Two exit Prime Minister’s Office, with one landing in the Liberal research bureau
PARLIAMENT HILL—Two staffers recently left the Prime Minister’s Office, including Nadia Khaiati, executive assistant to the director of public appointments. Ms. Khaiati had been working in the PMO as executive assistant to then PMO appointments director Mary Ng since the Liberal government was sworn into power in November 2015. Ms. Ng left the PMO in February to run […]
More regional political staff hired in Winnipeg, Montreal, Charlottetown
Four more political staffers have been hired to work in various ministers’ regional offices across Canada as part of recent efforts to beef up the 16 offices with political staff. Barry Hicken has left his post as a special assistant in Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay’s office in Ottawa and is now a special assistant for […]
Roughly $53,000 spent for cabinet chiefs to attend January retreat, expense disclosures show
It cost more than $53,000 for the various cabinet chiefs of staff to attend the Liberal government’s most recent retreat in Calgary in late January, as indicated by online travel and hospitality expense disclosures for the first quarter of the year. The most recent quarterly disclosure reports, which are posted online by the department, cover […]
Foreign aid minister scoops up Chagger’s press secretary
International Development and La Francophonie Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau has expanded her ministerial communications team, hiring Marie-Emmanuelle Cadieux to serve as her new press secretary. Ms. Cadieux started on the job in Ms. Bibeau’s office on April 18, and before then had been press secretary to Government House Leader Bardish Chagger in her capacity as small business […]
Hilary Leftick named new PMO appointments director, Natacha Engel made her deputy
Hilary Leftick has officially been named the new director of public appointments in the Prime Minister’s Office, along with a number of other staff changes in the Langevin Block. Ms. Leftick, who has been acting in the role since mid-February, was first hired to work as a youth affairs adviser in the PMO in April 2016. She was […]
Health minister hires new parliamentary affairs director
Health Minister Jane Philpott recently filled a vacancy among her senior staff ranks, hiring Jordan Miller to serve as her new director of parliamentary affairs. Previously, Peter Cleary was parliamentary affairs director to the minister, but he left the Hill early last month and is now a senior consultant at Toronto-based public affairs, policy, and […]
New parliamentary secretary assistants hired for Agriculture, Treasury Board
PARLIAMENT HILL—Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Lawrence MacAulay hired a new assistant in his parliamentary secretary, Liberal MP Jean-Claude Poissant, at the beginning of April. Michel-Antoine Renaud marked his first day as assistant to the parliamentary secretary for agriculture on April 3. Previously, he’d been working as a sales representative with Thermo Fisher Scientific, which describes itself online […]
PMO hires a new executive assistant, another switches assignment
The Prime Minister’s Office recently hired Nour Kechacha as an executive assistant to both PMO senior adviser Mathieu Bouchard and to director of administration and special projects Brett Thalmann. Until recently, Ms. Kechacha had spent the last year working as a legislative assistant to Liberal MP Marwan Tabbara, who was elected to represent Kitchener South-Hespeler, […]
Parliament has a power problem: why few staffers report sexual harassment
Staffers could be the most likely group of people to experience sexual harassment on Parliament Hill, yet very few of them report it, and there’s one big reason why: power. “There’s a definite power imbalance between young staffers and everyone else,” said Beisan Zubi, who worked on the Hill in her mid-20s as a communications assistant […]
This just in: Liberals hiring political staffers for ministers’ regional offices
The Liberal government has hired a number of political staffers to work in regional ministers’ offices across the country in recent months, including five new regional managers, and there are plans to hire more. Previously, under the Harper Conservative government various cabinet ministers were appointed to also serve as regional ministers, with 14 in all. Correspondingly, ministers’ […]
