About

The Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association (OPCCA) is the campus youth wing of the PC Party of Ontario: an organization that links together conservative campus clubs across the province. Our campus clubs provide the opportunity for conservative students to meet like-minded individuals from across the province and get involved in the political process through election campaigns, party activities and conservative activism in general.

Our organization has four main goals:

• To study, discuss, and propose the policies of the Ontario PC Party through active participation in the policy process.
• To promote the ideas and ideals of conservatism on our campuses, in our communities and province.
• To promote and assist in the election of Ontario PC Party candidates to the Ontario Legislature and Conservative Party of Canada candidates to the Parliament of Canada.
• To promote and assist in the election of conservative politicians on our campuses and in our communities.

To achieve these goals OPCCA has a focus on recruitment on campus to bring youth into the PC Party of Ontario and the Conservative Party of Canada, as well as to run youth training programs for election skills, campus activism and club development. We recognize the potential that youth have to make a big difference to help win elections and help shape the future of our party, and feel it is important to develop conservative thought on campus to provide a more balanced and healthy academic environment.

If you share conservative principles, and want to meet like-minded individuals, sign up as a member of your campus club today!

Your Executive

Ian Merkley – President

Ian is a third 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. In 2007, Ian worked on the provincial campaign in Kitchener-Center as the High School Director. He gathered a number of students from his high school to volunteer on the campaign. 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 campus club. At Laurier, Ian constructed a functioning executive team and kept the campus club active with frequent events, including hosting the honourable Michael Chong and MPP Randy Hillier

In April, Ian stepped down from president but continued to play an instrumental role in organizing campus activity for the Federal Election in both the ridings of Kitchener-Waterloo and Kitchener Centre. He sat on both campaign teams throughout the campaign.
In the summer of 2011, Ian was given the opportunity to be a Conservative Party Intern in Ottawa where he served on the hill. In his free time he volunteered in campaigns in Ottawa-West Nepean, Nepean-Carlton, and Glengarry-Prescott-Russell.

When he came back to Kitchener he sat on the Kitchener Centre campaign team working to get Dave MacDonald elected as MPP. He directed campus involvement in the region for the provincial election and was successful at bringing out students from the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University to volunteer for the campaign.

Currently, Ian is past president of the Laurier Campus Conservatives and continues to work to strengthen that club’s membership and activism. He also sits on the OPCCA executive as election readiness director.

Outside of partisan politics, Ian does a number of other political activities. Ian sits as president of the Political Science Association at Laurier which encourages the further study of political science and encourages critical thinking about political concepts. Ian also co-founded the Laurier Students for Liberty to help bring the message of small and restricted government to our campuses.

Amanda Brodhagen – Vice-President

Amanda Brodhagen is finishing up her final year of studies in political science at the University of Guelph. She is no stranger to leadership roles within the Conservative youth movement. Currently, she acts as the President of the Guelph Campus Conservatives and Policy Director for the Ontario PC Campus Association where she enjoys organizing campus club activities, 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. She is also a graduate of the Conservative Party of Canada Internship.

As Vice-President, she will help insure that the Conservative’s cause will remain strong across Ontario’s campuses.

Clare Schulte-Albert – Director of Communication

Originally from the Tory stronghold of Whitby-Oshawa, Clare has gained substantial experience with conservative politics at the provincial and federal level over the past four years. During her time at the University of Ottawa, she worked on the 2008 and 2011 federal campaigns, volunteering with several federal candidates in various Ottawa and Durham region ridings. She was selected this summer to participate in the Conservative Internship program.  During the provincial election of 2011, she worked diligently for several Ontario PC candidates, including Marylissa Gosselin, Lisa MacLeod, Michael Mostyn, and Jerry Ouellette.

Clare was an active member of the University of Ottawa’s Campus Conservatives and she is now a member of the University of Toronto Campus Conservatives. She also sits on the executive of the University of Toronto’s Free Democrats as Secretary, working against the Ban the Bottled Water campaign and acting as a watchdog for student unions. Clare is also a regular contributor to the Prince Arthur Herald, writing about Canadian politics and international affairs from a right wing perspective.

Clare is currently completing her Master of Global Affairs degree at the Munk School at the University of Toronto. She sits on the Speakers Relations and Fundraising Committees for the Munk School Graduate Student Conference and acts as a production editor for JILIR, an academic journal that publishes articles on international law and international relations. She is also a writer and editor for the internal newsletter of ORBIS Hong Kong, a non-profit charity devoted to blindness prevention in developing countries.

As Communications Chair, Clare will bring fresh ideas to tackling the issues of campus accountability and the promotion of conservative values on campuses throughout Ontario.

Martin Pineda – Policy Director

Martin is his third year of Political Science at Wilfrid Laurier University. A resident of Cambridge, Ontario, Martin first became involved with OPCCA in his first year of university. He has served as the Director of External Communications for the Laurier Campus Conservatives and has been highly active in the club’s executive ever since.

Martin is also highly involved within the school community at his university. He is a member of the WLU Debate Society and has had the opportunity to represent Wilfrid Laurier at several debate tournaments throughout the country. He is also involved with the campus student newspaper The Cord, where he has written many articles as an opinion columnist.

During the last federal election, Martin gained valuable campaign experience through his volunteer involvement in campaigns throughout the KW region. He had the opportunity to help out with winning campaigns of Conservative candidates in Cambridge, Kitchener-Centre, and Kitchener-Waterloo.

During the fall semester of 2011, Martin participated in an international exchange at the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education in Mexico City, Mexico.

Sam Presvelos – Director of Campus Activism

Sam’s fascination with politics began in the fourth grade. At the age of 13, he worked on his first campaign assisting a former PC MPP, Tina Molinary, in her bid for re-election in Thornhill. Afterwards, Sam worked with Frank Klees in his leadership race and sat as Youth President on the Newmarket-Aurora Board.

Having served on the board for some time, he moved to his own riding of Richmond Hill where he re-founded a vibrant youth association with the help of the past President of the EDA, Michael Parsa. This group is unique as it combines the youth both provincially and federally.

Now at York University, Sam has joined the York Campus Conservatives and enjoys partaking in campus activism initiatives.

In 2011 Sam was worked as a Conservative Party Intern in Ottawa on Parliament Hill. He served as communications director for OPCYA between the years 2010-2011.

Ryan Chatterjee – Director of Training

Ryan Chatterjee is a first year student at the University of Toronto Scarborough Campus. He has been involved in six election campaigns. He was an active volunteer for Gary Goodyear in the 2006 federal election campaign and again in 2008 and 2011. In 2007, Ryan started volunteering at the provincial level during the election campaign for PC MPP Gerry Martiniuk. For his work on the campaign, he was awarded the 2008 Trillium Award for Outstanding Youth Volunteer from the PC Party of Ontario.

As a current member of the OPCYA executive, Ryan helped with the Volleyball and BBQ Tournament, municipal elections, and the fundraising reception in March 2011. Ryan is looking forward to be shifting to OPCCA as the Training Director to help revive the association and recruit more students to the conservative cause.

Mandy van Waes – Secretary-Treasurer

Mandy is in her second year of International Relations at the University of Western Ontario. A lifelong resident of London-Fanshawe, she became involved in conservative politics last year as first year representative of the Western Conservatives. Currently, she holds the positions of Vice President Federal and secretary of the federal board in her home riding.

Last provincial and federal elections, Mandy volunteered extensively with campaigns in the London region. This past summer, she worked for London North Centre MP, Susan Truppe, as a constituency assistant. She found the experience to be invaluable to her understanding of practical politics and casework.

Outside of her political involvement, Mandy is involved in the Social Science Students Council, and enjoys practicing hot yoga.

Candice Kei – Director of Membership and Recruitment

Candice is currently a third year undergraduate student at The University of Western Ontario, majoring in Psychology. She is also a recent graduate of Ryerson University’s Business Communications Certificate program.

Although relatively new to politics, she has recently been actively involved at the federal and provincial level. Previously, she was a volunteer at the 2011 PC Convention and most recently served as Chair of Social Media and as a GOTV Election Day Station Captain for Willowdale candidate, Vince Agovino’s campaign during the 2011 provincial election.

Currently, Candice has been appointed as Director of Fundraising for the UWO Conservatives. She also enjoys being heavily involved within her university, working part-time on the Donor Relations & Stewardship team in the Alumni Relations department, as a member of the Social Science Students’ Council, Elections Committee for the University Students’ Council and UWO Choir.

Chris Tomalty – Fundraising Director

Chris is a second-year Public Affairs and Policy Management student at Carleton University, minoring in Economics. Chris is familiar with the demands of grassroots activism and is excited to bring his experience to the table this year. He has served two years on the board of the Carleton Conservatives (as the First Year Representative then Director of Finance), worked in Minister Oda’s office, on the Hill for MP Nina Grewal, and volunteered on both the federal and provincial campaigns in Kingston and the Islands and various Ottawa-area ridings.

Chris spent a year living in Carthage, Tunisia, where his experience with the now-collapsed authoritarian regime instilled strong beliefs about individual freedom and the importance of a free economy. A strong communicator and organizer, Chris looks forward to serving Ontario’s conservative university students in a capacity that draws upon his strengths and those of his teammates

Stuart Clark – Director of Election Readiness

Stuart Clark is a second year student at Queen’s University where he is studying Politics and Economics. Originally, from Brampton, Ontario, Stuart has been in an active participant in Kingston political life, lending his help to the recent municipal, provincial and federal elections. Unfortunately Kingston has yet to go blue, however, Stuart and the Queen’s University Conservative Association have been working hard to lay the groundwork for future Tory success.

In his first year, he was the First-Year Director of his campus club. After a summer as a helpful volunteer at Tim Hudak’s campaign headquarters, Stuart has filled his role as QUCA’s Secretary-Treasurer, working to both manage the club’s finances and grow the political community at Queen’s.

In his spare time, Stuart is an avid participant in inter-university debate, and is an active member of the internationally ranked Queen’s Debating Union.

Aaron Hunt – Past 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 works for Kellie Leitch, Member of Parliament for Simcoe-Grey.