Yan Plante back among Conservative staff on the Hill
Yan Plante is back on Parliament Hill and has joined Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer as a special adviser in the official opposition leader’s office (OLO). A veteran Hill staffer, Mr. Plante previously worked under Stephen Harper’s Conservative government and his past roles include serving as a special assistant to then-labour minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn, and later […]
Cotter named director of communications to new Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Blair
Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction Minister Bill Blair, who will be facing intense political and media scrutiny this week as the lead minister on the legalization of cannabis in Canada on Oct. 17, has named Ryan Cotter as director of communications. Mr. Cotter arrives in Mr. Blair’s brand new cabinet office straight from the Liberal […]
Fresh off the campaign trail in New Brunswick, Guy Gallant now comms director to heritage minister
Heritage and Multiculturalism Minister Pablo Rodriguez has named Guy Gallant as his new director of communications. Emilie Simard was previously communications director in the heritage minister’s office, but she left to do the same job for Transport Minister Marc Garneau in late August. Mr. Gallant was previously communications director to Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay. He […]
CAQ victory not an automatic win for Scheer, say strategists
Being aligned on the political spectrum might make the Coalition Avenir Québec and the federal Conservative Party natural allies, but strategists say the CAQ majority win in this month’s provincial election isn’t automatically good news for Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer. The Oct. 1 election results were more about kicking out the Quebec Liberal Party, in […]
Québec Solidaire vote may be more than a sign of youthful rebellion
KAMOURASKA, QUE.—The young woman who serves me my croissants and brioches at the local bakery surprised me today when she revealed she has an accounting degree from Université de Montréal and used to work for a heavy-equipment company. When the bakery closes for the season, she will do the books for the restaurant next door. […]
Thanksgiving turkey with a side of partisan rancour?
While your uncle passed the stuffing at Thanksgiving dinner, did his defence of the Liberals’ record sound a little too similar to that of a backbench MP? He may have come to dinner armed with a list of Liberal talking points. As they’ve done in previous years, over the holiday weekend the federal Liberal Party […]
Trudeau Liberals ditch their party’s moral high ground on nuclear disarmament
There I was, at the microphone reading the official policy of the Liberal majority government of Canada on nuclear disarmament to a rather perplexed seminar audience. Why was Doug Roche, a severe critic of this policy, pronouncing it from the podium? The answer is: not one Liberal Member of Parliament would come forward to speak […]
Incumbent syndrome is sweeping across the country
OTTAWA—Incumbent syndrome is an affliction sweeping across the country. The phrase was coined by retiring premier Philippe Couillard on the eve of the worst defeat in the history of the Quebec Liberal Party. His party faced an unstoppable wave, and despite outward claims of optimism, Couillard and his team saw it coming. Just like the […]
Policy director changes for Wilkinson, Wilson-Raybould
Fisheries, Oceans, and Canadian Coast Guard Minister Jonathan Wilkinson recently named Victoria Windsor as his new director of policy. Ms. Windsor joins Mr. Wilkinson’s office straight from Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould’s office where she’s been working since February 2017, starting off as a senior special assistant for parliamentary affairs and ending as a policy adviser. […]
Minister Champagne nabs press secretary from Minister Carr
Infrastructure and Communities Minister François-Philippe Champagne has poached International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr’s press secretary, Ann-Clara Vaillancourt, to do the same job in his ministerial office. A former Quebec Liberal staffer, Ms. Vaillancourt started working on Parliament Hill as press secretary to Mr. Carr this past July. Before then, she was working at Quebec’s […]
