|
Eric Merkley, from Kitchener , ON is running to be the next President of the Ontario PC Campus Association. Having graduated at the top of his class from Forest Heights Collegiate, Eric now attends Wilfrid Laurier University, where he is enrolled in double Honours Political Science and History. Eric currently sits as Director of Training for OPCCA, President of the Laurier Campus Conservatives and President of the Kitchener Centre PC Youth. In addition, Eric is Vice-President on the Kitchener-Centre PC Riding Association, and sits as Youth Chair on the executive of the Kitchener-Waterloo Conservative Electoral District Association.
As OPCCA’s Director of Training Eric has created and overseen the implementation of Team Rennick’s training plan. He organized the OPCCA President’s Retreat, which provided recruitment training to all of OPCCA’s campus presidents and is organizing three one-day training seminars for student elections and referendum campaigns. In addition he oversaw the creation of an OPCCA-OPCYA Training Committee with the task of organizing a weekend election training conference, with the purpose of training our up and coming young campaigners with campaign techniques and strategies needed for them to fill the critical shortage of volunteers at the highest level of campaigns. Eric is passionately committed to carrying on this process, as he believes it is essential for the success of the party in 2011.
As President of the Laurier Conservatives, Eric has sought to increase brand recognition of the club by revamping his club’s logo, creating a web site, and printing its own literature. Through recruitment tables and a Facebook recruitment campaign Eric helped to triple the active membership of the Laurier Conservatives during the writ period of the 2008 federal election alone and filter them into the campaign, where his club along with other students made up over three quarters of door-canvassers through the writ. As a campus club president, Eric knows what is needed to bring successful growth to our campus clubs, and intends to bring it to the table as President of OPCCA.
Eric has also been heavily active in election campaigns. Most recently he took off the fall term of school to serve as Deputy Campaign Manager for Peter Braid in Kitchener—Waterloo. Eric oversaw voter identification efforts by setting a canvassing strategy and organizing a full candidate and volunteer canvassing schedule. He also managed the campaign’s technology and ran the campaign’s GOTV Election Day activities, which proved crucial in Peter Braid’s 17 vote upset of Andrew Telegdi, closing a nearly 13 000 vote gap. Through the campaign Eric saw firsthand the potential of campus clubs to participate in a big way to provide volunteers to key ridings. He wants to bring his passion for the campaign trail to expand OPCCA’s efforts in fighting elections and by-elections federally and provincially.
Eric Merkley is looking forward to forward to serving you as President of the Ontario PC Campus Association
|
