The Carleton Electoral District Association is gearing up for the 2019 Federal Election campaign, with the date of the vote expected to be October 21, 2019. We are currently recruiting 350 student volunteers who will be attending high school in September 2019 in either grade 11 or 12, to participate in our Centurion Internship Program. This program will provide these students with the opportunity to earn the 40 hours of community service work required to graduate from high school, the majority of hours being focused on activities in and around their home location.

The Carleton Electoral District contains approximately 35,000 households, centered on the town of Stittsville, and the villages of Richmond, North Gower, Kars, Osgoode, Metcalfe, Greely and Manotick. Also included are the growing subdivisions of Riverside South and Findlay Creek. We have divided these households into 350 cohorts of 100 houses each, and will be assigning each of these small geographic areas to one of our student Centurions (a name derived from the title given to a leader in the Roman Army who was responsible for 100 soldiers). Ideally, we would like to find a student who is resident in one of the houses in each of the 350 cohorts, or living close by, so they do not have to travel to where the volunteer hours are to be earned.

Recruiting of our Centurion interns will take place in June and July 2019, before the end of the 2019 winter semester. An initial 2-hour orientation and training session will be scheduled in July for each volunteer, with a choice of dates and venues, likely associated with each of the high schools in the riding where the students go to school.

Each selected Centurion will be required to sign a Non-Disclosure and Privacy Agreement, which sets out the strict rules imposed by Elections Canada and other privacy legislation when dealing with voter’s personal information. All PPC volunteers are required to sign these documents and the PPC party is committed to promoting the highest standards of compliance with these essential rules.

Role and Duties of each Centurion

Each Centurion will be responsible for supporting the PPC campaign within their assigned cohort of 100 households, from July 1 to October 30, 2019. This will include the following tasks:

• Receiving a detailed list of the 100 assigned households and conducting an initial walk around confirming household numbers and completeness of the list.
• Updating their list of 100 homes with additional information received from the Carleton EDA, such as voter names, PPC members and other party affiliations (online data input).
• Holding an inventory of 10 PPC election lawn signs, and installing these signs when they receive an email instruction from the Carleton EDA, identifying the house in their cohort that has requested such a sign to be installed.
• Updating their household cohort list with households who have a sign.
• During the official campaign period (likely September through October 21, 2019), conduct a weekly walk around their cohort and record on the cohort list which homes have election signs installed and for which party.
• During the official campaign period, drop off at each home (mailbox or door hanger) a campaign brochure (bundles of 100 will be delivered to each Centurion’s home). A potential of 3 to 5 drops is anticipated, spread out over the 6-week campaign.
• When the PPC Carleton candidate is going door to door in the Centurions area, provide the most recent version of the cohort list to assist the candidate in their messaging at the door.
• After the election is completed, recover all PPC lawn signs from the houses in their cohort, which will be picked up from their home.
• Prepare a final update of their cohort list with information provided by the polling stations, and submit to the Carleton EDA.
• Maintain a log sheet of their volunteer hours worked and submit this at the end of the campaign for approval and return.

Centurions will not be asked to canvas on behalf of the PPC, but will be expected to respond politely to any questions that resident’s in their area might ask as they carry out their assigned duties. They will be provided with an identity card and lanyard, and handout cards that can be given to any one making inquiries, which provides a list of Frequently Asked Questions and contact information for the PPC Carleton Riding Association office and web site.

Centurions will have the opportunity to learn about the Federal democratic process, as well as seeing the practical application of Excel spreadsheets, and learning how to access and use the City of Ottawa’s Geo-mapping online application.

Volunteer hours will be spread throughout the July to October timeframe, with the majority in the September to October period, but not more than 4 hours per week. Additional optional hours will be offered during July and August at centralized locations for group work (such as envelope stuffing and addressing).

Centurion Selection and Assigning to an Area Cohort

Interested student volunteers are asked to complete the online Student Volunteer Application, and then submitting this to the Carleton EDA office. The selection and assigning of applicants to a cohort will follow the following criteria.

1. Students who are a registered member of the People’s Party of Canada.
2. Students who have a parent that is a current member of the People’s Party of Canada.
3. A student who is resident within an available household cohort.
4. A student who lives with 300 meters of an available household cohort.

Preference will also be given to a student who will be enrolled in grade 12 in September 2019, over a student who will be enrolled in grade 11 in September 2019.

Applicants who are not assigned to a cohort under the above criteria will notified, and asked if they would like to be placed on a volunteer call list for other volunteer opportunities as, when and if they arise.