OPIRG and OPCCA: Reaction to Leaked Tapes

 

By Mai Nguyen

 

The leaks that show a conservative campus group’s attempt to destabilize local student unions is

symptomatic of a national political trend occurring in Canada, said Louisa Worrell, a member of the Ontario Public Interest Research Group (OPIRG) Ottawa.

 

“Stephen Harper is our first Conservative leader in a long time and there is a trend of people leaning to the right,” she said. “There is definitely a parallel on campus. The biggest problem is when groups essentially try to uproot left-leaning socially progressive groups.”

 

In last month’s issue, the Ryerson Free Press reported on the leaks of several audio recordings, documents and photos from a training session organized by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Campus Association (OPCCA)—OPCCA is a student-run organization designed to encourage conservative students to become active on campus.

 

The workshop was held in early February at Wilfred Laurier University where Peter Braid, Member of Parliament for Kitchener-Waterloo, was the keynote speaker. Recordings of the session revealed that speakers were providing information to the audience on how they can become a part of the Board of Directors of OPIRGs or run in student union elections to promote a Conservative agenda.

OPIRGs are independent, non-profit organizations that are committed to social, environmental and economic issues with the support of organizations like Amnesty International, the Canadian Federation of Students and Oxfam.

 

The speakers at the presentation also included Braid’s campaign manager, Aaron Lee-Wudrick and former vice-president of the Waterloo Federation of Students, Ryan O’Connor. On the tapes, some of their advice included establishing “front organizations” in order to tap into student unions’ funding and also, run for student union elections.

 

From the audio recordings, Lee-Wudrick is heard saying, “If it’s possible if, in one fell swoop, to take over the board of directors [of OPIRG], I think that it would be pretty impressive, and you’d be a hero to the Conservative movement if you can pull that off.”

 

After the leaks were made available online, OPCCA expressed concerns over the actions of the anonymous individual who recorded the session under a false identity.

 

According to OPCCA, the individual was a member of OPIRG. Eric Merkley, president of OPCCA, said that the comments found in the audio recordings were taken out of context by some reporters. “We believe that there is an unbalanced view on campus,” said Merkley, who was also Braid’s former deputy campaign manager.

 

“We want to show that there are other ways of thinking without fear of persecution from extreme leftwing professors or from OPIRG.”

 

Merkley added that during Braid’s 20-minute keynote speech, the MP talked about his experiences with past elections and how important it is for students to engage in the political process. “The reality is, conservatives want to get involved with campus life,” said Merkley.

 

However, Ontario Chairperson of the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) Shelley Melanson said she is concerned about giving a political party a role in student politics because it undermines the autonomous nature of student unions and its elections.

 

“It’s a question of whether political parties should be a part of the democratic policy,” she said. “It actually violates student election policies. Part of the problem of this scandal is that they’re teaching [student] unions how to govern elections. They’re doing it with the purpose of taking over the student union.”

 

Merkley said that OPCCA has no affiliation with the Conservative Party of Canada. However, according to the OPCCA website, the group is connected with the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. The Ontario Progressive Conservatives, and the federal party, have held similar meetings like this on campuses across Canada.

 

Brian Petz, president of the Ryerson Campus Conservatives, was unaware and skeptical of these leaks when contacted. “It sounds like very dirty politics,” said Petz. “Things should be rather transparent.” The club occasionally updates the OPCCA with its recent events and activities, but its relationship to OPCCA isn’t entrenched.

 

OPIRGs are operated with student funding determined by referendum and have been around since the late 1970s. The levy is normally between $2 to $4 per student each semester.

 

Merkley doesn’t approve of the mandatory fees. “In our eyes, [fees] undermines the university experience for students and the CFS and OPIRG are the cause for that,” he said. “We have no problem with left-wing views on campus and we believe in free speech, but we don’t believe that they should use student fees.”

 

Merkley would like to see OPIRG raise its own funds by starting up a campaign to give students a chance to opt out of the fee.

According to Worrell, OPIRGs have historically been a target of attack. The Nova Scotia PIRG recently faced the possibility of funding removal after it was accused of being anti-Semitic for condemning Israel’s attack on Gaza.
 

Last year, the University of Western Ontario OPIRG had its club status revoked supposedly because it endorsed pro-Palestinian speakers at an anti-war week of events. In the early 2000s, Lee-Wudrick and O’Connor attempted to strip the University of Waterloo OPIRG of its funding multiple times, as was discussed in the leaked audio recordings.