After cabinet shuffle, new Veterans Affairs Minister O’Regan hires a chief of staff
PARLIAMENT HILL—New Veterans Affairs and Associate Defence Minister Seamus O’Regan has a new chief of staff running his first-ever ministerial office. Cyndi Jenkins moved over from her role in the Prime Minister’s Office to take on the job. Until recently, Ms. Jenkins had been an Atlantic regional desk adviser in the PMO’s operations branch since the beginning […]
Tax reform the first true test for Trudeau
OTTAWA—Is Justin Trudeau’s government truly vulnerable for the first time? Failure to deliver on electoral reform, a badly broken deficit promise, and even a $10-million payout to Omar Khadr have had to date no real impact on his team. But what looks like an ill-conceived tax-reform package—potentially drafted by officials who have never actually run […]
Good for Tories, Grits for mature co-operation on NAFTA
They’re allowed to disagree with the government. Heck, that’s a huge part of their job. But when it comes to NAFTA, the official opposition Conservatives have taken a tactful approach so far in not bashing the governing Liberals, and it’s worth continuing under new foreign affairs critic Erin O’Toole, international trade critic Dean Allison, and […]
Environment Minister McKenna adds senior staff, including ex-Chrétien aide
Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna’s office has undergone a number of senior staff changes in recent weeks, including Lucy Hargreaves taking on the role of director of operations and planning to the minister. Ms. Hargreaves was previously in charge of Ms. McKenna’s office as the Liberal MP for Ottawa Centre, Ont., a role […]
Atlantic boost on front bench noteworthy in shuffle aimed at getting action, say strategists
The creation of a new portfolio and the splitting of Indigenous and Northern Affairs were the big surprises out of the recent Liberal cabinet shuffle, but also of note was Atlantic Canada’s increased representation on the front bench, says Greg MacEachern, a senior vice-president at Environics Communications. “The Liberal Party in the last election, in […]
Four new hires in Liberal Research Bureau
The Liberal Research Bureau, also known as the LRB, has bulked up of late, with four new full-time staffers hired, while one has departed. Arturo Calvo, who’d been a special assistant for outreach in the LRB for about the last year, has exited the office, which is located at 131 Queen St. Shauna Roddey is […]
Liberals remain top choice of voters, Conservatives showing little movement in second: poll
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals remain firmly in top spot in the federal horse race, with Andrew Scheer unable to move numbers ahead for the Conservatives, and the NDP flirting with lows not seen in almost a decade, according to a new poll from Forum Research. The latest numbers, from polling conducted between Aug. 16-17 and shared […]
Press secretaries on the move for Trudeau, Champagne, Joly, Monsef
There have been a few changes among the Liberal press secretary ranks in cabinet offices on the Hill of late, including in International Trade Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s office where Pierre-Olivier Herbert has been named the new press secretary. Mr. Herbert officially took over the role on Aug. 28, filling a void recently left by the […]
Liberal MPs consider pushing for government apology to black Canadians
Liberal MPs who are part of the federal black caucus of Parliamentarians say there has been talk about pushing the government to issue an apology for systematic racism committed against black Canadians over the country’s history. Liberal MP Greg Fergus (Hull-Aylmer, Que.) said an apology to Canada’s black communities for past injustices, along with a […]
Agriculture Minister MacAulay adds to policy team
Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay recently beefed up his ministerial policy team with a new adviser. Dan Lussier started on the job on Aug. 8. He’d spent roughly the last year as a field technologies manager for the Liberal Party at its federal headquarters in Ottawa. Mr. Lussier was a field organizer for the […]
