section_path: Early life/University and early jobs
section_name: University and early jobs
paragraph_text: University and early jobs
  
  As a teenager, Poilievre had a job at Telus doing corporate collections by calling businesses. He later worked briefly as a journalist for Alberta Report, a conservative weekly magazine. At the University of Calgary, he studied international relations, graduating in 2008. At age 19, he staged a protest against a student union that tried to prevent campus Reform Party supporters from campaigning for their candidate in an Alberta Senate election. He was one of many Reform members on campus in conflict with the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, which they believed to be unprincipled.
  
  In 1999, as a second-year student, Poilievre submitted an essay to Magna International 's "As prime minister, I Would..." essay contest. His essay, "Building Canada Through Freedom", focused on individual freedom and, among other things, argued for a two-term limit for members of Parliament. As a finalist, Poilievre won $10,000 and a four-month internship at Magna, with the essay published in the book that collected the essays, @Stake — "As Prime Minister, I Would..."
  
  Poilievre was president of the University of Calgary's Young club, which was composed of both Progressive Conservative and Reform members focused on Alberta politics. He clashed with Patrick Brown, at the time the president of the national Progressive Conservative Youth Federation. Their dispute was over Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark, whom Poilievre considered anti-youth. Concerned that anti-Clark members would be removed, as Brown was an executive for the Progressive Conservatives, Poilievre threatened to shift the Progressive Conservative club to the United Alternative. Media outlets obtained a leaked memo saying that Brown planned to remove anti-Clark youth leaders, but Brown denied it, leading Poilievre to back down from his threat.
  
  As a teenager, Poilievre had a job at Telus doing corporate collections by calling businesses. He later worked briefly as a journalist for Alberta Report, a conservative weekly magazine. At the University of Calgary, he studied international relations, graduating in 2008. At age 19, he staged a protest against a student union that tried to prevent campus Reform Party supporters from campaigning for their candidate in an Alberta Senate election. He was one of many Reform members on campus in conflict with the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, which they believed to be unprincipled.
  
  In 1999, as a second-year student, Poilievre submitted an essay to Magna International 's "As prime minister, I Would..." essay contest. His essay, "Building Canada Through Freedom", focused on individual freedom and, among other things, argued for a two-term limit for members of Parliament. As a finalist, Poilievre won $10,000 and a four-month internship at Magna, with the essay published in the book that collected the essays, @Stake — "As Prime Minister, I Would..."
  
  Poilievre was president of the University of Calgary's Young club, which was composed of both Progressive Conservative and Reform members focused on Alberta politics. He clashed with Patrick Brown, at the time the president of the national Progressive Conservative Youth Federation. Their dispute was over Progressive Conservative leader Joe Clark, whom Poilievre considered anti-youth. Concerned that anti-Clark members would be removed, as Brown was an executive for the Progressive Conservatives, Poilievre threatened to shift the Progressive Conservative club to the United Alternative. Media outlets obtained a leaked memo saying that Brown planned to remove anti-Clark youth leaders, but Brown denied it, leading Poilievre to back down from his threat.