Plus, Women and Gender Equality Minister Rechie Valdez has a new communications director, and there are updates for Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu’s office.
Changes in Jobs Minister Patty Hajdu’s office include a number of promotions, among them, Aya Al-Shalchi’s elevation to director status.
Raymonde Saint-Germain represented Quebec in the Red Chamber from November 2016 up until her retirement on Oct. 7.
Senator Rebecca Patterson, a military veteran, says the tragedy is a reminder of the reality that serving in the military is inherently dangerous even during training, after last Saturday’s fire killed four soldiers and injured dozens more.
Plus, International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu has a new digital media assistant, and Public Services and Procurement Minister Joël Lightbound is down an aide.
Plus, Health Minister Marjorie Michel hired a new director of policy in time for the start of the fall sitting.
Among the changes in LeBlanc’s office is the recent departure of deputy chief of staff and operations director Alex Axiotis-Perez.
Plus, deputy director of financial sector policy Matthew O’Connell has left Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne’s office.
Recent hires in the environment minister’s office include new policy, regional affairs, and parliamentary affairs advisers, as well as Amy Falkner’s addition as press secretary.
Also, Policy Options magazine opts for transparency on ‘trust cascade,’ organic trade group lauds Green Leader Elizabeth May, and a new book celebrates 60 years of Canada’s foreign service work.
Former Conservative cabinet chief of staff Garry Keller says conflict of interest screens add one more piece of administrative work for offices, and ‘transparency’ is key.
Director of operations Angad Dhillon is preparing to make his exit from the Prime Minister’s Office, and a few summer interns have landed jobs in the top office.
Plus, there’s been a turnover of communications staff in the defence minister’s office, and an upcoming comms-related change affecting two ministers’ offices.
Plus: David Olive’s new book on Justin Trudeau is coming Sept. 29, German MP Terry Reitnke on why she wore a Team Canada jersey in the European Parliament last week, applications are open for the next Parliamentary Poet Laureate, and emerging reporters can apply to be mentored by The Globe‘s Bob Fife.
Some Canadian politicians are keen about closer ties to the 27-nation bloc, while others critiqued Prime Minister Mark Carney’s speech for lacking details on taxation, regulations, and the cost of pursuing ‘associate’ membership.
This is my reading of a few familiar rooms, with suggestions for dressing for the occasion. The political associations are personal shorthand, not a census of the dining room. Think of the outfits as starting points, with room for your own taste.
Editor’s note: the Sept. 22 Canadian Club event originally had SecState Stephen Fuhr as speaker, but was updated to Minister McGuinty on Sept. 21.
Plus: France and Japan are among nine new envoys in Ottawa, ex-ambassador Kirsten Hillman joins Scotiabank’s new growth institute, and former health minister Mark Holland looks forward to the men’s health strategy.
Conservative MP Todd Doherty’s ‘instrumental’ Michael Bailey, and the PMO’s ‘parliamentary affairs assassin’ Kate Legault-Meek also scored top spots in several categories in The Hill Times’ rejuvenated Top Political Staffers survey.
Kindness isn’t weakness. It is possible to be firm, direct, and uncompromising on your values while treating colleagues and stakeholders with respect.
Some of the best staff work goes unnoticed because its whole purpose is to solve problems, absorb chaos, and make hard things look routine.
Political staffers are part of the connective tissue between expert administration and democratic accountability—not subject-matter experts.
The problem comes when when we start assuming that because someone belongs to another party, we already know what kind of person they are.
