister of Transport, Hon. John Baird, as his Communications Intern.

This summer, Patrick switched over to the private sector to work as the Business Development Intern for Northstar Trade Finance in Toronto. He has served on the Board of Directors for two Conservative EDAs in London and for the London Employment Help Centre. This year, Patrick has worked on getting Canadians engaged in politics by serving as the National Petitions Coordinator for Canadians Advocating Political Participation.

Amanda Broadhagen – Policy Director
 

Amanda Broadhagen is a fourth year political science student at the University of Guelph. She is no stranger to leadership roles within the Conservative youth movement. Currently, she acts as the Membership and Events Director for the Guelph Campus Conservatives, where she enjoys organizing campus club activities, and developing new recruitment strategies to expand the number of students involved in the Conservative movement.
She has been successful in helping to found both the Perth-Wellington Ontario Progressive Youth Association where she is Vice-President, and the Ontario Progressive Conservative Youth Association West District Association where she acts as Secretary/ Treasurer. Also, she is an active director for both the Perth-Wellington and Guelph Federal Electoral District Associations where she is instrumental in assisting with election readiness and developing campaign strategies.

Amanda is heavily involved in rural youth organizations such as the Canadian Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow Chapter at the University of Guelph, where she is President. During her time as President, Amanda has been successful in developing a recognized exchange program with other Chapters in the US. She has also increased the club’s representation where it has become to be known as one of the most active clubs within the Ontario Agricultural College. She enjoys communicating about topics relating to politics and agriculture and in the past has been selected to represent the province of Ontario at the Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture Competition.

As policy director, she will maintain and bring forth effective policies to help insure that the Conservative’s cause will remain strong across Ontario’s campuses.

Peter Flynn – Director of Campus Activism

Peter Flynn, a 4th Year Economics and Political Science student at the University of Ottawa, is running to be the next Director of Campus Activism of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association. He brings a wealth of experience in campus activism at the University of Ottawa, where he has sat on numerous student associations as well as the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa’s Board of Administration.

Peter has stood up for conservative values on campus. His experience campaigning against the CFS during a referendum in his second year as well as recently shedding light on repeated misuse of student funds by the SFUO in his role as President of the University of Ottawa Campus Conservatives will prove invaluable to OPCCA. During his time on the SFUO’s BOA, he fought to implement more accountable regulations for the executive as well as re-focus the Board on actual student issues rather than left-wing pet causes.

A graduate of the CPC’s Internship Program, Peter brings with him almost two years of experience working in the office of a Member of Parliament. Peter plans on using his experience in student activism to ensure OPCCA has a centralized plan to provide assistance to clubs in their struggles against left-wing student governments as well as the CFS. A detailed plan regarding campuses eligible for referendums and specific timelines for implementation will help campus clubs stay focused on achieving lasting change on their campuses.

Peter is an active member of his student community, currently the VP Philanthropic for the Economics Students’ Association on campus. His responsibilities include organizing various philanthropic campaigns, including Shinerama, Movember, and Relay for Life.

Anosh Jacob – Director of Training

Anosh Jacob is a resident of Brampton, Ontario and has been very active within his riding of Bramlea – Gore – Malton. He was born into a politically active household and learnt from a young age the importance of responsible government and politically active youth.

Anosh is responsible for the revival of the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus Conservatives, a club that was faltering until he took lead as president. Under Anosh Jacob’s leadership, the UTSC Conservatives have managed to become the most active political club on campus, as well as one of the most active campus Conservative clubs in Ontario.

At the 2010 OPCCA AGM, Anosh received two awards for the Best New Club and the Best New Member. At this event he was also elected the OPCCA Policy Director and appointed the Regional Coordinator for the GTA. As the OPCCA policy director he has promoted the OPCCA policy recommendations at every opportunity. Under his guidance as the regional coordinator, three new clubs were formed in the GTA, at the University of Toronto Mississauga, York University Glendon Campus and University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

Anosh is very excited to be running for the position of OPCCA Training Director. As a result of his experience with campus political groups, he knows exactly what Conservative campus associations need in order to stay active and become leaders who take charge in the 2011 election. Anosh wants to work towards making students an important base of the PC party by training them to recruit other youth, and working at the grass-root level to make students more politically active within their Party as well as in their everyday lives.

Nahielly Fernandez – Fundraising Director

Nahielly was born in El Salvador but came to Canada when she was only 5 months old! During this time, one can only presume that was when she probably caught the traveling bug. She loves travelling. In the future, she plans to travel much more. Experiencing various cultures is such an enriching experience. However, her real home is in St. Catharines, Ontario where she has resided her entire life.

She is in her fourth year at at Carleton as a political science student with a concentration in international relations with a minor in French and German.

She first became involved with the Campus Conservatives during the 2008 election and has been actively involved ever since. She recently had the privilege in intern in Minister Peter Kent’s office this past summer but has worked in other MP’s offices as well: Rick Dykstra and Candice Hoeppner. She currently works for LaVar Payne.

On her adventurous excursions, she’s pretty much up to anything: skydiving, bungee jumping, zip lining, trying absinthe…During the weekends, Nahielly can be found shredding powder on Mont Tremblant; skiing c’est awesome! Listening to music (anything except country and rap), running, taking her dog to the beach and hanging out with some of her awesome friends, are all activities that Nahielly enjoys.

Michelle Berman- Director of Outreach

Michelle Berman is in her third year at York University, majoring in Political Science. She is the current Secretary Treasurer for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association, and is running for Secretary Treasurer again for the upcoming year. Aside from her extensive involvement with OPCCA, Michelle is the President of the York Campus Conservatives. Under Michelle’s direction, the club has reformed itself with a rapidly growing membership, and many successful events.

Aside from her work with OPCCA and the York Campus Conservatives, Michelle has been involved in numerous Conservative campaigns both Provincially and Federally. Currently, Michelle serves as Federal Conservative Candidate Mark Adler’s Volunteer Coordinator in York Centre.

In her spare time, Michelle enjoys reading, cooking, spending time with friends and family, and traveling

Ian Merkley – Appointed Director

Ian Merkley is a second year student at Wilfrid Laurier University where he is enrolled in a double honours history and political science. Ian grew up in Kitchener-Center which had been a Liberal stronghold until the 2008 federal election and still remains under Liberal control at a provincial level. He began to work to change this. In 2007 Ian worked on the provincial campaign in Kitchener-Center as the High School Director. Then in 2008 he volunteered in Kitchener-Waterloo for the federal election and assisted in turning Kitchener-Waterloo blue at the federal level by 17 votes.

In his first year at Wilfrid Laurier University Ian became external communications director for the Laurier Campus Conservatives. By the end of his first year Ian was elected as president of the Laurier Campus Conservatives. He now works diligently to recruit more members for the Campus Conservatives, and build a strong club for Wilfrid Laurier University.

Saro Khatchadourian – Appointed Director

A fourth year political science specialist at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus, Saro Khatchadourian’s passion for politics is evident in his experience in the political world. It all began in 2006 when Saro was selected to participate in the Federal government’s Forum for Young Canadians Program, where he was given the opportunity to learn about governance, democracy, and citizenship—meeting with influential figures in Canadian public life, while getting to know other young people with interests similar to his own.

In 2007 at the age of 17, Saro became Markham-Unionville’s Federal Electoral District Association’s youngest elected board member where he has actively served ever since. As a result, having been intimately involved in the 2008 Federal Election, Saro gained ample experience within various facets of the campaign.

Saro was graced with the opportunity of a lifetime when his riding association allowed him to travel to Winnipeg in 2008 as a delegate at the annual Conservative Convention. Along with his EDA’s candidate and riding president at the time, Saro was able to effectively network and get a true sense of the federal political atmosphere.

Currently, Saro serves as VP External for the University of Toronto Campus Conservatives and has been instrumental in much of the club’s recent success in terms of events and membership. Focusing more on provincial issues, Saro has created a blog entitled “The Right Side of Things” that offers commentary on selected events that occur in Ontario’s conservative political circle.

Saro has also been selected to serve on Pam Hundal’s campaign team for the upcoming provincial election in October 2011. Pam is the M.P.P. candidate for Brampton-Springdale who will be looking to Saro to manage all social media and communications for the duration of the campaign.

Aside from Canadian politics, Saro is really involved in his community as a proud Armenian. Saro has spent years serving on various executive committees for his church and cultural students’ association. He has also spent a summer doing humanitarian work in his home country of Armenia and lived in Singapore for 5 months last year on exchange before backpacking throughout Southeast Asia.

Saro believes that his multi-faceted experience in Canadian politics can serve as an asset for the OPCCA executive and that there is a lot that his previous involvement can bring to the table. He has always remained steadfast in his conservative principles and his unwavering faith in the platform of Ontario’s PC Party.

Mike Torossian – Director of Membership and Recruitment

Nick Bergamini – Past President

Nick Bergamini is a 4th-year Journalism student at Carleton University, who brings a wealth of experience in campus activism at Carleton. Most recently, he sat as the Vice-President (Student Issues) of the Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA).

Nick has successfully brought conservatism to the mainstream on campus. His election to the CUSA executive marks the first time in over a decade that a conservative was elected successfully to the Executive of the student association that founded the Canadian Federation of Students.

During his time in office, he successfully fought for small-c conservative causes, including the implementation of the Project Hero scholarship, which awards free tuition to the children of members of the Canadian Forces killed in the line of duty. He also organized the campus’ Remembrance Day Ceremony, which brought out nearly 1000 students.

In Nick’s second year, he successfully fought a brutal CUPE strike which paralyzed the university, running a media campaign and student protest which quickly ended the labour stoppage.

He believes that his experience in student activism will lead to an OPCCA that will help campus clubs to recruit, train and build their organizations to support the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario and espouse conservative values on campus.

Nick is also an active member of his community, having founded and organized the Keg Cup Road Hockey Tournament, the largest of its kind in Ottawa, which raises funds for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.