Policy director changes for Wilkinson, Wilson-Raybould
Fisheries, Oceans, and Canadian Coast Guard Minister Jonathan Wilkinson recently named Victoria Windsor as his new director of policy. Ms. Windsor joins Mr. Wilkinson’s office straight from Democratic Institutions Minister Karina Gould’s office where she’s been working since February 2017, starting off as a senior special assistant for parliamentary affairs and ending as a policy adviser. […]
No party politics allowed: ISG lays down the law in new charter
Members of the Senate’s largest group have agreed to stay away from partisanship of any stripe, both inside and outside of the Red Chamber, after approving a new governing document for themselves. Independent Senators Group members unanimously approved their new charter, which has been in the works for more than a year, on Wednesday morning, […]
Surprising takeaways from Quebec’s vote
To fully measure the electoral earthquake that left Quebec’s once-dominant parties in shambles on Monday, consider that 84 of the 125 members of the new national assembly ran under the banner of parties that did not even exist a bit more than a decade ago, let alone at the time of the 1995 referendum. That’s […]
To guard mental health, Hillites recommend exercise, eating right, and saying no
When it comes to achieving good mental health, elected officials and staffers say it’s important to set good boundaries, get in regular physical activity, and stay away from the food at receptions. The Hill Times spoke to more than 15 MPs, Senators, and staffers about how they manage their mental health in a job where it […]
Minister Champagne nabs press secretary from Minister Carr
Infrastructure and Communities Minister François-Philippe Champagne has poached International Trade Diversification Minister Jim Carr’s press secretary, Ann-Clara Vaillancourt, to do the same job in his ministerial office. A former Quebec Liberal staffer, Ms. Vaillancourt started working on Parliament Hill as press secretary to Mr. Carr this past July. Before then, she was working at Quebec’s […]
Culture change needed to improve mental health on the Hill
In the summer, staffer Paul Wernick bravely shared the intensely personal story of his suicide attempts in The Hill Times in hopes of sparking a conversation on the Hill that could lead to better support for people dealing with mental health challenges. We’re continuing that conversation today during Mental Illness Awareness Week with a special […]
Trade deal with U.S., Mexico muted political win for Trudeau Liberals: observers
After more than a year of gruelling negotiations over a signature trilateral trade agreement with an often mercurial administration, the Trudeau government emerged with a deal that, some trade observers say, is the best one it could have reached, handing it a political win even in the face of immediate backlash from the dairy lobby. […]
What it’s like to be a rookie MP in a workplace that fetishizes exhaustion
PARLIAMENT HILL—The polls open, you cast your ballot, and for the rest of the day volunteers, friends, and family members do everything they can to distract you as the results pour in, sequestering you from televisions and the radio. In the moment, you can’t help but be frustrated with being “managed.” But looking back, it’s […]
She said, he imploded: how Brett Kavanaugh made the summer of ’82 beside the point
Like most high-stakes political stories these days, the confirmation process of Brett Kavanaugh as a United States Supreme Court justice has been transformed by a second process. In it, competing narratives obscure the truth, and common sense gets drowned out by tactical warfare and the critical mass of manipulated perception. From the moment Christine Blasey […]
ISG jockeys for more Senate committee seats, as group grows
As the largest group in the Upper Chamber, the Independent Senators Group is hoping to find more room on committees for its ever-increasing membership when discussions wrap up with Senate caucuses on the number of spaces assigned to each. Last November, Senators agreed to an order that rejigged the makeup of the Chamber’s committees—a reorganization […]
