Sports Minister St-Onge’s office led by chief of staff Kelly Wilhelm
Among the new additions to cabinet this Parliament is Sports Minister Pascale St-Onge, a first-term MP, and she’s recruited Kelly Wilhelm to run her office as chief of staff. Wilhelm has returned to the Hill to take on the job. Previously, from May 2016 until the summer of 2018, she was a senior policy adviser […]
We need a wake-up call for democracy
Last month, U.S. President Joseph R. Biden convened the Summit for Democracy, a three-day virtual gathering of leaders and representatives from more than 100 countries, including Canada, who share at least one trait: a concern that democracy itself is under siege. With democratic norms eroding throughout the West, and greater bellicosity from adversaries like China […]
PMO policy head Marci Surkes soon to exit, John Brodhead named new director
Marci Surkes will soon be bidding Parliament Hill farewell, after two years as executive director of policy and cabinet affairs to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and 15 years as a staffer. “It’s not been an easy decision. There are a million thoughts and contemplations that go into a decision of this sort,” said Surkes in […]
The problem with the ballot
TORONTO—For decades the NDP, and before it the CCF, claimed that shielding information about election financing allowed corporations to exert undue influence in the making of public policy and awarding of government contracts. The underlying assumption in the law at the time was that elections were fought only by candidates in constituencies, not by political […]
Feminism on the rise in Canada, but experts say more policy action needed to match
Feminism is on the rise in Canada, according to a recent poll commissioned by Independent Senator Donna Dasko, and while gender representation within political parties is improving, concrete policy action still leaves a lot to be desired, experts say. The poll, commissioned by Dasko (Ontario) from the Environics Institute for Survey Research (related to the […]
Families Minister Gould hangs on to chief of staff Tsaï-Klassen
Families, Children, and Social Development Minister Karina Gould has locked in Frédérique Tsaï-Klassen to continue as chief of staff in her new portfolio. Tsaï-Klassen returned to Parliament Hill to take charge of Gould’s former office as international development minister last April, following more than two years as director of communications at the Canadian Embassy in […]
Dan Arnold exits the PMO, new role of Indigenous outreach adviser added
The end of 2021 also brought the end of Dan Arnold’s six-year run as director of research and advertising in Prime Minister Justin Trudeau‘s office A former associate vice president of Pollara Strategic Insights, Arnold became lead research strategist for the federal Liberal Party in March 2014, overseeing public opinion research and analysis in the lead-up […]
Tourism and Associate Finance Minister Boissonnault names Lockington as chief of staff
Elliott Lockington has reached the top ranks of Parliament Hill’s staff pecking order, having been made chief of staff to new Tourism and Associate Finance Minister Randy Boissonnault. He’s spent the last four years as a director of parliamentary affairs. His first two years wearing the title were spent in the federal heritage minister’s office, […]
A look at Housing Minister Hussen’s team, led by chief Hursh Jaswal
Now Housing and Diversity and Inclusion Minister Ahmed Hussen has brought Hursh Jaswal to his new office as chief of staff. Jaswal has been working for Hussen since he became minister of immigration, refugees, and citizenship in 2017; Jaswal had already been working in the office as a special assistant under former minister John McCallum, […]
Matheson takes charge of Minister Rodriguez’s heritage team
Once again in the heritage portfolio, Minister Pablo Rodriguez, who also continues as the government’s Quebec Lieutenant, has brought over his policy director from the government House leader’s office, John Matheson, to serve as chief of staff. Matheson will run Rodriguez’s office as heritage minister, while Geneviève Hinse is chief of staff in his Quebec […]
