Wilson-Raybould promotes new chief of staff
Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould has finally promoted a new full-time chief of staff in her ministerial office, after months without one and while PMO senior adviser Cyrus Reporter pulled double duty. Ms. Wilson-Raybould had originally hired Kristen Mercer to the role of chief of staff back in November, but Ms. Mercer left the role in February […]
Policy director hired for Fisheries and Oceans, office now under LeBlanc
Government House Leader Dominic LeBlanc has stepped in to also act as Fisheries and Oceans Minister following Hunter Tootoo’s abrupt resignation on May 31 from Cabinet to seek treatment for addiction issues. Mr. LeBlanc will be working with Mr. Tootoo’s old ministerial staff team which remains in place and which recently grew by two. Alexis McIntyre […]
Trudeau should never ignore grassroots party members
Prior to the last federal election, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau promised “real change” and to do things “differently” as opposed to the then-ruling Stephen Harper Conservative government. Mr. Trudeau, at the time, accused the Conservatives of being “secretive” and concentrating power in the hands of the prime minister and his office. But since the last […]
Liberal time management in House questioned as LeBlanc commits long-term to Fisheries portfolio
Poor management of House time and the pressures of trying to accommodate the priority bills and issues of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s 30-person cabinet are to blame for the government having yet to pass any core legislation with just three weeks left in Parliament’s sitting calendar, say opposition House leaders. And now with Government House Leader […]
Privy Council Office’s new delivery unit increases capacity for centralized control, say experts
The Privy Council Office’s Results and Delivery Unit, created by the new Trudeau Liberal government, has increased the capacity for more centralized control over government, say experts. But while there are early positive signs it will be used to strengthen cabinet, it remains to be seen what the effect will be in practice in the years […]
Grassroots Liberals want leadership to consult membership more to avoid rift at next convention
Rank-and-file Liberals don’t want to go through another round of contentious debate at the party’s next policy convention, the way they did at the recent convention in Winnipeg, and they want the party’s leadership to consult them during, not after, the process for drafting bylaws that govern party operations. “I don’t [want to] find us back in two […]
Resist temptation to tighten control, limit openness
The Liberal party’s weekend convention in Winnipeg was meant to be a victory lap for the party that came from third-party status to a majority government after last fall’s election. And it was. But reporters there also ran with another narrative: dissent within the ranks, and a desire to close off policy discussions from reporters, […]
Foreign Aid Minister Bibeau hires former Canadian ambassador to Haiti
International Development and Minister for La Francophonie Marie-Claude Bibeau recently hired former ambassador Claude Boucher to join her ministerial staff team as an adviser for La Francophonie. Mr. Boucher was Canada’s ambassador to Haiti from 2004 to 2008, arriving at a difficult time in the fragile Caribbean country’s history, months after president Jean-Bertrand Aristide fled the country amid a […]
Conventions serve to inspire and celebrate change, leverage women’s engagement
WINNIPEG—At the risk of invoking the overused motherhood-and-apple-pie analogy, it was clear from both the Liberal and Conservative conventions this past weekend that the amplification of women’s voices within each party is changing the tenor and the conversation for both. While it played out somewhat differently for each, the elevation of women’s voices infused both […]
Let’s not shoot our own leader in the foot, opposition parties ready to do it for us
OTTAWA—The loss of an election can be incredibly liberating. Leaderless and powerless, party members are suddenly free to speak out without favour or fear of political backlash. With back-to-back political conventions last weekend, the governing Liberals and the Conservatives had a chance to strut their stuff. The Liberals had a delicate balancing act. A new, popular […]
