Immigration Minister McCallum bolsters staff
Immigration Minister John McCallum has bulked up his ministerial staff team in recent weeks, including hiring an executive assistant and communications staffers. Félix Corriveau joined the minister’s office on March 9 as a senior adviser for strategic communications. Before joining Mr. McCallum’s team, Mr. Corriveau was working as a freelance reporter based in Toronto, according to […]
New PMO staffers, including youth adviser, digital creative lead
A number of new staff recently joined Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s office in the Langevin Block, including Hilary Leftick as an adviser to Mr. Trudeau’s role as youth minister and Dave Sommer as the office’s digital creative lead, among others. Ms. Leftick is a former executive producer of POP Montréal, an international music festival in […]
Ministers Brison and Garneau hire new ministerial assistants
Treasury Board President Scott Brison recently hired Alexander (Sandy) Schembri to serve as his executive assistant, as well as provide regional advice for the ministerial office’s Atlantic desk. Mr. Schembri was until recently briefly serving as a legislative assistant to new Liberal MP Bernadette Jordan, who was elected as the MP for South Shore-St. Margaret’s, N.S., […]
Former Quebec Liberal staffer now press secretary to National Revenue Minister
National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier welcomed two new Quebecers to her ministerial staff team last month, with press secretary Chloé Luciani-Girouard and assistant to the parliamentary secretary and special assistant Jean-Sébastien Bock-Nadeau having each marked March 14 as their first day officially on the job. Both recently moved to Ottawa from la belle province to work for […]
Small Business Minister Chagger hires Vidah as senior adviser, press secretary
Small Business and Tourism Minister Bardish Chagger has hired former MAtv producer and host Vahid Vidah as a senior policy adviser and press secretary for her ministerial office. Until recently, Mr. Vidah was working for MAtv as host of its English-language show, Living 2 Gether, a public access show exploring the “social fabric” of Montreal […]
Veterans Minister Hehr hires retired Lt.-Col. Cyr as D. Comms
Veterans Affairs Minister Kent Hehr has hired Norbert Cyr, a retired lieutenant-colonel with the Canadian Armed Forces and a former public servant and spokesperson to then chief of defence staff Walter Natynczyk, as his director of communications and issues management. Mr. Cyr marked his first day on the job in Mr. Hehr’s office on March […]
Foreign Affairs Minister Dion hires senior policy team
Foreign Affairs Minister Stéphane Dion now has a senior policy team in place. He recently recruited Christopher Berzins as director of policy and Jocelyn Coulon as a senior policy adviser. Mr. Berzins joined Mr. Dion’s ministerial team on Feb. 20, after moving back to Ottawa from Washington, D.C., to take on the job. He’s spent roughly […]
Politics This Morning: Canadian Study of Parliament Group talks political staff
The Canadian Study of Parliament Group will hold a seminar on political staff in parliamentary government today starting at 8:15 a.m. in the Sir John A. Macdonald Building. The seminar examines the role of political staff in our system of government and will bring together experts to discuss various issues. The first panel starts at […]
Sports Minister Qualtrough hires director of parliamentary affairs, issues, policy
Sports and Persons with Disabilities Minister Carla Qualtrough recently hired Jude Welch as director of parliamentary affairs and issues management. Mr. Welch, until recently, was manager of policy and programs at the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency and before that worked briefly as a senior committee adviser for the Department of Human Resources and Skills Development Canada in Ottawa. […]
MPs slammed for quietly boosting House budget by $25-million
Members of Parliament will be getting an almost $58,000 boost to their office budgets for 2016-17—a 20 per cent increase starting in April following a seven-year freeze—along with an extra $1,400 each for travel expenses, but these changes are being met with mixed reactions on and off the Hill. Some MPs are welcoming the extra funds […]
