Comms aide Célia Canon exits Justice Minister Lametti’s office

Justice Minister David Lametti will soon have some new communications support in light of communications adviser Célia Canon’s recent exit from his office. Ms. Canon marked her last day working for Mr. Lametti on April 22. She’d been in place as a communications adviser—and de facto press secretary—in the minister’s office since August 2018, starting under then-minister Jody Wilson-Raybould. Célia Canon is headed for a new job with Global Affairs Canada. Photograph courtesy of LinkedIn Before then, she was press secretary to then-status of women minister Maryam Monsef. Ms. Monsef’s role has since been revamped and she’s now minister for women and gender equality (a new department formed from the old Status of Women Canada agency), as well as international development. Ms. Canon is also a former assistant in the riding office of then-Liberal MP Stéphane Dion, who represented Saint-Laurent in the Montreal region. Ms. Canon is now set to join the public service as a communications adviser with Global Affairs Canada. She has a master's in international relations and double-majored for her bachelor's in political science and international development. David Taylor remains as communications director to Mr. Lametti. In another recent change in the office, Véronique McKinnon was hired on as a policy adviser starting April 8. A McGill law school graduate, she’s previously clerked for Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton, and later worked as a lawyer with a law firm specializing in Indigenous law. She’s also got a master’s degree in international affairs from Carleton University and spent five years working for the International Development Research Centre. Over in one of the federal government’s 16 ministers’ regional offices (MROs), Francesca Turgeon recently stepped down as a special assistant for regional affairs in the Fredericton, N.B., office. A former staffer for the New Brunswick Liberals when they were in government in 2016, Ms. Turgeon first joined the Fredericton MRO in the fall of 2017. She previously worked for then-N.B. finance minister Roger Melanson and spent time as a departmental assistant working on intergovernmental affairs and the province's regional development corporation. A new regional adviser had yet to be hired to work in the Fredericton MRO as of late last week. The other 15 MROs—which offer regional support, including event planning and logistics, to ministers across the federal cabinet—are located in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Regina, Toronto, Kitchener, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, St. John’s, Charlottetown, Iqaluit, Yellowknife, and Whitehorse. Christine Burke is national manager of the ministers’ regional offices, based out of Public Services and Procurement Minister Carla Qualtrough’s office in Ottawa. In a side note—in what unfortunately is likely not a record delay for the government’s electronic directory service—two years after she was hired on full time, Isabella Orozco-Madison recently finally popped up on Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland’s online staff roster. A former intern in the minister’s office over the summer of 2017, she was subsequently hired on as a special assistant for operations. Ms. Orozco-Madison previously interned in Liberal MP Will Amos’ office; he’s represented Pontiac, Que., federally since 2015. In less belated but similarly unreported news, Matthew Whittington joined Natural Resources Minister Amarjeet Sohi’s office as a senior policy adviser on Feb. 4. Mr. Whittington was previously policy director to then-Ontario energy minister Glenn Thibeault, having started out tackling operations in the office in 2013 under then-minister Bob Chiarelli. He’s also a former special assistant to Mr. Chiarelli as the then-Ontario transportation minister. He studied political science at Dalhousie University for his undergrad. How former NDP, Conservative staffers fared in Alberta election A couple of former federal staffers had their hats in the ring in the recent electoral race in Alberta, with one unsuccessful and one re-elected. The April 16 provincial election saw the United Conservative Party led by Jason Kenney elected to a majority government, garnering around 55 per cent of the vote and claiming 63 of the provincial legislature’s 87 seats. Before the election, the UCP had 25 seats. The NDP was reduced to official opposition status, going from 52 to 24 seats, with no other parties winning a seat in the legislature. Anne McGrath, a former NDP national director, chief of staff to then-NDP leader Jack Layton, and later deputy chief of staff to now-former NDP premier Rachel Notley, ran for the NDP in Calgary-Varsity, Alta. In the end, Ms. McGrath came second to United Conservative Party candidate Jason Copping, who won the riding with about 46 per cent support. Ms. McGrath came second with about 43 per cent of the vote. Incumbent UCP MLA Devin Dreeshen, a former federal Conservative staffer and son of three-term Conservative MP Earl Dreeshen (Red Deer-Mountain View, Alta.), was re-elected to represent Innisfail-Sylvan Lake, Alta., after garnering roughly 74 per cent of the vote. Mr. Dreeshen was first elected as the legislative member for Innisfail-Sylvan Lake in a July 2018 byelection, which saw him attract 81.7 per cent support. Mr. Dreeshen worked on Parliament Hill for about seven years until 2015, starting out tackling issues management to then-Conservative agriculture minister Gerry Ritz and later being promoted to the title of policy adviser. He left the Hill after the Conservative government’s defeat in 2015 and returned to Alberta. lryckewaert@hilltimes.com The Hill Times

Hill Climbers

Comms aide Célia Canon exits Justice Minister Lametti’s office

Canon marked her last day as communications adviser and de facto press secretary to Justice Minister David Lametti on April 22.

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Hill Climbers

Comms aide Célia Canon exits Justice Minister Lametti’s office

Canon marked her last day as communications adviser and de facto press secretary to Justice Minister David Lametti on April 22.

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