Power and Influence

Harpers inaction on climate change irrational HAIRSTYLIST TO
Political STARS
THIS YOGA CLASS WAITS FOR HOUSE VOTES
Election
2015
Behind Conservative,
NDP, Liberal campaigns
by Abbas Rana, Laura Ryckewaert and Rachel Aiello
Whos advising
Harper
on Iraq
by Chris Plecash
Whos who
in the
Mike
Duffy
trial
by Leslie MacKinnon
What its
really
like to
work in
the PMO
by Keith Beardsley
How 30 new
House seats
will change the
game in 2015
by Alice Funke
Ottawa
beer city
by Rachel Aiello
by Mark Burgess
Hes got the POWER

Joe Olivers about to deliver
the election budget
by Mark Burgess
$6.99 Winter 2015
Winter 2015
The Hill Times & Embassy
hilltimes.com/powerinfluence
Inside the
wine caucus
by Asha Hingorani
knows how
knows how
business gets done!
business gets done!
YOUVE
YOUVE GOT
GOT A
A FRIEND
FRIEND
IN
IN TORONTO
TORONTO
Centrally located within the downtown core, the Eaton Chelsea, Toronto provides
Centrally
within
the downtown
core,
the Eaton
Toronto provides
convenientlocated
service,
essential
amenities and
comfor
table Chelsea,
accommodations
at an
convenient
essential
amenities
comfor
table accommodations
an
exceptional service,
value. Treat
yourself
to the and
modern
conveniences
of our Club at
Room
exceptional
Treat yourself
to the turndown
modern conveniences
of ouraccess
Club to
Room
featuring freevalue.
High-speed
WiFi, nightly
service, exclusive
our
featuring
free
High-speed
WiFi,
nightly
turndown
service,
exclusive
access
to
our
E|Club Lounge serving complimentary deluxe continental breakfast and evening
E|Club
Lounge serving
complimentary
continental
breakfast
and evening
hors doeurves
and priority
check-in atdeluxe
our 1865
desk. From
four restaurants
and
hors
doeurves
and
priority
check-in
at
our
1865
desk.
From
four
restaurants
and
lounges to Exer t Fitness Centre on Deck 27, the Eaton Chelsea is where youll find
lounges
to Exer
t Fitness
Centre
on and
Deck
27, the Eaton Chelsea is where youll find
the perfect
balance
between
work
relaxation.
the perfect balance between work and relaxation.
REWARDING
REWARDING
LOYALTY
LOYALTY
Join 1865 and earn exclusive benefits including express check-in,
Join check
1865 and
exclusive
including
express
check-in,
Miles.
late
out,earn
free local
calls benefits
and 2X the
Aeroplan
late check out, free local calls and 2X the Aeroplan Miles.
eatonchelsea.com / 1-800-CHELSEA (243-5732)

eatonchelsea.com / 1-800-CHELSEA (243-5732)
Terms and conditions apply. Aeroplan and the Aeroplan logo are registered
trademarks
of Aimia Canada
Aeroplan
valid untillogo
December
31, 2014
Terms and conditions
apply. Inc.
Aeroplan
andoffer
the Aeroplan
are registered
trademarks of Aimia Canada Inc. Aeroplan offer valid until December 31, 2014
A member of Langham Hospitality Group

A member of Langham Hospitality Group
Contents
Winter Issue Vol. 4 No. 1
Lobbying
Editors note
p. 2
After being written off

by some in the wake of
the sponsorship scandal,
Earnscliffe Strategy
Group, which celebrated
its 25th anniversary last
fall, regrouped around
an approach to lobbying
that made it unique
when it launched in
1989. p. 52
PMO
Former deputy chief of
staff to the Prime Minister,
Keith Beardsley, offers a
candid take on what its
really like to work in the
PMO. Its hard work and
crazy, long hours. p. 3
Criminal Trial
Style
Senator Mike Duffys trial

promises to be one for
the history books. p. 50
Stefania Capovilla is
hairstylist to many
MPs, including Prime
Minister Stephen
Harper and Foreign
Affairs Minister John
Baird. p. 59
New seats
Game changer: how the new
electoral map will create
new political realities. P. 6
Wine
The campaigns
Inside the Conservative

wine caucus. p. 60
With the first fixed-date

election, all federal parties
have been preparing
for the 2015 trip to the
polls earlier than usual,
nominating candidates
and raising money with
added urgency. We take
an inside look at some of
the key people behind the
Conservative, NDP and
Liberal campaigns. p. 9
Beer
Ottawas tapping in to
craft beer. p. 62
Music
From amateurs to touring
songwriters, music helps
the countrys federal
lawmakers unwind,
relate to constituents, and
to one another.
Polls
Political public opinion
polls might be more selffulfilling prophecy. p. 20
Foreign affairs
Whos advising Harper on
Iraq and the Middle East.
The top players. p. 22
Environment
The Harper governments
inaction on climate
change is irrational. p. 48
p. 64
With the Tory election strategy bulls-eye on Justin Trudeau and the attempts to
characterize him as the in-over-his-head risky leader who thinks the budget will
balance itself, Finance Minister Joe Oliver, the occasionally brusque ex-banker,
is a suitable foil. p. 27 P&I cover and contents page photographs by Dave Chan
The Top 100

The 100 most powerful and influential people
in government and politics in 2015. p. 23
Yoga
Every Monday night
when the House
is sitting, about 10
NDP MPs meet for
a yoga class in the
Parliamentary Precinct.
In the toxic Hill world,
it helps their minds,
bodies, and political
souls. p. 71
Power & Inf luence Winter 2015
Editors note
The editorial team: Pictured left
to right, front row: The Hill Times
photographer Jake Wright; Embassy
reporter Laura Beaulne-Stuebing;
Parliament Nows editor Asha
Hingorani; and Hill Times reporters
Rachel Aiello and Laura Ryckewaert.
Back row: The Wire Reports Derek
Abma and Peter Henderson; Embassy
reporter Chris Plecash; The Hill Times
editor Kate Malloy; The Hill Times
deputy editor Mark Burgess; and The
Hill Times assistant deputy editor
Abbas Rana. P&I photo by Sam Garcia
Editor
Kate Malloy
Deputy Editor
Mark Burgess
Assistant Deputy Editor
Abbas Rana
Contributors
Derek Abma
Rachel Aiello
Laura Beaulne-Stuebing
Keith Beardsley
Denis Calnan
Mike De Souza
Alice Funke
ric Grenier
Peter Henderson
Asha Hingorani
Anja Karadeglija
Leslie MacKinnon
Laura Ryckewaert
Chris Plecash
Photographers
Dave Chan
Sam Garcia
Jake Wright
Vice President, Sales and Development
Don Turner,
613-688-8825 | dturner@hilltimes.com
Advertising Coordinator
Amanda Keenan
Corporate Account Executives
Craig Caldbick,
613-688-8827 | ccaldbick@hilltimes.com
Steve Macdonald,
613-688-8841 | smacdonald@hilltimes.com
Martin Reaume,
613-688-8836 | mreaume@hilltimes.com
Advertising and Sponsorship Executive
Ulle Baum,
613-688-8840 | ubaum@hilltimes.com
Production Manager
Benoit Denault
Senior Graphic and Online Designer
Joey Sabourin
Junior Graphic Designer
Melanie Brown
Web Developer
Chris Ross
General Manager, CFO
Andrew Morrow
Finance/Administration
Tracey Wale
Reception
Alia Kellock Heward
Circulation Manager
Chris Peixoto
Director of Reader Sales
Ryan ONeill
Reader Sales Executive
Matthew Cybulski
Publishers
Anne Marie Creskey
Jim Creskey
Ross Dickson
Published by Hill Times Publishing
2015 Hill Times Publishing
All Rights Reserved. Power & Influence
is published four times a year.
69 Sparks Street, Ottawa, ON K1P 5A5
(613) 232-5952 hilltimes.com
Power and
influence in
Ottawa: 2015
by K ate M a lloy
bout eight years ago, I thought of the

idea of publishing a list of the top
100 people who influence the federal
government and politics in Ottawa,
after reading Washington-based Foreign Policy
magazines 100 Top Global Thinkers. Foreign
Policy ran more than 70 pages of well-written,
gritty, and insightful profiles along with some
massive, beautiful photos and drawings. It was a
great, gutsy read. So, we started running our own
Canadian list annually in The Hill Times. In 2012,
we decided to turn it into a full-blown glossy
magazine. We put John Baird on the cover and
called it Power & Influence. It took off.
In 2012, we published one issue. In 2014, we
added two more to the top 100 in politics list: one
led by Embassy editors Carl Meyer and Kristen Shane
exploring the top 100 people influencing Canadas global future, and the other, led by The Lobby
Monitor editor Simon Doyle, who looked at the top
50 business leaders influencing politics and policy.
This year, the magazine will be published four times.
P&Is underlying theme is constant: to shed light on
the most powerful and influential people in Canada.
Mark Burgess, deputy editor of The Hill Times,
compiled this years top 100 people in federal
politics and government, after spending two
months talking to political staffers, strategists,
and lobbyists. It wasnt easy to do and its never
an exact science. People come and go, events take
over, and things can change on a dime. His list
changed a few times, but the 2015 top 100 list is

solid and smart. Burgess learned a few tricks of
the trade from Bea Vongdouangchanh, former
deputy editor of The Hill Times, and our new
online editor, who had compiled the top 100 list
for the previous six years. Burgess goal was to, as
accurately as possible, identify the top people who
will be influencing government policy, decisionmaking, and public opinion in 2015, including
politicians, political staffers, bureaucrats, lobbyists,
and media. This years list was also done looking
through the lens of the 2015 fall federal election.
But there are still only 24 women and three visible
minorities on the list. Again, this is a reflection of
the government and of how power and influence
in politics, government and media are still mostly
dominated by white males. Thats not our choice.
Our own wish list of 100 would look quite
different. Burgess considered the uncertain state of
federal politics in 2015 when formulating the list,
with those running campaigns highly represented.
In this issue, Abbas Rana, Laura Ryckewaert
and Rachel Aiello report on the Conservative,
NDP, and Liberal campaigns. Pundits Guides
Alice Funke looks at how the 30 new ridings will
change the game and 308.coms ric Grenier
unpacks the polls. But theres plenty more.
Starting in the very next issue, Vongdouangchanh will be the full-time editor of our
Power & Influence magazine. It will be in excellent hands. Enjoy the read.
PMO
What its
really like
to work in
the PMO
Its like being passed through
a meat grinder: you go in
fresh, whole, and full of ideas,
and by the time you leave it,
you are changed forever. But
thats in every PMO and if
youre a political staffer, the
PMO is where you want to be.
By Kei th Bea rd sle y
Keith Beardsley was a ministerial chief of staff in the Mulroney years, worked in PC
leader Peter MacKays office in 1997, joined Stephen Harpers OLO after the merger
of Progressive Conservative and Canadian Alliance parties, and went to work in the
PMO from 2006, right after the election, until 2008. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
started working in the Prime Ministers

Office right after the 2006 election and left
in 2008. Working in the PMO was both
a privilege and an honour. The invitation to
work there usually comes after years of hard
work and progressive responsibility, and
promotion to the PMO should mean that you
have the political smarts to do the job.
The style and tone of every PMO is
different. It is set by the Prime Minister and
his chief of staff and will vary with their
personalities. Stephen Harpers first chief
of staff, Ian Brodie, successfully managed a
pretty diverse group of senior staff members.
We were not an easy bunch to handle. We
had very different skill sets and levels of
experience, plus the party was freshly minted
and the years of inter-party political warfare
werent that far behind us. Mr. Brodie was
able to blend our talents together and turn
us into a strong, co-ordinated group of senior staff members. Not always an easy job.
The general public rarely understands the
true size of the PMO. When you say you work
in the Prime Ministers Office they envision
a regular office with just a few staff members.
Most are shocked to hear that it could have
more than 100 staffers. The number seems
high but its not, considering the volume of
work done there. If you thought juggling a
dozen files in opposition was tough, you can
easily double that number in the PMO.
PMO
If you are a political staffer, the PMO

is where you want to be. Politically, it is
the centre of your universe and a goal that
most want to achieve while on the Hill.
The question remains what happens
once you get there.
I regard working in the PMO as being
passed through a meat grinder. You go in
fresh, whole and full of ideas, and by the time
you leave it, you are changed forever into
something or someone friends and family
find unrecognizable as they wonder what
happened to the old you. The trouble is that
you are so buried in your work that you have
no idea you have changed so much.
The one constant throughout

my time in the PMO was the
pressure and stress. It never goes
away and it is so constant that,
over time, you forget it is there.
Your first few days there are pretty
heady ones: suddenly you are a somebody.
You have made it. Youre a big shot now. If
youre not careful, it can go to your head
and you can become unbearable and quite
full of yourself. It is sad to say, but I have
seen far too much of that over the years.
For example, I went from being the director of research and issues management and
Question Period in the Opposition Leaders
Office to deputy chief of staff for issues management and Question Period in the PMO.
I had a brand-new, fancy title, but changing
titles didnt endow me with new political superpowers and vision. Smart PMO staffers try
to stay grounded and remind themselves that
what has really changed is the job titlethey
are no more intelligent or experienced than
before they walked into the Langevin Building. Too few remember that and they act as
if mere acceptance of the job has suddenly
blessed them with increased powers of observation and political knowledge that has taken
others years to earn. This is most evident with
the way some PMO staffers treat MPs who,
in many cases, have spent double or triple the
time in political life. And MPs have to face
re-election, they arent appointed.
For some, it can be a real power trip to
know that ministers, MPs, and staff now
have to listen to every word you say. All too

often it becomes the PMO issuing orders as
opposed to exchanging ideas with ministerial staff, who quite often know more about
the file than you do. In some cases, it is a
crutch used by PMO staff to hide their own
lack of experience and knowledge.
e had a good mix of senior staff

blending experience and enthusiasm. It helped that some had plenty of
experience, plus a long corporate memory
that made it easier to evaluate issues and
offer advice to the Prime Minister. Over
time, you develop the ability to look at
an issue and know which ones have to be
dealt with and which ones will go away
due to a lack of information or media
interest. Experience teaches you that not
every issue is a crisis or big deal. Not every
issue needs someone coming down on a
person like a ton of bricks. That is where
your seasoned senior political staff come
in. You have to have a few grey hairs with
the experience to know when and how to
act, i.e. some adult supervision for the boys
and girls in short-pants. Partisan fervour
can be a good thing, but constantly going
over the top doesnt work either.
Experience also allows you to disagree
with the Prime Minister. When you think he
is approaching something the wrong way,
you have to be able to tell him so. After all, he
hired you to give him advice. You are no use
to him if you are a yes man who sits there
applauding every word he says or decision
that he wants to make. Disagreeing with the
boss can make for some pretty uncomfortable moments in a meeting or one on one,
but every Prime Minister has to have the
confidence in you to respect that when you
push back and there are very good reasons
for doing so. On a couple of occasions, Mr.
Harper joked that he kept Bruce Carson and
me around because we had advised every
Conservative leader since Sir Robert Borden.
Not quite true, but there was a lot of seasoned
political experience between the two of us.
While the senior staffers get all the recognition, media attention, and wield quite a
bit of power within the environs of the Hill
and party, they couldnt do it without the
dedicated group of junior staffers working
in the PMO. With a staff of roughly 100,
most PMO personnel fall into the junior
staff category, but they are key to getting
the job done. You learn very quickly who
you can rely on and who is spinning their
PMO
wheels or a blowhard that promises a lot but

never delivers. I am pleased to say that I had
excellent staff and it stayed pretty well intact
in both the OLO and the PMO.
Like the senior staff, the workday of the
junior staff is exceptionally long. My staff
was online checking the news as early as 5
a.m., with our first meeting at 7:15 a.m. Our
day would end after the 10 p.m. news, providing we didnt have something urgent to
deal with. There was a never-ending supply
of emails coming in and untold numbers
of files to handle and review and act on
every day of the week. To have a couple of
hours off on a weekend was a blessing and
we counted the days left before the House
recessed, hoping the pressure and volume of
work would slacken a bit.
Many of the junior staff go unrecognized in the hallways when passed by senior
staffers. Their hard work is translated into
memos that filter up through the approval
process to land on the desk of the chief of
staff or perhaps the PM. By then their names
have usually disappeared from the document
and no recognition of the work they put into
it remains. I always felt putting my name on
someone elses work was unfair and insisted
that their name stay in place. I recall one occasion when the PM was reading a note and
he wanted to know who the person was that
had written it, as he didnt think that he had
met the person. An order went out for the
staffer to appear in the PMs office at once.
Expecting the worst, the staffer was instead
congratulated on the quality of work he produced. Its a little thing, but I can guarantee
that staffer will never forget that meeting and
his morale got a huge boost.
taffers became adrenalin junkies, going

from highs to lows throughout the day
as issues emerged or were dealt with. I find
that looking back, it all blends together and
it is hard to put a date on anything that
happened. Instead you remember issues,
crises or eventsthe days remain a blur.
Emails were the bane of our existence;
your BlackBerry was glued to your hand.
The sheer volume of email was staggering, each urgent according to the sender,
leaving it to the receiver to triage them.
On one trip to Montreal, I counted 120
coming in from the time I left Ottawa until
I arrived at my destination.
My day always centered around Question Period: my two key meetings were
the briefing and practice session for the
PM and the following one prepping the

Cabinet ministers. Those bring back the
best memories as you had a chance to meet
them, discuss issues with them as well as
learn more about them and the issues they
were handling.
The one constant throughout my time
in the PMO was the pressure and stress.
It never goes away and it is so constant
that, over time, you forget it is there. You
become oblivious to it but its still there,
wearing you down. You are never more
Like the senior staff, the workday

of the junior staff is exceptionally
long. My staff was online checking
the news as early as 5 a.m., with our
first meeting at 7:15 a.m. Our day
would end after the 10 p.m. news,
providing we didnt have something
urgent to deal with.
than one decision away from a political disaster and severe consequences for
the Prime Minister. Something as simple
as giving a wrong or poorly thought out
answer to a minister can result in horrible
media coverage. A mistake can land the
PM on the hot seat in Question Period
for days on end, hurting both his and the
partys image. You live with it and think
you have it under control, but you never
really do. Burnout is something that everyone has to watch for.
Eventually it all comes to an end and
you walk away from it. Your name will
quickly be forgotten as the PMO meat
grinder is always looking for replacement
staff to feed it. But you have the satisfaction of knowing that you did your part and
that you worked in one of the toughest
buildings in the country.
It doesnt matter which party you represent, working in the PMO can be a life
changing experience. It is also interesting
to note that in your post-political world,
such a shared experience translates into a
pretty good relationship with other former
PMO members, regardless of which political party or leader they worked for.
Election 2015
Game changer:
how the new federal electoral map

will create new political realities
Its on: TheDanforth in Toronto, Ont. Three competing trends will play out in the fight for the redrawn electoral map in the next federal election,
and theyll make it one for the ages: new ridings in high-growth areas, lack of incumbency, and ripple effects on other ridings.
There are no
straightforward
answers when
it comes to
deciphering the
30 new federal
ridings, but there
are a lot of
very interesting
questions.
By A li c e Fun ke
ow will the 30 new ridings change the

game in Canadian politics? Three competing trends will play out in the fight
for the redrawn electoral map in the next federal
electionand theyll make it one for the ages.
Lack of incumbency: Between 66 and 75 of
the 338 House of Commons seats that will be
up for grabs in 2015 will not have an incumbent Member of Parliament on the ballot. At
press time, 38 MPs had announced their retirement, with two vacant seats and eight others
yet to declare their intentions.
Add those to the 30 new federal ridings
created through electoral redistribution, and
you have a lot of wide-open races.
New ridings in high-growth areas: Many
of the seats that have been added are found in
areas of rapid population growth, with new
housing developments and an underdeveloped sense of community and belonging. Voters in these areas will be reached as individuals rather than as members of an established
community. Incumbency and name recognition will be of little value, even in the few
new seats that will have an elected MP on the
ballot. They are the air war seats.
Ripple effects on other ridings: The addition of new seats in Ontario has also caused
a drop in the average population of the
remaining ridings, making some previously
urban-rural seats more urban and therefore
changing the nature of those contests.
In Saskatchewan, the end of the eight socalled rurban, pie-shaped ridings that joined
four quarters of Regina and Saskatoon with
their rural rings in favour of five urban and
one rurban seat is expected to change the balance of representation in that province for the
first time in 15 years.
A similar pattern could be repeated in
Edmonton, whose ridings also became more
urban, while the impact of in-migration on
electoral contests in other parts of Alberta,
such as Calgary and Fort McMurray, also
can i pick youryourbrain?

can
i
pick
brain?
why yes. yes, you can.
why yes. yes, you can.
Find
the
you
Find
the
you
you
didnt know
you.
you didnt know
you.
The more points of view you gather, the more perspective you gain.
Thats why, for 50 years, weve encouraged our students to study

subjects in and outside their major and consider the alternatives.
They learn to think across boundaries, see problems from all

angles and in turn find better solutions. And to that, we say yes.
in you think.
challengewas
the way
was
in you think.
challenge
the
way
you learn is the key that unlocks your future. Here you explore
Potential. We all have it. At Trent University, we believe the way
Potential. We all have it. At Trent University, we believe the way

new ideas, innovative ways of thinking and different perspectives.
you learn is the key that unlocks your future. Here you explore
Its a voyage of self-discovery where interests are revealed and
new ideas, innovative ways of thinking and different perspectives.
passions are ignited, inspiring you to reach new heights and find
Its a voyage of self-discovery where interests are revealed and
your place in the world.
challenge the way you think.
passions are ignited, inspiring you to reach new heights and find
your place in the world.
challenge the way you think.
peterborough . oshawa
Trent_Brain_HillTimes_PI.indd 1
test.indd 1
. oshawa
peterborough
11/12/14 10:04 AM
14-12-17 10:21 AM
Election 2015
remains an open question. These are the
ground war seats.
Lets consider each factor in greater detail.
Lack of incumbency
We call a riding with no incumbent MP
on the ballot an open seat. 2015 will see a
lot of open seats, though not a record high.
wo other elections stand out in recent

history as having high open seat counts:
n 1993, when it became clear that the
Mulroney governments unpopularity
would force many government MPs into
opposition if they even survived the
campaign (all but two did not), and;
n 2004, which saw the changing of the
guard from Jean Chrtien to Paul
Martin within the Liberal Party, a newly
re-united Conservative Party, and an
ambitious and energetic new NDP
leader, all set to do battle on new riding
boundaries, including seven new seats.
n Both of those elections heralded major
changes in the federal political party system
in Canada and had an outsized impact on
the future of political debate in the country.
This year can be expected to do no less.
Its also worth noting the above-average
number of first-term incumbents heading
into their first attempt at re-election when
the writ drops:
n The majority are wearing NDP colours
in the province of Quebec. While theyll
face greater competition, particularly
in anglo- and allophone Montreal and
in Qubec City ridings, one thing they
wont have to worry about is the residual
strength that Bloc Qubcois incumbents
showed in 2011. Expect that residual
Bloc vote to shrink in 2015, some to stay
home, and some to bolster the NDP in
their fight with the resurgent Liberals.
n Another group is the Conservatives who
won seats around the ring of Toronto,
and whose election gave the government
its coveted majority, but whose provincial counterparts are mainly Liberals
after last springs election.
New ridings in high-growth areas
Many of the new ridings around the outskirts of Ontario are a completely clean slate.
Consider that what were two ridings in 1988
York North and Markham-WhitchurchStouffvillebecame five seats in 1997, six
seats in 2004, and stand at nine ridings today.
These commuter ridings around Toronto
dont have a long electoral track record, have
brand new local riding associations, and will
be heavily influenced by both the competing
narratives of the national campaign and the

very individualized targeting initiatives using the
modern digital tools honed south of the border.
Another driver of population growth in
these ridings in Ontario and B.C. is immigration, so the ability of the parties to target
and integrate these new cultural communities in their campaigns will be vital.
The uncertainty in these ridings has actually seen many incumbent Conservative MPs
choose to run in safer adjacent ridings rather
than test the new waters. In doing so, theyve
stripped whatever residual benefit there
might have been from their name recognition
and put into question many observers early
assumptions that the new seats were a boon
for the governments majority re-election.
Ripple effects on other ridings
Outside the areas of rapid growth in
Ontario, the rural seats will become more
rural and the small-town urban seats will
become more urban, particularly in the
starting point for any analysis of a new ridings

prospects, baked into the cake are a number of
outdated factors that tell us more about where
the puck was going four years ago than where
its headed next time out.
Nominal winners: A transposition calculates the nominal winner of a seat, but one
that doesnt always make common sense given
who the current incumbent is. For example,
Winnipeg North Liberal MP Kevin Lamoureux will be running for re-election as the
incumbent MP in a newly-drawn riding with
the same name that takes in most of his current seat, but for which the nominal winner
is the NDP. Yet most observers expect him to
be re-elected because of a second factor.
Assimilation effects: The portions
of Kildonan-St. Paul, Man., which is a
Liberal-Conservative contest, when added
to Winnipeg North, which is a Liberal-NDP
race, probably showed a higher Conservative
vote for MP Joy Smith than they would do
in a battle between Mr. Lamoureux and an
Three competing trends will play out in the fight

for the redrawn electoral map in the next federal
electionand theyll make it one for the ages.
southwest. Seats like Oshawa, Brantford,
Cambridge, Sarnia, and Essex will see the
balance shift somewhat away from the
Conservatives and become more competitive for the first time in several elections.
In Saskatchewan, expect to see a more
competitive playing field in Regina-Lewvan,
Saskatoon West, Saskatoon University and
Saskatoon Grasswoodthe urban seatsand
Desneth-Missinippi-Churchill River in the
north, which has lost some of the agricultural
areas in the south that vote Conservative.
Alberta will see a little more competition in open seats in the highly urban areas
as well, including Edmonton Griesbach,
Edmonton Centre, Calgary Centre and
Calgary Confederation.
Vancouver Island in British Columbia
is one area where the new seats are causing
significant boundary changes that will increase competitiveness mainly between the
Conservatives and NDP, while the addition
of new seats in South Surrey and the lower
Fraser Valley can be expected to merely up
the Conservatives seat count.
Other factors to consider
When the new electoral map was published,
Elections Canada transposed the 2011 voting
results onto the new boundaries and calculated
how the parties would do in each seat.
This calculation is called the 2011
Transposition, and while its an interesting
NDP competitor. A similar example exists in

suburban greater Vancouver, where incumbent NDP MP Fin Donnelly is running for
re-election in a riding the Conservatives
nominally win, but the margin would have
been drawn from Conservative MP James
Moores inordinate popularity, and hes now
running next door.
Campaign effects: The perception of winnability in a seat will affect the parties interest
in targeting it for local organization support.
Ridings such as the rurban Regina and Saskatoon seats, or some of the seats on northern
Vancouver Island, are quite sensitive to boundary changes, and would not have been as heavily targeted by the opposition parties last time
around as they will be this time.
Conclusion
Canadian federal elections have been classified as being either transformative or incremental in terms of the way they changed the
number, strength and regional support for
our national political parties. The year 1993
saw the rise of the Reform Party and Bloc
Qubcois. The year 2004 saw the right unite,
and 2011 saw the end of the Bloc Qubcois.
Will 2015 prove the 2011 upheaval to
have been transitory or permanent? You
cant answer that question without considering the new electoral map, and as weve seen,
there are no straightforward answers, but a
lot of very interesting questions.
ELECTION 2015
Behind the
Conservative
2015 election
campaign
by Abb a s R a n a
Prime Minister Stephen

Harper is now the sixth
longest serving Prime
Minister in Canadian
history. In November
2014, he surpassed former
Progressive Conservative
prime minister Brian
Mulroneys eight years
and 281 days in office
and if he runs and wins
the next election, he will
be the first Conservative
prime minister to win four
consecutive mandates.
Hes in. Its on.
Stephen Harper pictured Feb. 27, 2014, on
Parliament Hill. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
ELECTION 2015
As far as strategy goes, yeah, sure, you
take a hit for the first week or so and then
people move on to other issues, says Keith
Beardsley, former deputy chief of staff to
Prime Minister Harper.
E
Ray Novak, left, chief of staff to the Prime Minister; Jason MacDonald, top centre, director of
communications to Mr. Harper; Dustin Van Vugt, top right, executive director of the Conservative
Party; Fred DeLorey, above centre, director of political operations of the Conservative Party, and
Cory Hann will all be working on the Conservative campaign. P&I photos by Jake Wright and handouts
he next election is not supposed to

take place until Oct. 19, 2015, but in
the era of permanent campaigning,
all parties have already put their election
readiness in high gear. Two critical questions,
however, are hampering the opposition parties: Will Prime Minister Stephen Harper lead
his party to seek a fourth straight mandate
in 2015? And, if hes planning on remaining
the leader, will he respect his own fixed-date
election law or pull the trigger when the
timing is more favourable? Pundits have been
all over the map in answering these questions but Mr. Harper and his senior Cabinet
ministers all say in on-the-record interviews
that the Prime Minister will lead the party in
the next election, and that it will take place as
scheduled on Oct. 19.
The agenda Ive been planning takes us
through to the end of June, Government
House Leader Peter Van Loan told reporters
on Dec. 11. I dont have any plans, Im not
working with any assumption of an early
election. We have an election identified for
October and were working on that basis.
In a year-end interview with the CBC on
Dec. 17, 2014, Prime Minister Harper did not

rule out the possibility of an early election.
Well, I wouldnt say theres nothing
that could change it [Oct. 19] but theres
nothing on the horizon that I see changing
that. We fixed that date and were planning
on it like everybody else, Mr. Harper said.
Mr. Harper also said in the same interview
that he would lead his party in the next election.
Some senior Conservative staffers and
MPs in not-for-attribution interviews say
one key hurdle in pulling the plug early is
how to justify breaking the fixed-date election law in a majority government.
If the Conservatives decide to go early,
the two principal reasons would be to avoid
the Mike Duffy trial, which begins April 7,
and to ride the current wave of momentum
thats brought Conservatives neck and neck
with the Liberals in the national public
opinion polls after the October shootings
in the Parliamentary Precinct and family
tax cut announcements.
But proponents of going early say the
timing would only be an issue for the first few
days of the campaign.
very election is a high-stakes game

for all the party leaders, especially
incumbent prime ministers, but failing to
win another majority would likely lead to
Mr. Harpers leadership being called into
question, and he could decide that he isnt
interested in running another minority
government. After setting high expectations
for himself in the last election by winning
a majority, Conservative sources say he will
have to meet those again or hes out.
In the 2011 election, Conservatives won
their majority with 166 seats in the 308-seat
House. In 2015 there will be 338 seats up
for grabs, requiring 170 seats for a majority.
Polling trends suggest this will be a hard
number to reach, even more so because
with the NDP in Opposition, its the first
election in recent memory where there will
be three parties with a shot at forming government. How the three-way vote will play
out is anybodys guess but given the current
polling trends, the winning party is likely to
form a minority government.
The 2015 election is going to make or
break Mr. Harper, Mr. Beardsley says. If
he wins it, then he goes out in style but if
he doesnt, then he becomes just another
defeated Prime Minister.
Tim Powers, vice-chairman of Summa
Strategies, says the outcome of the next general
election has consequences not only for Mr.
Harper but also for the opposition leaders.
Conservative Party spokesman Cory
Hann declined to be interviewed for this
article, saying that We dont comment on
staffing matters so any speculation on who
will be filling what role would be just that.
But Conservative sources tell The Hill Times
that the next Conservative campaign will be
run by the same senior staffers who worked
on the majority-winning run in 2011.
The main players
Jenni Byrne, pictured left, deputy chief

of staff to the Prime Minister, will serve
as campaign manager, while Guy Giorno,
Stephen Harpers former chief of staff, will
serve as campaign chair. Both held the same
positions in the 2011 election campaign.
10
Jenni Byrne, deputy chief of staff to

the Prime Minister, will serve as campaign
manager while Guy Giorno, Mr. Harpers
former chief of staff, will serve as campaign
chair. Both held the same positions in the
2011 election campaign.
Party sources say that senior Conservatives are still in the midst of finalizing
the staffing details and that process will
$2
,59
0
0,0
85 Pond Street R O C K C L I F F E
PARK
All the lifestyle advantages of ultra-livable Rockcliffe Park without

the vintage home aggravationThat was the original idea behind
this generous living well 1980s Georgian executive home an idea
elevated to pure greatness by an award winning 2010 redesign.
$2
,5
,0
89
00
PH6-700 Sussex B Y W A R D
Cindy Charles Dominique
Sezlik Sezlik Laframboise
Entertaining ourishes in this extraordinary two-storey condo home

where the interior space is more than a match for the scenery. You
must explore the terrace with mind altering views, the evening light
is simply unearthly. Relax in the citys most exceptional penthouse!
SALES REPRESENTATIVES
613.744.6697
#
1 in Canada
MARKET
D
L
O
2012-Prudential Real Estates Afliates
Top 1% of Royal Lepage

Residential Sales in Canada for 2013 (designate)
OVER 86 YEARS
of Combined Real Estate Experience
BEHIND EVERY SALE
Penthouse 2700 Sussex Drive $ 2 , 2 9 0 , 0 0 0

Penthouse residents understand better than anyone that in the art of
ne living, the quest only begins at awless position & aesthetic. Look
out on the trove of culinary, retail and social opportunities, and walk,
cycle, and skate along the Rideau Canal. Experience the Lifestyle
Visit Sezlik.com/listings to view photos,

videos and property details!
Proud partners of
*Units sold and/or GCI amongst all Prudential Real Estate Afliates across North America.
Sezlik Ad.indd 1
14-12-19 11:10 AM
ELECTION 2015
continue until the election is called. The
reason, they explain, for not finalizing
all the positions at this time is that if the
election happens in October, some staffers may no longer be available for the
campaign for family or work reasons.
Within the party circles, Ms. Byrne is
known as a no-nonsense, hyper-partisan,
ruthless campaign operative who is never
shy about dressing down any staffer or
party candidates who fail to follow the national campaign instructions in letter and
spirit. In the 2004, 2006, and 2008 election
campaigns, she worked closely with the
late Doug Finley, who played a key role in
building a formidable election machine
for his party.
Mr. Giorno, a partner at the Fasken
Martineau law firm, who currently is
also the Conservative Partys legal adviser, in the past served as chief of staff to
former Ontario premier Mike Harris.
Others expected to serve in senior
roles in the next election campaign
include: Ray Novak, chief of staff to the
Prime Minister; Bill Hawkins, principal
secretary to Mr. Harper; Sean Speer, special adviser to the Prime Minister; Jason
MacDonald, director of communications
to Mr. Harper; Dustin van Vugt, executive
director of the Conservative Party; Fred
DeLorey, director of political operations
of the Conservative Party, and Mr. Hann.
Mr. Novak, who has been serving
as a political aide to the Prime Minister since 2001, is the longest-serving
member of the Harper inner circle. He
even lived in a loft above the detached
garage at Stornoway. As executive
assistant to Mr. Harper, Mr. Novak used
to spend almost all his waking hours
with the-then Opposition leader and
his family. Though hes the top staffer in
the Harper government, he has always
preferred to keep a low profile. As in the
last four election campaigns, he will be
part of the Prime Ministers tour team
and travel with Mr. Harper.
Mr. MacDonald is also expected to
travel with the Prime Minister in the
next campaign. As the chief spokesman,
he will be assisted by junior communications staffers on the plane. Prior
to joining the PMO in Sept. 2013, Mr.
MacDonald headed Aboriginal Affairs
Minister Bernard Valcourts communications shop. Before that he served
as a spokesman for the CBC and also
ran unsuccessfully in the 2011 Ontario
provincial election as a Progressive Conservative Party candidate.
12
Conservative Partys
2011 Election
Campaign Expenses
Party election
expense limit:
$20,995,088.91
Total spent on election:
$19.4-million
Advertising:
Radio & Television:
$10.4-million
Other:
$167,904
Election surveys & research:
$369,263
National campaign
office expenses:
$397,044
Professional Services:
$2,345,324
Leaders Tour:
$2,661,660
Travel (Excluding
Leaders Tour):
$29,708
Mr. Speer is taking the

lead role in writing the Conservative Partys election platform. Conservative sources
told The Hill Times that most
of the campaign promises will be taken out of the
governments 2015 budget, to
be tabled by Finance Minister
Joe Oliver in the coming
months. Before joining the
PMO, Mr. Speer worked for
the Fraser Institute as an associate director, and as policy
director to former finance
minister Jim Flaherty.
Mr. Hawkins, who moved
from being the chief in
International Trade Minister
Ed Fasts office to principal
secretary in the Prime Ministers Office in December,
is expected to travel with
the PM in the next election
campaign. In 2011, he ran the
Conservative Partys secondary election tour in which
Cabinet ministers travel
outside their ridings to boost
other candidates.
Mr. van Vugt is currently overseeing the Conser-
vative Partys nomination

process across the country. During the election
campaign, hes expected to
work closely with Mr. DeLorey to put out political
fires and oversee the overall
campaign operations.
Mr. van Vugt, former
chief of staff to Bal Gosal,
minister of state for amateur
sport, was appointed to the
top party job in July. He
succeeded Dimitri Soudas,
who was let go after he made
national headlines for using
his party position to support
his fiance, Conservative
MP Eve Adams, nomination
campaign.
Mr. DeLorey, a Nova Scotia native, in the past served
as the Conservative Partys
director of communications.
Mr. Hann, who joined
the party headquarters as
communications director in
2013, was an exempt staffer
to then-democratic reform
minister Tim Uppal and former
intergovernmental affairs
minister Peter Penashue.
Salaries and wages:
$758,210
Other:
$2,319,393
September 2014
Quarterly:
Contributions:
$4.2-million
Number of Contributors:
35,201
2014 Financial Returns to date:

Total Fundraised:
$14.6-million
Total Donors:
102,803
Compiled from Elections
Canada financial returns.
Tory MPs Not Running In 2015 So Far:

Conservative MPs Not Running Riding
% Won In

2011 Election
Conservative MP Diane Ablonczy
Calgary-Nose Hill, Alta.
70.2%
Conservative MP Mike Allen
Tobique-Mactaquac, N.B.
62.7%
Conservative MP Ray Boughen Palliser, Sask.
47%
Conservative MP Garry Breitkreuz Yorkton-Melville, Sask.
68.9%
Conservative MP Barry Devolin Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock, Ont.
60%
Conservative MP Peter Goldring Edmonton East, Alta.
52.%
Conservative MP Laurie Hawn
Edmonton Centre, Alta.
48%
Conservative MP Russ Hiebert
South Surrey-White Rock-Cloverdale, B.C. 54.6%
Conservative MP Gerald Keddy South Shore-St. Margarets, N.S.
43.1%
Conservative MP Greg Kerr
West Nova, N.S.
47%
Conservative MP Ed Komarnicki Souris-Moose Mountain, Sask.
74%
Conservative MP James Lunney Nanaimo-Alberni, B.C.
46.4%
Conservative MP Colin Mayes Okanagan-Shuswap, B.C.
55.4%
Conservative MP Rob Merrifield Yellowhead, Alta.
77%
Conservative MP Gordon OConnor Carleton-Mississippi Mills, Ont.
57%
Conservative MP Rick Norlock Northumberland-Quinte West, Ont.
53.8%
Conservative MP LaVar Payne Medicine Hat, Alta.
71.5%
Conservative MP Joe Preston Elgin-Middlesex-London, Ont.
57.5%
Conservative MP Gary Schellenberger Perth-Wellington, Ont.
54.5%
Conservative MP Brian Storseth Westlock-St. Paul, Alta.
77.8%
Conservative MP Maurice Vellacott Saskatoon-Wanuskewin, Sask.
58.4%
Conservative MP Pat Davidson
Sarnia-Lambton, Ont.
52%
ELECTION 2015
NDP Leader Tom
Mulcair pictured
in Ottawa in
April 2014 with
adviser Geoffrey
Chambers,
left, and staffer
George Smith.
P&I photograph by
Jake Wright
Behind the
NDPs 2015
election campaign
Since stepping into the role of official opposition for the first time in 2011,
the NDP has done much to revamp and ramp up its internal operations,
hiring new party pollsters and a new advertising company, setting up new
voter information database software to replace its old NDP Vote system,
and seeking new expertise on how to reach out to voters.
by L au ra R y c k e w a er t
he NDP will run its biggest campaign yet in 2015, with a

focus on emphasizing Thomas Mulcairs leadership and
providing voters with concrete examples of what a firstever NDP federal government would look like.
This will be a bigger campaign than we have run before. It
will be more complex, it will be larger, it will have more moving
pieces and it will have all of those advantages of having provided
the level of united and disciplined opposition that weve been
able to provide, says Anne McGrath, the NDPs national
director and national campaign director for 2015.
13
ELECTION 2015
The NDP has been actively working

with former advisers from U.S.
President Barack Obamas 2008
campaign against Hillary Clinton
for the Democratic nomination,
specifically Jeremy Bird and his
firm, 270 Strategies.
New Democratic
Partys 2011 Election
Campaign Expenses
Party election
expense limit:
$21,025,793 *
1
Total spent on 2011 election:
$20,319,567
Advertising:
Radio & Television:
$9,511,705
Other:
Since stepping into the

role of official opposition
for the first time in 2011,
the NDP has done much
to revamp and ramp up its
internal operations, hiring
new party pollsters and a new
advertising company, setting
up new voter information
database software to replace
its old NDP Vote system, and
seeking new expertise on how
to reach out to voters.
Overseeing this work
is NDP matriarch Ms. McGrath, former chief of staff
to the late NDP leader Jack
Layton, who was recruited
back to party headquarters
as national director last April
after a stint at Ottawa lobby
firm Ensight Canada.
All three major parties have
already unofficially kicked off
the 2015 campaign, which is
expected to be a three-party
race. For the NDP, thats meant
sending Mr. Mulcair on the
road to meet with Canadians
and make specific, concrete
policy announcements, like the
$15-a-day national childcare
program announced back in
October. The party has also
been moving closer to the
centre with its policy stances in
an effort to reach out to new
voters, recently supporting
the Canada-Korea free trade
agreement, for example.
With so many new elements, including a new leader
in Mr. Mulcair, Ms. McGrath
brings a sense of continuity
and familiarity to the campaign. Shes expected to be
an asset in helping the party

keep connected with its past,
navigate regional quirks and
develop a policy platform that
gels with the base, particularly
given recent efforts to move
the party closer to center and
the negative effect such efforts
had recently with Ontario
NDP leader Andrea Horwath.
Shes very good at listening to and reading people, she
understands nuance in people.
For the NDP, thats very
important because its a party
made up of people who are
real true believers, says Robin
Sears, a former NDP strategist
whos now a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group.
At the beginning of
December, the NDP had
45 candidates nominated
and roughly 100 candidates
were nominated by January.
The core campaign team is
already in place, says Ms.
McGrath. But the partys
keeping mum on names.
$1,543,619
National campaign
office expenses:
4
14
$633,098
$156,770
Leaders Tour:
$4,314,365
Travel (Excluding
Leaders Tour):
$430,452
6
Salaries and wages:
$1,866,640
Other:
$417,977
8
September 2014
Quarterly Contributions:
$1.7-million
2014 Financial Returns

to date
Total Donors
The NDP
campaign team
NDP MPs Alexandre

Boulerice and Jean Crowder
are the campaign co-chairs,
while party president Rebecca
Blaikie is the Quebec campaign manager and has a key
role to play on the road to
forming government.
As campaign co-chairs,
Ms. Crowder and Mr. Boulerice have been serving as liaisons between the party and
the federal caucus on policy
and campaign ideas.
$1,444,937
67,290
9
1. Jeremy Bird.
2. Veteran staffer Karl Blanger.
3. Media staffer Marc Andr Viau.
4. NDP MP Alexandre Boulerice.
5. NDP MP Jean Crowder.
6. NDP president and Quebec
campaign manager Rebecca Blaikie.
7. NDP digital director Michael Roy.
8. National campaign director Anne McGrath
9. Senior staffer George Soule.
P&I photos by Jake Wright and handouts
Total Fundraised:
$5,759, 729
Compiled from
Elections Canada Returns
*Limit is calculated by
multiplying the number of
names on the preliminary list
of electors for each riding in
which the party is running a
candidate by $0.70 (as set out
in the Canada Elections Act).
ELECTION 2015
When the writ drops, Mr. Boulerice,
whos become well known among Quebec
voters since first being elected in 2011, will
be an active spokesperson and public face
for the party in the province (alongside Ms.
Blaikie), while Ms. Crowder, whos already
announced she wont seek re-election,
will be working to support the campaign,
including helping out the partys new candidates in southern B.C.
George Soule, associate director of
media for the party, is expected to play a
senior communications role. James Pratt,
who worked as a field organizer for the party prior to 2011 and after the last election
spent time focused on MP set-up and
support before taking on his current role
as the partys director of organization, will
play a leading role.
Veteran NDP staffer Karl Blanger,
currently principal secretary to the leader,
is expected to play a senior role, and the
partys digital director since June, Michael
Roy, is also set to be part of the core campaign team.
Danielle Sampson, previously the Canadian Federation of Students Nova Scotia
national representative whos recently been
doing field organization work at party headquarters, will join the campaign team, as will
David Hare, another CFS alumnus whos
now the partys director of field operations.
Recently-departed senior caucus press
secretary Marc-Andr Viau, now working
for the party out of Quebec, is expected to
work on the campaign, as are most staff currently working in the NDP leaders office.
The partys central campaign war room
will be located in party offices at Bank
Street and Laurier Ave. West. The building
is owned by the NDP, with its offices on the
top floor, and also serves as collateral for
the party should it need a loan.
Some help from Obama

in the fundraising battle
The NDP has done much to increase its
fundraising operations since 2011 and is
bringing in more per quarter than in years
past, and from more donors. But Conservative and Liberal fundraising operations
have also improved, and the NDP has consistently been raising less. The NDP paid
off the last of its roughly $5-million 2011
campaign debt in 2013-14.
As the party is quick to point out, it
raised and spent right up to the expense
limit last election. But with the election
already unofficially underway, pre-writ
spending is more important than ever and
the cash-rich Conservatives have already

begun filling the radio airwaves with
political ads.
You need a big pot of gold to play in
that [pre-writ] game, says Mr. Sears.
Far from burying its head in the sand, the
party has been working to counter an anticipated financial disadvantage through planning,
and has been actively working with former
advisers from U.S. President Barack Obamas
2008 campaign against Hillary Clinton for the
Democratic nomination, specifically Jeremy
Bird and his firm, 270 Strategies.
Mr. Obamas comparatively cash-strapped
2008 nomination campaign used innovative
tactics, enabled by social media, to encourage
a large and enthusiastic grassroots campaign
connecting supporters by common interests
across electoral districts and encouraging them
to work together to get Mr. Obama elected.
The discussions have been more than
discussions. There have been very active
training sessions where theyve been trying
to help the Obama people understand the
peculiarities of the Canadian system in order to translate the American learnings into
a Canadian context, says Mr. Sears.
But its not all good news for the NDP.
While the party will benefit from a larger
incumbent slate, the popularity of the
Liberals and the undeniable advantage the
Conservative party holds in standing alone
on the right present big challenges to the
NDPs hopes of forming government.
Despite the NDP being official opposition, Conservative rhetoric this past year
has focused on attacking Liberal leader
Justin Trudeau, and the NDP has similarly
worked to attack Liberals on the policy
front and establish itself as the only real
progressive alternative to Prime Minsiter
Stephen Harper, something the Liberals are
also aiming to do as a split vote on the left
means a victory for the right.
Byelections throughout 2014 suggest
some cause for NDP concern. The party lost
a coveted downtown Toronto seat, Trinity-Spadina, to the Liberals, and its share of
the popular vote was down from 2011 in five
others. The NDP also consistently trailed
behind the third-party Liberals in political
polls last year and the party hasnt fared well
in a number of recent provincial elections.
But Ms. McGrath says the NDP was down
in the polls ahead of the last election as well.
One thing polls cant account for are
swing voters, and experts predict a volatile
electorate in 2015. Undecided voters often
avoid politics until the writ officially
drops, says Greg Lyle, owner of Innovative
Research Group.
One of the jobs of the NDP campaign

at the beginning of the new writ is going to
be to introduce Mulcair to people that havent been paying attention, says Mr. Lyle.
Specific policy announcements not only
fit with the NDPs plan to give Canadians
a clear idea of what an NDP government
would look like, they also serve as important practice runs for staff ahead of the 2015
leaders tour, says Shay Purdy, a consultant
at Summa Strategies who worked on the
NDPs 2011 campaign.
Were seeing a lot of these campaign-style events and campaign-style
tours taking place in the lead-up to the
campaign because its very important for
the leader and the team around him to find
that rhythm and find that level of performance thats going to be required right off
the bat, says Mr. Purdy.
The NDPs 2015 leaders tour will also be
shaped by the fact the party has its largest-ever roster of incumbent MPs heading into the
election, even with recent MP departures.
Thanks to 2013s electoral redistribution, parties will be working with 30 new
ridings and re-jigged riding boundaries
in 2015, which have improved the NDPs
electoral chances with the creation of new,
urban ridings in Western Canada, particularly in Saskatchewan.
The NDP came a close second (with
a vote margin of ten per cent or less) in
21 ridings across Canada in 2011, predominantly in Quebec, Saskatchewan and
British Columbia, and the party has these
ridings and otherslike the newly-constituted riding of Edmonton-Griesbach,
Alta.in its crosshairs.
Ms. McGrath says other target ridings
include Egmont, P.E.I., where former provincial
NDP leader Herb Dickieson has been nominated as a candidate; as well as Elmwood-Transcona, Man., where Daniel Blaikie, son to former
MP Bill Blaikie and brother to current president
Rebecca, is running as a candidate.
While the Liberals are polling high on
a national level, the NDP benefits from
more regionally concentrated support,
says Mr. Lyle.
The NDP have never come into an
election with such a strong win in a previous
election. Theyre clear second in terms of
seats, and thats important, says Mr. Lyle.
Pollsters widely agree that the NDP needs
to hold onto a majority of its current 59 seats
in Quebec to maintain its official opposition
status, let alone win government, and that
gaining ground in seat-rich Ontario will also
be key, particularly in southern Ontario and
the Greater Toronto Area.
15
ELECTION 2015
by R ac h el A i el lo
he Liberals have decided their bid to form

government in the 42nd Parliament will be won
on the ground, with a focus on bringing in
prominent candidates and making use of a well-curated data component. There has been a clear switch
in messaging from the rebuilding banners behind
former interim leader Bob Rae to building the team,
building the plan that Liberal Leader Justin Trudeaus
team has coineda slight semantic change that
marks a significant shift in approach.
Nothing in politics is accidental, especially in this
elongated election season, and the core team driving
the bus for the Liberal Party across Canada is planning
each component. The decision not to release policy yet,
according to Liberal sources, has everything to do with
their runway of a year of good polling to comfortably
launch them into an election campaign, and less to do
with the notion that the party is soft on policy. The party
insiders say theyre confident that supporters know
where Mr. Trudeau stands and the rest of the country
will know well in advance of marking their ballots.
The decision to recruit political newcomers is part
of bolstering the change narrative the party is banking
on. From each bullet point on party pamphlets and
the gimmicks used in fundraising emails, to the stops
the plane will be making and the focus of the federal
debatethese are the core people behind the decisions.
Theyve all been advising Mr. Trudeau since his successful leadership campaign in 2013, and will lead him
into his first federal election as the Liberal leader.
The key
players in
the Liberals
2015 federal
election
campaign
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau pictured on
Parliament Hill. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
The A Team:
Katie Telford: National Campaign

Co-Chair
Katie Telford, according to
Liberals, is a good thinker and
planner with a steady hand on the
numbers, gauging where support
is coming from, or where the focus
should be.
Described by National Party Director Jeremy
Broadhurst as having one of the best strategic political minds in the country, she closely monitors the
emails that come in and the response garnered from
the partys pitches, whether it be related to policy or
establishing what fundraising resonates. Shes also
built up what has been described as a quite brilliant
micro-targeted approach seen in emails to supporters,
with subject lines like Can you check this? making
some political insiders think Ms. Telford had personally emailed them for assistance.
Katie Telfords ability to modernize the antiquated Liberal fundraising machine has been quite
remarkable, not just in its ability to raise money and
increase donors, but in terms of providing feedback
about what messages are working and who they are
working with, says Greg MacEachern, vice-president
at Environics Communications and a former Liberal
Hill staffer. So some of those small donations are
actually perhaps more about indicating what policy
or statements are resonating with different groups.
ELECTION 2015
Dan Gagnier: National
Campaign Co-Chair
the team what has and hasnt worked in the

past, Mr. Lanthier says, and he can also tap
into a vast network of other experienced
strategists.
Dan Gagnier has been in the political

game for nearly as long as Mr. Trudeau and
many of the other Liberal staff have been
alive. A veteran hand out of Quebec, Mr.
Gagnier has served as chief of staff to former
Quebec premier Jean Charest, as well as chief
of staff to former Ontario premier David
Peterson. Mr. Gagnier has also worked on
many campaigns at various levels and spent
time at both the Privy Council
Office and the Department
of Foreign Affairs, and in
the private sector with
the Energy Policy Institute of Canada, Alcan
and Beer Canada.
Hes the type of guy
who has seen many situations here in
Canada and brings to the table all of that
experience so we can just turn to him and
say, What do you think of this, or what
do you think of that? says Louis-Alexandre Lanthier, senior adviser at Summa
Strategies and former aide and campaign
director to Mr. Trudeaus campaign in
Papineau, Que. Mr. Gagnier is able to tell
Gerald Butts: Principal

Adviser
Gerry Butts is a
long-time friend of Mr.
Trudeau and his most
trusted confidant. Hes
known for being able to
sit and talk an issue out
with him, with ease. Hes
considered among Liberal insiders to be the
big thinker and is the go-to guy that many
other top staff rely on for advice or insight into
how to handle situationsfrom managing
a story in the media to what policies and
campaign platform planks will be announced,
and when.
According to Liberal insiders, Mr. Butts
and Ms. Telford are the ones really pulling
the strings and calling the shots. He will
be travelling alongside the Liberal leader
throughout the campaign and will play
an integral role in sculpting the election
strategy. He, alongside Mike McNair and
Robert Asselin (each profiled below), will

hold daily policy briefings, conferring both
with Mr. Trudeau and over email or phone
calls with the team in the war room.
Based in Toronto, Mr. Butts has a high
profile in Ottawa and online where, as
Mr. MacEachern puts it, he isnt afraid to
mix it up with a Cabinet minister. There
also seems to be no more than six degrees
of separation between him and other top
Liberal advisers, either from crossing paths
at Queens Park during his time as principal
secretary to Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty or during his tenure as president and
CEO of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
Mike McNair: Lead

Policy Adviser
Mike McNair will be the
top man in the Liberal
policy shop in the election. Hes played a similar role under both Michael Ignatieff and Mr.
Dion, as well as acting as
head of the Liberal research
bureau and, between 2011-2013, as a manager of strategy and operations consulting
The NAVCENTRE is one of the largest Conference

& Training facilities in Canada. Over 650,000 square
feet, this self-contained centre offers a modern
and flexible environment in a secure setting.
Training & Conference Space: 60,000 square feet.

70 intelligent, modern spaces, up to 500 persons
Accommodations: 551 guestrooms & suites
Security: 24/7 on-site security
Food & Beverage Outlets: Propeller seating for 450;

Le Caf featuring Starbucks; JETSET Pub
Private Banquets: Up to 500 persons
Fitness & Recreational: NAVFIT 27,000 square foot

fitness centre, 25 metre lap pool, 9700 square foot
gymnasium, NAVSPA
Parking: Free on-site parking for 500 vehicles
Contact: Venetia Zanella
test.indd 1
T: 613.293.7071
E: venetia.zanella@navcanada.ca
navcentre.ca
17
Power & Inf luence Winter

2015
14-12-08 2:08 PM
ELECTION 2015
Liberal Partys 2011
Election Campaign
Expenses
Party election
expense limit:
$21,025,793.18
Total spent on election:
$19.5-million
Advertising:
Radio & Television:
$8.3-million
Other:
$3.6-million
$1-million
National campaign
office expenses:
$1-million
$168,775
Leaders Tour:
$3.5-million
Travel (Excluding
Leaders Tour):
$145,908
Salaries and wages:
$1.2-million
Other:
$578,258
September
2014 Quarterly:
Contributions:
$3.3-million
Number of Contributors:
34,953
Liberal 2014 Financial

Returns To Date:
Total Donors:
102,170
Total Fundraised:
$11.3-million
Compiled
from Elections
Canada Returns
at Deloitte. Hes the man writing the policies and

is known to be the go-to when questions are asked
about how the Liberals can best approach an issue
that aligns with the partys focus.
Having a high profile within the party over the
last number of years and having been the policy
guy for two former leaders that werent successful will surely be on his mind moving forward.
Helping Mr. NcNair in the policy drafting process
will be caucus critics feeding information inside
as well as pulling in whats being heard as Mr.
Trudeau meets with groups across the country. As
Mr. Broadhurst puts it, two people holed up in the
leaders office wont formulate the policy book.
Expect it to be encapsulated in their middle-class
target.
Robert Asselin: Strategist and

policy adviser
Robert Asselin will have two
key jobs in the 2015 election. The
first is preparing Mr. Trudeau for
debates. The second is formulating policy developments and big
ideas into bite-sized and francophone-friendly sound bytes to be
incorporated in speeches. The message should have
broad appeal but also answer the question, What
would a Liberal government in Canada in 2015
under Justin Trudeau look like? Mr. MacEachern
says. Not an easy task, but Mr. Asselin has experience
as a senior official in past Liberal ministerial offices,
as well as in the PMO under Paul Martin. He was recently appointed vice president of policy and research
at Canada 2020 think-tank.
The other central players on the campaign team
all have an idea of the role they will be playing when
the writ drops, including a handful of Mr. Trudeaus
office staff who will be taking an unpaid leave to
work on the campaign, on the partys dime. There
will be the concentrated team on the plane, the top
five and possibly others to be determined, and then
the remaining 40 or so people at campaign headquarters, which turns into the Liberals war room.
Communications:
Communications for the Liberals

during the election will be
divided between Kate Purchase,
left, who will act as director
of English communications,
Mylne Dupr, right, as
director of Quebec
communications,
and Olivier Duchesneau,
upper right, communications
manager and spokesperson for
the Liberal Party. Although not
set in stone yet, it is anticipated
18
that Mr. Duchesneau will remain

at party headquarters and
oversee the communications
crew in the war room, while Ms.
Dupr and Ms. Purchase, who
normally work in the leaders
office, will be involved managing the
messaging along the campaign trail, dealing with
reporters and media appearances. Expect to see
more of the messaging the party has been rolling
with since Mr. Trudeau was elected. According to
party insiders, hope and hard work isnt going
anywhere, and its likely other lines will come
forward as policy planks are revealed.
Leaders Office:
Other staff in the leaders office

expected to take leaves for the
campaign trail include: Marlene
Floyd, as director of operations
and outreach: Ms. Floyd will
have a big hand in planning
the leaders tour, heading up the
team of current and new staff that
will logistically sort out the five Ws for each leg of
the campaign, from all the mundane necessities like
audio-visual equipment and feeding the journalists
to flight or other travel plans.
Ms. Floyd left her position at Earnscliffe Strategy Group to work for Mr. Trudeau.
Marci Surkes, who is part of the policy
branch, will be working with Mr.
McNair from a temporary
seat at the Liberal HQ. Kevin
Bosch, senior research adviser,
will also be a part of the war
room, as he has been for a
number of elections. According to Liberal sources, it has yet
to be determined whether Mr.
Trudeaus chief of staff, Cyrus
Reporter, will be moving into
the war room for this election.
He has previous war-room
experience from former prime
minister Paul Martins 2005
election campaign.
Official photographer Adam Scotti will be
travelling alongside Mr. Trudeau throughout the
campaign, as seen throughout 2014s many byelections, book signing stops and cultural festivals. Mr.
Trudeaus assistant Tommy Desfosss role has yet
to be solidified.
The Data-Driven Duo:
The Liberals have been working to put in

place a digital and data-driven get-out-the-vote
system, making key investments in the people
they have and how its set up to make sure theyre
on the cutting-edge. The party has been building
ELECTION 2015
up its expertise on Liberalist, a Washington-originated, sophisticated voter
outreach system theyve been adding data
to for years, but in a more concentrated
way in all 338 riding associations since the
nomination process began.
According to Liberal sources, Adam
Carroll, whose formal title is national campaign mobilization manager,
will be involved. Hes one
of the LPC members
who has been working
on the get-out-thevote system (GOTV)
since he joined the party
staff in 2012, following his
dismissal as a Liberal Parliamentary staffer
over the infamous Vikileaks Twitter page.
Described by party insiders as a smart
guy, its clear his role in the next election
will be integral to making the best use of
the database.
Working closely with Mr. Caroll will
be Richard Maksymetz, senior director for
campaign mobilization, who over the last
number of months has been using each
byelection as a practice run to make sure
things are firing on all cylinders, as one
source put it. Its a highly operational role
test.indd 1
and involves guiding political organization

through the use of digital and data-sourced
GOTV information.
in the last federal election but were brought

in following their work on Mr. Trudeaus
leadership campaign.
Social Media, Polls and

Advertising:
Fundraising:
Another component of
the partys data focus, yet
to be fully fleshed out,
will be its approach to
social media and the use
of focus groups. One of
the key faces on this front
will likely be Suzanne Cowan, who worked
for Mr. Trudeaus leadership campaign. Ms.
Cowan, the daughter of opposition leader in
the Senate James Cowan, will be working in
some communications or advertising role.
The advertising firm the party will be using,
according to sources, has not been firmed
up yet, although those who know were not
were willing to confirm publicly. In past
elections the Liberals have used Red Leaf.
The pollster the party will be relying on is
Toronto-based Gandalf Group. David Herle,
a former Liberal strategist for Paul Martin
and, most recently, Kathleen Wynnes 2014
election win, and his team werent involved
While some thought the partys

early fundraising success following Mr.
Trudeaus leadership win was little more
than a honeymoon effect, the latest quarters numbers indicate otherwise. Theyve
been upping the number of donors,
over 30,000 each quarter, for the last six
quarters. The two people pointed to as
deserving the credit for the amount of
money being raised are Christina Topp, senior director of fundraising, and Stephen
Bronfman, chief revenue chair.
Ms. Topp, who knows Mr. Butts from
their days fundraising at the WWF, will
continue to be in charge of developing the
fundraising plan. Ms. Topp will also report
to Mr. Bronfman. As the head of his own
investment firm, and part of the Seagrams
liquor family, Mr. Bronfmans signature at the
bottom of an email or letter goes a long way,
or at least ensures it gets opened, when trying
to pull in big business or private donors. Mr.
Bronfman is considered to be at the top of the
partys fundraising chain.
19
14-12-17 10:19 AM
Polls
Polls might be more
self-fulfilling
prophecy
As long as polls are done accurately, they directly and indirectly
provide the kind of information voters can choose to take into account
when casting a ballot. Influential? You bet. But with great power.
Public opinion: Protesters pictured on Parliament Hill last year. On April 21, 2011, La Presse
reported on the results of a new poll from CROP. For the first time in the polling firms history,
the New Democrats were polling in first place in the province. The Bloc had dropped into
second. The political landscape in Quebec was about to be transformed. P&I photo by Jake Wright
by r i c Gre nie r
hich came first, the chicken or

the egg?
Its a question that can be applied
to the world of political public opinion polling. In an election campaign, do promising
polls for a party lead to strong results at the
ballot box, or are polls merely capturing a
groundswell in public support?
In the end, polls might be more of a
self-fulfilling prophecy.
At the beginning of the 2011 federal election
campaign, the lay of the land was well known.
The Conservatives were aiming for a majority
they were unlikely to get. The Liberals had not
managed to connect with voters to any significant degree and would struggle to seriously
challenge for government. The New Democrats
were more of a thorn in the Liberals side than a
plausible alternative, while Gilles Duceppes Bloc
Qubcois looked on track to win a majority of
Quebecs seats, yet again.
20
Of course, things did not turn out that

way. And the first indication that they
would not came on April 21.
That day, La Presse reported on the
results of a new poll from CROP. For the
first time in the polling firms history, the
New Democrats were polling in first place
in the province. The Bloc had dropped into
second. The political landscape in Quebec
was about to be transformed.
It was a shock. At least one pollster had
seen these numbers before CROP did, but
went back into the field to double check
before publishing such a bombshell.
From that moment on, the New Democrats had all of the momentum and before
long surpassed the Liberals in national support. On election night, the NDP finished
12 points ahead of the Liberals, a party
they were trailing by 10 points before the
campaign had started.
How much influence did the stronger
poll numbers for the NDP in Quebec have
on the rest of the country? The surge in

NDP support occurred between April 18
and 19 in the province, whereas the rest
of Canada saw spikes in NDP support at
different times. In Atlantic Canada and the
Prairies, the NDPs numbers inched up
slowly but consistently. In British Columbia, the uptick coincided with the one in
Quebec. But in Ontario, the New Democrats only saw significant growth after
April 23, two days after the CROP poll was
published in La Presse.
According to Google Trends, more Canadians were searching for Ignatieff than they
were Layton at the outset of the campaign.
Searches for Ignatieff were more frequent
than those for Layton straight through to
April 18. On April 19, however, the two search
terms were tied, with Layton being a slightly
more popular search term on April 21, and
significantly so from April 26.
This would seem to suggest that the polls
may have had a positive effect on the NDPs
Polls
support in the rest of the country, but that the
New Democrats were indeed seeing a shift
before that CROP poll was published. It was
a beneficial cycle for the partyincreased
support led to better polls, which led to even
higher support. The media picked up on the
NDPs newfound challenger status, and the
campaign was transformed.
Polls can have other effects on a political
race, however. The lead the Liberals put
together in the polls after Justin Trudeaus
leadership victory undoubtedly boosted
their fundraising efforts and their ability
to attract good candidates. Would Adam
Vaughan, who wrestled the riding of TrinitySpadina away from the NDP in a 2014
byelection, have taken up the Liberal banner
if the party was still mired in the low-20s
in public support, or if the New Democrats
were leading in the polls as they did in 2012?
The 2014 provincial election campaign
in Quebec was also heavily influenced by
polling. The Parti Qubcois identified the
Charter of Values as a vote winner in part
due to the polls that showed strong support
for the measure. Indeed, the PQs reelection prospects improved only after the
plans for the charter were announced.
But that surge in the polls had consequences for the PQ. With the party poised to
form a majority government, questions about
test.indd 1
its plans for a

third sovereignty referendum
suddenly became relevant.
That the PQ
was on track
for victory
helped convince PierreKarl Pladeau
to take the plunge as a PQ candidate. The fist
he pumped into the air as he proclaimed his
intention to help make Quebec a country was
the first act in the PQs disastrous campaign.
The polls were there to record it, accurately tracking the PQs fall from grace. But
the polls are not always on the money, as the
2013 provincial election in British Columbia demonstrated. Even there, however, the
influence of the polls can be strong. When
asked in an Ipsos Reid survey conducted on
election day, before anyone knew what the
results would be, almost half of respondents
said they expected the B.C. New Democrats
to prevail. Only a tenth thought the B.C.
Liberals would win, as they did. Green Party
supporters, who might have otherwise cast a
ballot for the NDP to keep the Liberals out
of power, overwhelmingly expected the New
Democrats to win.
The media, and many

Canadians, would have missed
a major story had polls not
recorded the surge in the NDPs
support in Quebec in 2011.
There can thus be both positive and
negative aspects to the influence of public
opinion polls. The media, and many Canadians, would have missed a major story had
polls not recorded the surge in the NDPs
support in Quebec in 2011. The polls also
encouraged important questions to be asked
during the 2014 provincial campaign in the
province. On the other hand, the polls may
have unduly influenced turnout and the
choices made in the campaigns in British
Columbia in 2013 and Alberta in 2012,
when the relatively untested Wildrose Party
was on track to unseat the Progressive Conservatives, only to lose out on election day.
But as long as polls are done accurately,
they directly and indirectly provide the kind
of information voters can choose to take
into account when casting a ballot. Influential? You bet. But with great power...
21
14-12-19 2:46 PM
FOREIGN POLICY
Whos
advising
Harper on
Iraq and the
Middle East
By C hri s Pl e c ash
fter managing political

survival throughout
the toughest years of
Afghanistan, there was a sense
of relief within the Conservative
government when the mission
finally ended in March 2014.
The Prime Ministers Office
hoped to move military combat
and procurement off the agenda
ahead of the 2015 election.
Prime Minister Stephen
Harper was preparing for military
downsizing in the fall of 2012
when he appointed low-key
General Tom Lawson as chief
of defence staff after a string of
outspoken generals who didnt
hesitate to voice their displeasure
with the government. When Rob
Nicholson replaced long-serving
Defence minister Peter MacKay in
2013, his job was more to see cuts
through than to inspire confidence
in the military, or the public. The
2014 budget laid out plans to cut
defence spending by more than
$3-billion in the years ahead.
But the government received a
rude awakening in the summer of
2014 when reports of mass atrocities began to emerge from areas
of Iraq under the control of the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL). Already under pressure
from NATO to increase its defence

budget, the Harper government
was asked to lend its support to the
U.S.-led effort in Iraq.
As opposition leader, Mr.
Harper had advocated for
Canada to join the 2003 U.S.-led
invasion of Iraq. More than a decade later, Prime Minister Harper
finds himself in an Iraq mission
he would have preferred to avoid.
One senior government official
says that while the Prime Minister was willing to contribute air
support and training to the latest
Iraq mission, he remains reluctant to have Canadian troops
directly engaged in combat.
In terms of using the military
as a combat arm of Canadian
foreign policy, hes evolved into a
very suspicious, reluctant and cautious leader, says Thomas Juneau,
a former strategic analyst for the
Middle East at the Department of
National Defence. The government
now finds itself in the position of
lending legitimacy to the U.S.-led
mission in Iraq, he says.
Canada has an obvious
interest in seeing the Islamic State
weakened and defeated, but its role
is minimal. Whether were there or
not will not change that outcome.
Our interest is in being perceived
22
31. As opposition leader, Stephen Harper had advocated for
Canada to join the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. More than

a decade later, Prime Minister Harper finds himself in an Iraq
mission he would have preferred to avoid. 2. Top advisers Roy
Rempel, Meredith Lilly, and Richard Fadden. 3. Foreign Affairs
Minister John Baird, Employment Minister Jason Kenney, and
Justice Minister Peter MacKay. P&I photos by Jake Wright
as a good ally to the U.S. and the

Europeans, says Mr. Juneau, now
an assistant professor at the University of Ottawas School of Public
and International Affairs.
Supporting cast
Ultimately, its the Prime

Minister who sets the direction
of Canadas foreign policy in the
Middle East, but hes backed by a
supporting cast of political loyalists and bureaucratic pragmatists.
Within the PMO, Roy Rempel,
the Prime Ministers defence
adviser, is responsible for providing
Mr. Harper with strategic advice,
and would have been consulted on
the decision to join the latest mission in Iraq. Hell continue to have
input as time runs out on the governments initial, six-month commitment in Iraq and Mr. Harper is
faced with deciding whether or not
to extend Canadas mission ahead
of the 2015 election.
Another key PMO strategist
is foreign affairs and trade ad-
viser Meredith Lilly, who joined

the PMO as a policy adviser for
social affairs in 2012, and took
over as foreign policy and trade
adviser from Andrea van Vugt
in 2013.
Chief of staff Ray Novak and
now former deputy chief Jenni
Byrne also have the Prime Ministers ear when it comes to the
political side of foreign policy.
Mr. Novak is very engaged in foreign policy, generally, while Ms.
Byrne, who recently returned to
the Conservative headquarters, is
on good terms with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
and senior members of the Likud
Party. When then-PCO foreign
and defence policy adviser Christine Hogan had to cancel her advance trip to Israel in December
2013, it was Ms. Byrne who made
the preparatory trip ahead of the
Prime Ministers entourage visiting Israel and Jordan in 2014.
Continued on Page 57
The Top
100
Most
Powerful &
Influential
People in
Government
& Politics
2015
People
The Top 25
1. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister
2. Joe Oliver, Finance Minister
3. John Baird, Foreign Affairs Minister
4. Jason Kenney, Employment and Social Development Minister
5. Janice Charette, Privy Council Clerk
6. Jenni Byrne, Conservative Party National Campaign Manager
7. Justin Trudeau, Liberal Party Leader
8. Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
9. Richard Fadden, National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister
10. Thomas Mulcair, NDP Leader
11. James Moore, Industry Minister
12. Ray Novak, PMO Chief of Staff
13. Paul Rochon, Deputy Minister of Finance
14. Ed Fast, International Trade Minister
15. Diane Finley, Public Works Minister
16. Bob Paulson, RCMP Commissioner
17. Daniel Nowlan, Chief of Staff to Finance Minister Joe Oliver
18. Yaprak Baltacioglu, Treasury Board Secretary
19. Laureen Harper, Prime Ministers Wife
20. Gerald Butts, Principal Adviser to Justin Trudeau
21. Gary Doer, Canadian Ambassador to the U.S.
22. Sean Speer, PMO Special Adviser
23. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario
24. Stephen Poloz, Governor of the Bank of Canada
25. Howard Anglin, PMO Deputy Chief of Staff
24
Back story
How the Top

100 List is Made
were being too harsh about their own. And

this cuts across all forms of identity politics,
which is why it was also important to consult
a roughly equal number of men and women.
The list is forward-looking, taking into account a persons projected influence in 2015,
an important year in federal politics. We dont
go as far as considering potential ministers
in a future government, or future party
leaders after the election falloutan exercise
that would not only make us look foolish
but would also make for dull readingbut
those in positions to significantly impact the
2015 federal elections outcome are especially
influential this year. Theres also a rather
significant federal budget this winter that will
feed directly into the Conservative election
platform and influence the ballot question.
Those involved in the budgets crafting
from the finance minister and his key staffers
to the PMO to the departmentalso have
outsize representation on the list.
Without further ado, we bring you the
Eighth Annual Top 100 Most Powerful and Influential list. We hope you enjoy the read. Please
feel free to let us know either way.
by Ma rk B u rge ss
This list is subjective but not whimsical.

It was compiled through a series of off-therecord meetings with multiple sources who
generously gave their time and expertise
to talk about who will matter in 2015. One
thing to notice while consulting for these
lists is what Freud called the narcissism of
minor differences. Opinions about those
within the political tribe are often sharper
than those from without. For this reason, it
was important to consult staffers and insiders
from different parties, not only to get the
scoop on the inner dynamics but to check
with an opposing party about whether people
s journalists, were told that everyone likes lists. We arent just told
this, we notice it as consumers of
news every day, lured by the same
headlines that have most readers biting: Top
10 jobs that attract psychopaths, Top 10
places worse than Ottawa in January. This list
takes a bit more care than your average clickbait but the reader is, of course, free to consume it as he or she chooses: as pleasurable
infotainment, as contemptible pseudo-social
science, or as grounds for adding a line to the
CV and mailing copies of this magazine to
relatives, friends, and enemies.
ITSLLAND
ROVER SEASON
A N D
R O V E R
O T T A W A
A T
2015 RANGE ROVER EVOQUE
524
2.9
+HST
/MO.
$3,299 DOWN
1300 Michael St.

UR
EN
S
M TL
AL A
L UR
EN
BL
VD
ST
AE
AY
SW
EN
QU
LA
UR
TR
EN
BL
VD
%
3 1s t
CH
J A N U A R Y
Standard features include:
9-speed ZF automatic transmission

380-watt MeridianTM sound system
Heated leather steering wheel
Award winning active driveline with
terrain response 4 wheel drive
41
St. Laurent Blvd.
and Queensway
MI
LA
ST
E N D S
Face this winter in style with the 2015 Range Rover Evoque. Whether exploring
the city or adventuring out of town, the Range Rover Evoque empowers you to
take on whatever winter may bring.
LEASE APR. 42 MONTHS
O F F E R
WE ARE HERE
IO
LE
ST
ST
613-744-5500
WWW.JAGUAROTTAWA.CA
WWW.LANDROVEROTTAWA.CA
Not all buyers will qualify for the lowest APR payment. For example, lease a vehicle with a value of $48,807 at 2.9% APR for up to 42 months with $1,799 down payment or equivalent trade-in: monthly payment is $598.99, total lease obligation is $26,956.58, optional buyout is
$25,864.13. Aft er forgone $1,000 New Owners Incentive and $32 dealer discount. Some conditions apply and a mileage restriction of 56,000 km over 42 months applies. A charge of 20 cents per km over mileage restriction applies plus applicable taxes. and total to be repaid is
$52,464. Down payment or equivalent trade-in may be required based on approved credit. Off ers include freight ($1,470), PDI ($495), Admin ($395), and AC Tax ($100). License, insurance, and all applicable taxes are extra.
test.indd 1

2014-12-18
25
4:27 PM
Top 25
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, pictured with the Aga Khan in Ottawa on Feb. 27, 2014. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
Prime Minister
Stephen Harper
26
f 2013 was Prime Minister Stephen Harpers most miserable year of his nine and counting at 24 Sussex Dr.,
2014 has seen a gradual, and some would say improbable, rebound. The year began after a challenging fall
in which neither a Throne Speech nor a Conservative Party
convention in Harper territory managed to change the
channel on the Senate scandal that had cost him political
capital and his valuable chief of staff, Nigel Wright. Facing
the daily QP pummelling from an invigorated Thomas
Mulcair, speculation persisted that Mr. Harper would step
aside early and let someone else reverse the partys fortunes
in the 2015 federal election.
That speculation certainly hasnt vanished but it is losing
credibility. Mr. Harper spent the year playing the international strongman in Ukraine and Israel, and slowly moving
the discussion on the Hill away from Senate expenses to
justice, national security and the economy, much more
comfortable territory for the incumbent. Since the Oct. 22
shootings at the National War Memorial and on Parliament Hill, Mr. Harper has been rising steadily in the polls,
and hes managed to make news by fulfilling 2011 election
promises, most notably tax breaks for families at campaignstyle events in the Greater Toronto Area, while the opposition parties were left in Ottawa to answer questions about
some very unpleasant sexual harassment allegations. And
Harper has one big trick left: a budget early this year that
will double as a campaign platform, one whose oncesubstantial surplus will largely be spoken for, hamstringing
his opponents as they develop their own pitches for the
hustings. In his best-case scenario, 2015 will be a year of
history making, winning a rare, fourth-straight mandate;
in the worst case, it will be the year when the unthinkable
happenedlosing to a Trudeau.
Finance Minister
Joe Oliver
The
unlikely
messenger
With the Conservative election
strategy bulls-eye on Justin Trudeau
and the attempts to characterize
him as the in-over-his-head risky
leader who thinks the budget
will balance itself, Joe Oliver,
the occasionally brusque
ex-banker, is a suitable foil.
By M a r k B urge ss
veryones eyes are on Joe Oliver. Everyones

hands are out, too.
The former investment banker who took
the top economic job in the country last
March has become perhaps the most popular
person in Ottawa in the lead-up to the next
federal budget. His caucus colleagues approach him several
times a day. On a flight home from Australia in November,
two Air Canada flight attendants wanted to know more
about his plans for targeted pension plans. Interest groups
from every sector imaginable, with every utterable ask,
have been seeking time with the minister, his office, and
his departmentanyone who might put in a word.
Mr. Oliver isnt surprised, or ruffled.
This portfolio touches everybody, so people have areas
of interest and concern, he says in his office in the new
Finance Canada building on Elgin Street. Hes seated at the
head of a boardroom table, his legs crossed to angle him
in one direction, at ease in a crisp, white shirt and striped
tie, pin-striped pants but no jacket. He keeps one hand
above the table, sometimes rapping it gently for emphasis.
His eyes are a bit droopy and his voice is gruff and doesnt
vary much in tone, but his face can light up in a boyish
way when he talks about something he thinks he perhaps
shouldnt be, like the flight attendants.
P&I photograph by Dave Chan
27
This Prime Minister likes to see that you can

take a couple of shots in the head and the odd
knife in the back and keep walking, and Oliver
demonstrated he could do that.
Tim Powers
The Jewish, Montreal-born Mr. Oliver,
who was 68 before he made a run at politics,
isnt afraid of saying no. With two careers
behind him, as well as a combative stint
running the high-profile Natural Resources
portfolio, the 74-year-old stepped into the
federal governments No. 2 job just as the
books were about to be balanced, and just
as the next federal election began to take
shape as a referendum on how to spend the
coveted surplus.
Mr. Oliver will have the first shot at selling the budget when its tabled this winter,
the first person in the Conservative government to stand up in Question Period with
that task other than the late Jim Flaherty. Its
a big job for a political newcomer whos not
going to wow anybody with his communication skills. Some critics say his obstinate
bluster at Natural Resources is part of the
reason the debate became so contentious
and that pipelines continue to be so vehemently contested. Others suggest that what
he says doesnt matter all that much, that
the message is in the person: his experience,
his age, his gravitas.
But before he gets around to selling
the budget, theres the question of all
those outstretched hands.
T
4
Come gather round people: 1. & 2. Finance
Minister Joe Oliver shares a laugh with NDP MPs
Guy Caron, left, and Murray Rankin before a House
Finance Committee meeting in November 2014.
3. & 4. NDP Finance critic Nathan Cullen, left,
and Conservative MPs Andrew Saxton and Dave
Van Kesteren huddle around Mr. Oliver, Finance
deputy minister Paul Rochon, right, and Brian
Ernewein, director of the departments tax
policy branch, as they prepare to testify at the
committee. P&I photographs by Jake Wright
hose who have worked on federal

budgets are privy to this counterintuitive truth: its easier to be finance
minister during periods of restraint.
Most people think the most difficult
period is when you cut the deficit but if you
talk to any finance minister, they tell you the
most difficult period is when theres some
amount of surplus available, says Don
Drummond of Queens University, a former senior bureaucrat at Finance Canada
who coordinated several budgets and later
became chief economist at TD Bank. For
every dollar that appears to be available,
therell be requests for 10 others.
Those requests poured in through
the fall. More than 400 organizations filed
pre-budget submissions to the House Finance Committee, and more than 100 made
their pitches to the committee directly. Some
of them, health groups in particular, have
sophisticated campaigns calling for national
programs or strategies, tying their asks to
votes in the next election.
Before the committee submissions even
came in last summer, Mr. Oliver had gone
out of his way to dampen expectations. We
dont intend to launch a massive, reckless
spending program because weve spent too
much time and devoted too much work in
reducing the deficit and eliminating it to
throw it all away, he told reporters in April,
and he offers an almost identical version of
that line in November when asked about
saying no to caucus colleagues.
If anything, his job has become easier.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper was on the
road last fall, usually in the Toronto area,
announcing tax breaksmost notably a
softened version of the 2011 income splitting
campaign promisethat have accounted
for most of the anticipated $6-billion surplus
before the budget is even written.
The pressure is that there are a lot of
good ideas but were forecasting a $1.9-billion surplus, Mr. Oliver says, a figure that
shrunk to $1.6-billion with an infrastructure
announcement the day of our interview and
may well be further reduced by publication
time due to plumeting oil prices.
Because theres so many of these ideas, to
use a Canadian analogy, Ive got to be a bit of a
goalie because I cant accept them all, he says,
his face brightening again.
o how much influence does Mr. Oliver

have over the budget? He inherited a
pre-existing mandate, a combination of
2011 election promises and Mr. Flahertys
2014 budget, and has followed through on
some of those high-profile commitments.
Some even suggest this is why he got the
job. Former Parliamentary budget officer
Kevin Page, who worked for years in the
People
Finance Department and then in the Privy
Council Office under Mr. Harper, says the
Prime Minister always played a heavy role
in the budget process. That role is expected to
be even bigger with a new minister in a crucial
budget year.
After Mr. Flahertys questioning of income
splitting, an unexpected post-budget day subversion that saw him cowed in Question Period as Mr.
Harper stood to field nearly every budget question
in February 2014, the boss would have wanted to
ensure that such insolence wouldnt be repeated.
It hasnt been by Mr. Oliver, but some say
that has more to do with ideological alignment
than slavishness. When Mr. Harper chose Mr.
Oliver over longer-serving Cabinet members
with deeper political backgrounds and more
proven communication skillsJason Kenney,
John Baird and Tony Clement were considered
by many the obvious shortlistersto take
over at Finance, some speculated that it had as
much to do with the bosss tendency to always
be looking over his shoulder for potential rivals as with Mr. Olivers Bay Street credentials.
More importantly than the sector experience, [Oliver is] someone who the Prime
Minister looks to whos never going to be a competitor, who gives him good counsel and whos
onside with the agenda, says Chad Rogers, a
Conservative strategist and partner at lobby firm
Crestview Strategies. Joe is a real economic conservative. None of this is about his own personal
vanity or political agenda. And Joe, like the Prime
Minister, is going to get to the point fairly quickly
without fear of hurting anybodys feelings.
Mr. Drummond says its too early to
evaluate Mr. Olivers public policy acumen
as finance minister.
Thats a bit harder to judge because he really hasnt done anything. Thats not a criticism.
He hasnt had a budget yet and hasnt really
done anything to change policy, he says.
His first deck of cards was handed to him,
going back a long way to the election platform.
The one exception he points to was lowering the Employment Insurance premiums for
small businesses.
It was really the first discretionary thing
that he had an option to do and he did what was
clearly a populist measure as opposed to a sound
economic measure, Mr. Drummond says.
Mr. Oliver told the House Finance Committee in November that he had relied entirely
on a report from the lobby group the Canadian
Federation of Independent Business rather than
departmental analysis to make the change.
Mr. Drummond says that, during his 23
years at the department, any policy change of
that sort would have had an internal analysis,
a point echoed by Mr. Page. The CFIB estimated the $550-million small-business job
People
In 2037, 97% of every tax dollar he pays

will be spent on sustaining health care.
Dont believe it? Ask an actuary.
Actuaries turn numbers into knowledge.
cia-ica.ca/unsustainablehealthcare

test.indd 1
29
14-10-14 10:00 AM
Mr. Oliver, flanked by Brian Ernewein, general director for the tax policy branch at Finance Canada, left, and Jeremy Rudin, the departments assistant
deputy minister for the financial sector policy branch, testifies before the House Finance Committee on May 6, 2014. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
credit would create about 25,000 jobs; the

current PBO, Jean-Denis Frechette, said it
would create about 800.
Mr. Oliver told the committee the department does not analyze every measure that we
introduce, and eventually went on the attack.
You may not want to listen to small
businesses, but we do, he said in response
to one opposition MPs question.
That kind of defiance, which Mr. Page says
would not have made him any friends in the
as Enbridges Northern Gateway pipeline,

continuing to be stalled.
Mr. Oliver is unrepentant when asked
about how he handled the file.
The big issue is having people understand
whats at stake for the country and getting the
facts out. There are those who are opposed to
the development of hydrocarbons. Thats their
vision. Its not my vision, I can tell you, or the
governments vision. I think its important for
people to understand what the economic and
Hes obviously a very smart person.

I think hes well-intentioned. But I think
hes probably the weakest communicator
that the government has.
Bruce Anderson, on CBC The Nationals
At Issue panel in December
Finance Department, was reminiscent of his

strong-arm approach at Natural Resources,
where he became the governments principle
cheerleader for oilsands expansion and chief
antagonist of the environmental movement.
In a January 2012 open letter, he went after
environmental and other radical groups
that threaten to hijack our regulatory system
to achieve their radical ideological agenda
and use funding from foreign special interest groups to undermine Canadas national
economic interest. A few months later the
Conservative government introduced the first
of two omnibus budget implementation bills
that amended various acts to speed up energy
project reviews and give the federal Cabinet
more authority to approve them.
The blowback was swift and predictable, and some suggest the tone Mr.
Oliver set strengthened opposition and
has contributed to major projects, such
30
social implications of their view would be. I

was trying to communicate that and I would
say I was partially successful, he says.
He adds, sounding almost wistful: But
thats not my primary responsibility now.
onservative strategist and Summa

Strategies vice-chairman Tim Powers
says Mr. Olivers stand at Natural Resources,
his ability to stick to plan and take the heat
over controversial messages, is part of the
reason he got the promotion last March.
This Prime Minister likes to see that
you can take a couple of shots in the head
and the odd knife in the back and keep
walking, and Oliver demonstrated he
could do that, Mr. Powers says.
Abacus Data chairman Bruce Anderson
named Mr. Oliver as his surprise politician
of 2014 on CBCs popular At Issue panel
in December, but not for the reasons Mr.

Oliver might have wanted.
Hes obviously a very smart person, I think
hes well-intentioned. But I think hes probably
the weakest communicator that the government
has, so I was surprised that they appointed him
finance minister, Mr. Anderson said.
Its a very important podium role for
the Conservativefor any government.
He wasnt a good communicator on behalf
of the government in the job that he had
before. The way that he characterized the
difference between people who are for pipelines and against pipelines created a rift that
the government is still grappling with today.
While few doubt Mr. Olivers intelligence,
work ethic, or standing within the Conservative caucus, some see replacing the affable Mr.
Flaherty with the man NDP MP Megan Leslie
once called, in Question Period, a grumpy
old man when theres an election budget to
sell as risky. Theres nothing subtle about the
budget day shoes Mr. Oliver has been left to
fill, either: its right there upon entering the
new Finance Canada building, between two
large pillars with staircases ascending on either sidean austere Government of Canada
plaque marking the premises as the James
Michael Flaherty Building.
Mr. Oliver and Mr. Flaherty, though
very different in expression, shared some
biographical details. Both were Ivy Leaguers (Mr. Flaherty had a hockey scholarship
to Princeton, Mr. Oliver did his MBA at
Harvard); both were raised in Montreal, in
what they were keen to stress were modest
households (I lived on Grand Boulevard
in Notre-Dame-de-Grace in Montreal, and
in spite of its name, it was neither grand
nor a boulevard, is a line Mr. Oliver is
known to insert into speeches); both flirted
with the Liberal Party of Canada only to
be turned off by Pierre Trudeau; both had
People
careers before entering politics and brought

a toughness to the top ministerial role.
Mr. Oliver went to McGill University
with Liberal MP and former federal justice
minister Irwin Cotler, where the two served
on the students council, the law society
association executive, and the McGill Daily
campus newspaperMr. Cotler as editor
in chief, Mr. Oliver as chair of the editorial
board. They were also very good friends
and have remained so, says Mr. Cotler, who
speaks fondly of Mr. Olivers redeeming
sense of humour, though he admits it
doesnt come across in Question Period.
Our different political or ideological
predilections did not manifest themselves as
much while we were at university, Mr. Cotler
says. The early 60s were not like the late 60s.
By that time they had moved on to
separate Ivy League graduate degreesMr.
Cotler to law school at Yale, Mr. Oliver to
Harvard for an MBA.
At the time there was a kind of reference
to the fact that, at Harvard, you would study
creditors rights, whereas at Yale you would
study debtors estates, which seemed to find
expression shortly thereafter. I became the
first law professor teaching poverty law in
Canada and he, of course, went into the
world of corporate finance, Mr. Cotler says.
And there Mr. Oliver remained for several decades, first as an investment banker
with Merrill Lynch, then moving into the
policy realm as head of the Investment
Dealers Association of Canada. Politics did
enter his thoughts but mid-career, raising
a family, it didnt make sense to embark
on that kind of a high-risk adventure, he
says, sounding almost like hes criticizing
opposition spending plans.
His thoughts began to drift to politics when
his contract wasnt renewed in 2007. But like his
characterization of his Montreal childhood, Mr.
Oliver is keen to stress that nothing was given

to him. Before the 2008 federal election, former
Brian Mulroney-era Cabinet minister Tom
Hockin called to tell him the Conservatives were
looking for candidates in the Toronto area.
That was it. He gave me an idea. Ideas
are powerful, but I then had to go after it,
which I did, Mr. Oliver says.
He wasnt elected in 2008 but he managed to unseat longtime Liberal Joe Volpe in
Eglinton-Lawrence in 2011 after knocking on
every door in the riding between elections.
What you saw there was that sense of
commitment, that tenacity, that involvement, and thats what got him elected,
Mr. Cotler says.
Mr. Olivers shown the same resolve in office, travelling relentlessly, at a pace that occasionally worries Mr. Cotler, whos very aware
of his friends recent health scare: Mr. Oliver
had triple-bypass heart surgery in 2013.
A year later he was appointed Finance
minister.
obody would suggest Mr. Oliver has

tried to be anything but himself in the
new role. While Mr. Flaherty was a skilled
communicator who thrived in the spotlight
and was comfortable speaking off the cuff,
Mr. Oliver isnt there for his theatrical skills.
I think he can deliver a straight-up,
solid message and thats whats required of
him, Mr. Powers says. Hes not going to
be the host of a political television program
when all is said and done, but thats not
what the prime minister wants him to do.
This straight-up, solid message might be
the point, someone who fits the steady hand
brand the government is selling: the post-Great
Recession world is still a volatile, scary place,
and while Canada has fared better than most
countries, now is the time for sound economic
management, not wild spending ideas, etc.

What better messenger than the stoic 74-yearold, the Commons grumpy old man?
Joe is the embodiment of a serious person
in the job, Mr. Rogers says. Nobodys going to
believe that Joe is a partisan shill or someone
who treats anything superficially. Just the
physical personageJoe is a serious person.
With the Conservative election strategy bulls-eye on Justin Trudeau and the
attempts to characterize him as an inover-his-head, risky leader who thinks the
budget will balance itself, the occasionally
brusque ex-banker is a suitable foil.
Mr. Cotler maintains that his old classmate was the best person to take over as Finance minister last year, even if he disagrees
with Mr. Oliver on everything from climate
change to social justice issues.
Joe has command of his files. He is
somebody who will do his homework. Hes
committed to his tasks. He and I will differ on
the position that he will stand up and take, in
Question Period or otherwise, but I know that
hes done his homework, Mr. Cotler says.
Mr. Rogers points to the ministers professional experience and accomplishment as
proof that youre not going to intimidate
him, youre not going to freak him out.
People are sometimes actually shocked
at how gruff he can be or direct he can be,
but Joes conscious of the fact that this is
his third act and hes going to make something of it, Mr. Rogers says.
And Mr. Oliver isnt thinking about
slowing down, or interested in talking about
legacy: Im not thinking about being remembered. I think thats a bit premature, he says.
While other MPs, even those within his
caucus, may joke about his age, Mr. Oliver
keeps a travel schedule that would put most
of them to shame.
Joe doesnt live the life of an old man, Mr.
Rogers says. Joe just plays an old man on TV.
Canadians will be seeing a lot more of that
man in the coming months as the budget hes
been crafting is finally tabled and then campaigned on, relentlessly. It wont be enough for
the Conservatives to simply fulfill their 2011
commitments, Mr. Page saystheyll need
something fresh because, as he puts it, Its a
big one and its for all the marbles.
Thats his moment, Mr. Page says of
when Mr. Oliver will stand in the House
to present the budget. He has to be good
for the government. Its the third period,
youve got to put the puck in the net and
youve got to have your top lines on the ice.
He has to be playing at that level.
The man who played goalie all fall will
have to shift his attention to offence.
31
Foreign Affairs
Minister John Baird
ne of the elite group of Cabinet ministers with

the PMs confidence to manage his portfolio,
Mr. Bairds role has only become more important as the Conservatives move to tie foreign
policy to votes at home. Known as an attack dog from his
time as government House leader, Mr. Baird now uses the
same unsparing language to denounce foreign enemies,
from Vladimir Putin to Hamas to ISIS. Principled foreign
policy is the brand the Conservatives are touting, both
overseas and to domestic groups who appreciate the
governments staunch support for Israel and Ukraine. Mr.
Baird is the first messenger.
As the minister for the National Capital Region, Mr.
Baird also commands a good deal of influence over the
National Capital Commission and various Ottawa projectsmore, perhaps, than Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson and
the municipal council would like.
Privy Council
Clerk Janice Charette
s if becoming the countrys top bureaucrat isnt challenge enough, Janice Charette inherited a public service
reeling from cuts and low morale whose unions are fighting
the elected government at the collective bargaining table. She
also gets the considerable and always-touchy election-year
job of preparing for a possible government transition, and of
implementing her predecessor, Wayne Wouters, Destination
2020 plan for modernizing the public service.
Few doubt that shes up to the challenge. The former
deputy clerk, who took over the top job in October, has
experience at the PCO working for this government. She
can also use her time as a political staffer (she was Jean
Charests chief of staff as federal Progressive Conservative
leader in 1997-98 and worked as a departmental liaison in
ministers offices before that) to help manage the tension
between politicians and the public service.
32
P&I photograph by Jake Wright
Employment and Social

Development Minister
Jason Kenney
ong recognized as the most tireless minister, Mr. Kenneys workload

certainly hasnt diminished since becoming the governments point
man on jobs and skills, managing the volatile temporary foreign worker
file while retaining his duties as the multiculturalism minister. Both roles
will be crucial in the election year, as Mr. Kenney will be left to communicate the governments success on employment and retain votes from the
all-important ethnic communities in the Toronto suburbs he doggedly
courted as Citizenship and Immigration minister.
And of course theres that issue of succession. Should the PM let someone else lead the party in 2015, or should he fail to secure a fourth consecutive mandate, Mr. Kenney would have a lot of influence on what happens
next to the Conservative Partyas either king or kingmaker.
Conservative Party National

Campaign Manager Jenni Byrne
he 2015 run will be

Jenni Byrnes fourth in
a senior role for a Conservative election campaign, and
her second in a row directing
the effort. Winning four
consecutive elections is no
easy task, and one that hasnt
been accomplished since Sir
Wilfrid Lauriers Liberals.
But the recently departed
deputy chief of staff at the
PMO, a committed partisan
who joined the Reform Party
at age 16, can whip a team
into shape and command
the loyalty of those working for her. While some say
she wasnt as sought after
in her deputy role as an adviser or for policy advice, her
strength is in management,
commanding the young
office through force of character. She knows the party
base and how to organize a
campaign.
Photograph courtesy of Jenni Byrne
Top 25
Liberal
Party Leader
Justin Trudeau
ts been an endless honeymoon

since winning the party leadership
for the only federal leader whos
on a first-name basis with the Canadian public. Or almost. Mr. Trudeau
led in the polls for all of 2014, although
some cracks began to appear late in the
year. There was that too-clever whip
out our CF-18s joke that became recognized as the Liberal position on dealing
with ISIS, and some concern about his
rashness in expelling two MPs from caucus, not to mention the Liberals entire
Senate contingent. Conservatives, who
spend a tremendous amount of energy
attacking the leader of the third party,
are hoping the shine is beginning to rub
off at just the right time, and that Mr.
Trudeau wont be able to help putting
his foot in his mouth on the campaign
trail. But with a string of byelection
successes and a team of bright campaigners and candidates surrounding
him, Mr. Trudeau is hoping to convince
the electorate in 2015 that its time for a
Supreme Court
Chief Justice
Beverley McLachlin
Top 25
change from mean-spirited Conservative politics, and that they can trust the
guy they know by his first name.
ast year was a big one for the Supreme

Court of Canada. It began with the federal
government being forced to draft new prostitution legislation after the courts December 2013
ruling that existing laws were unconstitutional.
The court effectively shut the door on Prime
Minister Stephen Harpers hopes to reform the
Senate without the provinces support, softened
a Conservative sentencing law from 2009, and a
June ruling on aboriginal title could have major
impacts on resource development. The court
also rejected the governments appointment to
the bench, Marc Nadon, a decision that earned
its chief justice criticism from the PMO, which
suggested Ms. McLachlin tried to intervene
inappropriately in the process. She didnt bite,
telling a Canadian Bar Association meeting that
occasional tensions are just part of the process.
It was enough to earn the court the title of
policy-maker of the year from conservative
think-tank the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
The court will be in the political spotlight again in 2015 when it rules on assisted
suicide, another galvanizing issue for the
Conservative base.
A Higher
Level Of Care
ExecHealth is a private medical
clinic located in downtown Ottawa. We
specialize in proactively keeping our
clients healthy through preventive and
ongoing medical care programs.
ExecHealth ensures that each client
receives the highest level of care
including punctual same-day or next-day
appointments, detailed diagnostic testing
and ample time with your physician to
ensure all health concerns are thoroughly
addressed. Clients also have access to
a medical concierge service to expedite
surgeries, imaging and specialist
consultation through private channels
when public wait times are too long.
Learn more about our medical care
programs by visiting us online at
www.exechealth.ca
401-116 Albert St. Ottawa, ON K1G 5P3

(613) 216-EXEC (3932) www.exechealth.ca
ExecHealth.indd 1
33
14-12-18 6:02 PM
Top 25
National Security
Adviser to the PM
Richard Fadden
Richard Fadden, former top

spy, now top security adviser.
here are a number of

powerful names in the defence-security-privacy nexus,
This is a make or
break election for NDP
Leader Tom Mulcair. P&I
photograph by Jake Wright
but none is closer to the Prime

Minister than Richard Fadden. Recently shuffled from
the DM role at Defence, Mr.
Fadden has had a long public
service career that includes
several security-related roles:
he directed the Privy Council
Offices policy, security and
intelligence secretariat in
the 1980s, co-ordinated the
PCOs security and intelligence in the early 2000s, and
was director of the Canadian
Security Intelligence Agency
from 2009 until moving to
Defence in 2013. He hasnt
been shy about speaking out
on the threat posed by violent
extremism in the past and he
will now be Mr. Harpers go-to
on domestic and international
security threats.
10
NDP Leader
Thomas Mulcair
fter earning a national profile in 2013 with his crisp, prosecutorial

style in Question Period while grilling the government over the
Duffy-Wright affair, Thomas Mulcair continued to draw praise in 2014.
Voted Most Valuable Politician in The Hill Times 18th Annual All Politics Poll, he was also dubbed probably the best opposition leader since
John Diefenbaker by none other than Brian Mulroney.
But there were also some setbacks. Sen. Duffy and Mr. Wright have
fallen from the QP agenda, for now, anyway. Byelections have been cruel
to the NDP, with results suggesting the Liberals have taken over as the
preferred alternative to the governing Conservatives. And despite Mr.
Mulcairs strong performances in Parliament, it is still the Liberal leader
who manages to win the winning headlines.
This will be Mr. Mulcairs year to convince voters that substance
matters. Hes started early, rolling out policy platforms such as $15-aday day care, and he may well be relishing the opportunity to square
off against Stephen Harper and Justin Trudeau in televised debates.
Replicating, if not surpassing, the NDPs unparalleled success under
Le bon Jack will depend on a strong campaign performance.
Customize
Your Work
Track a bill
429 MACLAREN
OTTAWA I ON
613.232.0202
HAIRLOFT.CA
Follow a
committee
Get
immediate
notification
when changes
happen
Loft Gala | May 9/2015

test.indd 1
34
www.parliamentnow.ca
PN QP.indd 1
14-12-11 5:26 PM
15-01-08 3:37 PM
11
Industry
Minister
James Moore
hen James Moore became

Industry minister in July
2013a job he didnt have
time to ease into when, in his
first week, he faced a massive PR battle waged
by Canadas angry telecom sectorhe says the
biggest surprise was the size of the portfolio.
But the depth and breadth of the
policy that it encompasses, from space
and aerospace, to telecommunications and
manufacturing, is also his favourite part
of the job, Mr. Moore says in an interview
with Power & Influence.
As a guy whos in public life because I
enjoy public policy the most, its a policyintensive portfolio, he says. And its vast
in terms of what it touches, and I just find
the endless opportunities to learn and try to
contribute a great privilege.
Michele Austin, a senior adviser at Summa
Strategies, describes Mr. Moore as still a wonk,
albeit one who has the Prime Ministers ear.
Theres certain times hes going to get
into the weeds, she says. So its kind of
refreshing to see him as he is more and more
comfortable with his file, talking nitty-gritty
on these kinds of things.
Mr. Moore says that his key file right
now is internal trade, and its one he expects to keep a top priority in the months
leading to the election next year. In that
time, he wants to see a genuine commitment from provinces and our partners to
Industry Minister James Moore says

his key fight right now is internal trade.
have some substantive progress on internal

free trade liberalization in Canada.
NDP Industry critic Peggy Nash, on
the other hand, isnt sure Moore is going
to be able to resolve anything before the
next election. Such an agreement is going
to require careful negotiation with the
provinces, because one provinces identified barrier is another provinces cherished
protection, she says.
When the next election rolls around, Mr.
Moore expects to campaign on the governments economic record, pointing out, for
instance, new hiring in the auto sector. Ms.
Nash agrees the manufacturing industry will
be an election issue, adding that Mr. Moore
needs to develop a strategy for the sector.
There is still some heavy lifting to do on
the auto sector, Ms. Austin also notes, predicting well see some fairly specific, pointed
policies or announcements coming that way.
His home province will be another key
focus in the next election for the MP who
has represented Port Moody-Westwood-Port
Coquitlam, B.C., since 2004. On the tax side,
he said, Ill be pushing a British Columbia

dynamic about supporting families by easing
the cost of living in the province.
In order to maintain a majority, the
Conservatives will need to succeed in British Columbia, Mr. Moore acknowledges,
adding that the party is doing well in terms
of candidate recruitment, with a very
strong slate of candidates running for us.
Ms. Austin points out that fixed election
dates will also play a role in what happens
over the next year.
Because for the first time in a long time,
were into this long, slow dance off before
the election, were going to see some regional
development issues coming up, and a lot of
that still falls under the industry portfolio,
such as the automobile industry in Ontario
and aerospace in Quebec, he says.
Those kinds of what I would consider
old-school political files are still in play every
now and then, especially when people have a
lot of time to organize around them, she says.
That will continue to be a file that will have to
managed carefully.by Anja Karadeglija
12
S
Ray Novak, right, pictured with former PCO clerk Wayne Wouters on Dec. 8, 2014, at
Ottos Lounge in Ottawa for Mr. Wouters retirement party. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
PMO Chief
of Staff
Ray Novak
ome saw the move of the Harper loyalist, who famously lived in a loft above
the bosss garage at Stornoway, into the
top adviser role as a temporary fix. Mr.
Novak has proven hes anything but. Once Mr.
Harpers principal secretary, Mr. Novak moved
into the top job at the PMO to replace Nigel
Wright in the wake of that business with Senator
Duffy and the $90,000 cheque. He doesnt command the same prestige on policy matters as his
predecessor, and some say the office has become
more inward looking since Mr. Wright left,
engaging less with the business world and missing a strong sounding board with a background
outside politics. But Mr. Novak has his bosss
trust and is as close to Mr. Harper as anybody.
35
Top 25
13
Deputy Finance
Minister Paul Rochon
e wasnt the bettors choice

to replace longtime Finance
deputy Michael Horgan
when the latter retired
in April, but Paul Rochonwho had
moved up through the departments
ranks to the associate deputy minister position over the course of two
decadeswasnt exactly an outsider
14
either. Moved first to Health in 2012 and

then to the deputy role at International
Development, he landed back at Finance
within weeks of Joe Oliver replacing
the late Jim Flaherty as minister. Mr.
Rochon completed the makeover.
The changes also came just as the
focus began to shift from the 2014 budget
to the next one, the first in years with a
International Trade
Minister Ed Fast
Fast Eddie: International Trade

Minister Ed Fast has been busy this
year. P&I photograph by Sam Garcia
d Fast likes to tout the Conservative

governments trade record.
When I compare our record on trade
to that of the Liberal Party, over 13 long
years, it was able to sign only three trade
agreements. This government, over a short
eight years, has signed free trade agreements with a total of 38 different countries,
and there are many more to come, Ed Fast
told the House of Commons on Nov. 27.
And on Nov. 26. And on Nov. 20. You get
the point.
He offered a version of the same line in
September, that time targeted at the NDP,
characterizing the official Opposition as
anti-trade and anti-investment.
Its a message that will be repeated leading up to the 2015 election. The Conservatives feel they can brag about trade. While
much of that can be attributed to the Prime
Minister, some credit rests with Mr. Fast,
a committed minister who has produced
results on a key government file.
The changing world economy should be
shifting Canadas priorities when it comes
to international trade, analysts say, and the
government has been listening.
36
Were facing a dramatically changing

global economy, says Danielle Goldfarb,
associate director of the Conference Board of
Canadas Global Commerce Centre, as developing countries represent a greater portion of
the world economy than ever before.
Canadas proximity to and degree of
integration with the United States, she says,
has been an amazing advantage.
But it happens to be that our traditional
trade partners, largely the U.S. but other partners as well, happen to be relatively slow-growth
economies at the moment compared to the
growth prospects of the emerging world.
Trade with the U.S. is a flat line, she says.
Trade with the rest of the world is a line
thats sloping upwards.
The task of opening doors and helping
companies succeed in new markets has fallen to
Mr. Fast. Hes succeeded on a number of fronts,
most notably with the Canada-Korea deal
and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade
Agreement with the European Union, and
made progress on the Trans Pacific Partnership.
CETA and the TPP will continue to come
up over the next year but there will also be
a new one, Ms. Goldfarb says: pressure on
surplus to spend. While his predecessor

was recognized as the steady manager
who brought the department though the
austerity years following the 2008 financial
crisis, Mr. Rochon inherited a very different challengedealing with all the outstretched hands that have been patiently
waiting for some money to spend.
Described as bright, charismatic,
diplomatic and a force in his new
portfolio, Mr. Rochon is the top mandarin involved in crafting the budget that
will shape the 2015 election campaign.
Canada to explore free trade with China after

a recent deal between China and Australia.
The free trade agreement between China
and Australia was completed mid-November
and there are huge opportunities with the
country as its middle class grows, Ms. Goldfarb says. But such a deal would raise a lot of
political issues, as well as issues with Chinas
investment in Canadians resources.
Dan Ciuriak, a research fellow with the C.D.
Howe Institute, agrees that free trade with China
will likely be a topic of conversation in 2015.
One of the issues that Canada faces is how
do you keep up where youve got to keep signing new deals, he says.
The TPP agreement includes Canada,
the U.S., Australia, Chile, Vietnam and
others, and will be a hard one to predict
over the next year, he says. President Barack
Obama is in a lame duck situation, which
makes negotiations difficult.
Hes got a hostile Congress, so the chance
of him getting trade promotion authority
might be on the low side, Mr. Ciuriak says.
As for CETA, the text has been agreed
upon, but it now needs a legal scrubbing and translation, and then to proceed
through the EU parliament.
Its not a done deal, Ms. Goldfarb says.
But were at the stage now, for [Mr. Fast],
the focus is probably going to be on implementation and preparing our companies to
take advantage of the deal that hes spent all
this time trying to get.
Looking back at the bigger pictureregardless of whatever hurdles still exist
working on CETA shows the world that
Canada can negotiate a major trade deal,
Ms. Goldfarb adds.
In this way, she continues, CETA serves as
a kind of stepping stone for Canada to try to
enter other markets, the ones that are developing and will continue to develop past 2015.
In the meantime, Mr. Fast will continue
to tout the governments trade record every
chance he gets. By Laura Beaulne-Stuebing
heres little doubt that when

it comes to Public Works, the
procurement fileand defence
procurement in particularis a
big one, and a tricky one at that.
Many issues have plagued defence procurement over the past few years, with the
words F-35 and shipbuilding becoming
familiar refrains in the national media and
headaches to the federal government.
But it wasnt always like this for Public
Works, in particular. David Perry, a senior
analyst with the Conference of Defence Associations Institute (CDAI), says the perception
that the Department of National Defence can
handle procurement has diminished within
government and bureaucracy.
A lot of the leadership has shifted to
Public Works, he says.
Auditor General reports and multiple
delays have led to people no longer taking
DND at face value over costing, scheduling
and whether or not requirements are actually derived from real military needs.
The new Defence Procurement Strategy
that was announced last February, Mr. Perry
Welcome to Ottawa!
Diplomacy at its best.
Star Motors of Ottawa is proud to serve the
diplomatic community. Founded in 1957, the
dealership has the distinction of being both
Ottawas oldest import dealer and oldest
independent Mercedes-Benz franchise
retained under the same ownership.
Our longevity is directly attributable to
the devotion toward providing complete
customer satisfaction. Please allow our
friendly staff to assist you with all your
automotive needs.
says, is not a DND project; its led and implemented by Public Works.
So over the next year, expect defence procurement to be a significant weight on Public
Works Minister Diane Finleys shoulders.
Two real big files that are urgently
needing some decisions on are the fighter
decision and a couple of key decisions for
the shipbuilding file, Mr. Perry says.
A decision on whether F-35 joint strike
fighter jets are what Canadas military
needs could come at any time, he says.
From what I understand, all of the work
that was supposed to be done in support of
that has been completed as of last spring, Mr.
Perry says. The independent panel...submitted their independent report. The government
has an options analysis. And [theyve had] that
documentation with them since last spring.
It seems that at this point, the only [thing]
that is still required now is a decision about
what to do, one way or the other.
Elinor Sloan, a Carleton University professor and former defence analyst for DND,
says she doesnt expect a decision on F-35s
to be made before the next federal election.
15
Public Works
Minister Diane Finley
Ms. Sloan notes the Arctic patrol ship project is moving along generally as planned.
Mr. Perry says whats needed is a procurement strategy outlining the different
players, what theyll work on and how
theyll interact with each other.
Problems within the file will continue
unless someone at Cabinet level takes on a
leadership role, whether its Ms. Finley or
ministers representing the Treasury Board,
DND or Industry Canada, which all touch
upon procurement, Ms. Sloan says.
Right now theres hundreds, maybe a
thousand bureaucrats working on their own
piece and it slowly gets up through the food
chain, and they determine it costs too much,
and they send it back down, she says.
In Ms. Sloans eyes, its a matter of somebody in the government being the champion
on procurement issues, throughout and
beyond 2015.by Laura Beaulne-Stuebing
Introducing the all-new 2015 C-Class.

Be the first to see and experience the C-Class
in full panoramic 3D, right now. Learn more
at AllNewC.ca. Download our free Augmented
Reality app by searching all-new MercedesBenz C-Class through the Apple iTunes store
or Google Play.
400 WEST HUNT CLUB RD | (613) 737-7827 | starmotors.ca | Open Saturday For Sales, Service, Parts 8 - 5
Star Motors.indd 1
37
14-12-18 12:19 PM
Top 25
he Lachute, Que.-born Mr. Paulson, who spent most of his RCMP

career in British Columbia, was
appointed the countrys top cop
in 2011 when dealing with harassment in
the force was the top priority. Other developments have brought him into the national
spotlight more recently and will likely keep
him there in 2015: the investigation into
former PMO chief of staff Nigel Wrights
$90,000 cheque to Mike Duffy, the Oct. 22
shootings in the Parliamentary Precinct and
the RCMPs anti-terrorism efforts.
The RCMP hit suspended Senator Mike
Duffy with 31 charges but none were laid
against Prime Minister Stephen Harpers
17
former top adviser. When Sen. Duffys trial

begins this spring, the forces investigation
will become a national political focal point.
Mr. Paulson really emerged as a
national figure after the October attacks
in Ottawa and Quebec. Hell continue to
play an important role in explaining the
RCMPs actions and investigation into the
attacks in the year ahead.
Laureen Harper is Prime Minister Stephen

Harpers charm offensive and trusted
confidant. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
19
Laureen
Harper
D
Daniel Nowlan,
Chief of Staff to Finance
Minister Joe Oliver
f the Finance minister is the most popular person in political Ottawa in the
lead-up to a surplus budget, the chief
of staff he recruited from Bay Street to
the new department building on Elgin Street
cant be far behind. From the time he returned to Ottawa in April (he had previously
worked on the Hill for Michael Wilson under
Brian Mulroneys Progressive Conservative
government) to December of last year, Mr.
Nowlan was lobbied 96 times by groups
ranging from banks to miners to universities
to health-care advocates, the federal lobbyists
18
16
RCMP
Commissioner
Bob Paulson
registry shows. Thats 40 more meetings than

his boss took over the same period.
Mr. Nowlan worked at CIBC for 14
years, most recently as the co-head of equity capital markets at the securities division.
But he also has serious Conservative credentials, in addition to his previous work
on the Hill. A director of the Manning
Centre for Building Democracy, he also
ran the finances for Tim Hudaks successful
Ontario PC leadership run in 2009.
Mr. Nowlan is highly regarded by his peers
and the stakeholders trying to get his ear.
imitri Soudas may be out as executive

director of the Conservative Party of
Canada but the 70-page slideshow presentation outlining the partys re-election
strategy that he delivered to the partys
national council in February 2014 lives
on. The documents, leaked to The Toronto
Star, included a strategy to humanize
Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Central to
that was the plan to leverage the popularity of his wife, including using a With
Mrs. Harper video series.
The plans could have changed, of course,
but the rationale prevails: softening Mr. Harpers hard edge is necessary in an election year,
and Mrs. Harper is an easy way to do that.
She also plays a valuable role in the PMs
daily life, acting as his media filter, one insider
said, reading the news he prefers to not receive
first-hand. Others noted her profile was already elevated last year on trips with the PM.
You might say shes his secret weapon.
Secretary of the Treasury

Board Yaprak Baltacioglu
he didnt get the big job, the one many

had her pegged for when longtime Privy
Council clerk Wayne Wouters announced
last summer that he was retiring. That
position went to Janice Charette but Ms.
Baltacioglu remains one of the countrys top bureaucrats. Credited with the
smooth rollout of billions in infrastructure
spending in her role as deputy minister
of Transport after the 2008 recession, Ms.
Baltacioglu moved to the Treasury Board
in 2012 just in time to implement the
austerity budget that called for the public

service to shed more than 19,000 jobs. That
number will have risen to closer to 35,000
by 2017, and billions of dollars in approved
spending went unused the past two years.
The Conservative government has
eliminated the deficit but it has a battle
with public servants on its hands. Ms.
Baltacioglus minister, Tony Clement, is at
the heart of it with his introduction of a
new sick leave package, and morale in the
bureaucracy is said to be at an all-time low.
38
Top Treasury Board mandarin Yaprak

Baltacioglu, pictured on the Hill.
20
Principal
Adviser to
the Liberal
Leader
Gerald
Butts
21
f Mr. Trudeau ever makes it to 24 Sussex,

one could imagine a relationship with
Gerry Butts that parallels President Jed
Bartlets to his chief of staff Leo McGarry
in The West Wingone chosen partly because
of a close, personal relationship and the willingness to speak truth to power. You got a best
friend? Is he smarter than you? Would you trust
him with your life? as President Bartlet once
said, describing the criteria for choosing a chief.
Friends with the Liberal leader since
studying together at McGill University, Mr.
Butts is the adviser who can say anything to
Mr. Trudeau. Theres no off-limits topic,
as one insider puts it. In addition to being a
confidant hes also a defender, extremely active
on Twitter speaking up for Mr. Trudeau.
The team of Mr. Butts and Katie Telford has received much of the credit for the
reversal of Liberal Party fortunes, at the polls
and in the wallet. Young, bright and committed, Mr. Butts and Ms. Telford, the partys
national campaign co-chair who directed Mr.
Trudeaus leadership campaign, have a lot to
brag about as they enter an election year in
far better shape than most Liberals could have
hoped for after 2011s humiliation. There is
some disagreement about which of the two
matters more. Some Conservatives have an
outsized respect for Ms. Telford, particularly
her grasp of digital campaign tools, that occasionally borders on fear. Mr. Butts, however,
gets the higher ranking here based on his
personal relationship with Mr. Trudeau.
23
Canadian Ambassador to
the United States Gary Doer
22
his could finally be the year for Gary Doer. Representing Canada to its largest trading partner and
most important diplomatic ally is hardly a single-issue
role, but nothing has defined Canada-U.S. relations in
recent years more than Keystone XL. The TransCanada
pipeline from Hardisty, Alta. to the U.S. Gulf Coast that
Stephen Harper once called a no-brainer has been
delayed several times and has become the major irritant
between the PM and President Barack Obama. With a
Republican Congress itching to see action on the stalled
project, theres talk that a presidential veto could be
avoided in some kind of deal with the president. Mr.
Doer is also getting some fresh diplomatic help: former
Conservative MP Rob Merrifield, who co-chaired the
Canada-U.S. interparliamentary group, is joining him in
Washington as the Alberta governments envoy.
Mr. Doer, appointed in 2009, also makes this list
for another reason: his relationship with the PM. Insiders described the former Manitoba NDP premier
as one of the few people who is personally close to
Mr. Harper, who the PM actually talks to for work
and pleasure and whose opinion matters.
PMO Special Adviser

Sean Speer
ack when he was Jim Flahertys policy

director, Sean Speer was lobbied
more than anyone in government. That
experience should serve him well upon his
return to Ottawa for a lead role developing
the Conservative Partys election platform.
Mr. Speer left Mr. Flahertys office in
2013 for a stint at the Fraser Institute as
associate director of government budgets
and fiscal policy. He returned to the Hill
last fall as a special adviser in the Prime
Ministers Office.
Mr. Speer had worked in the PMO before

joining the late finance ministers team,
directing stakeholder relations and as a senior
economic policy adviser. His new position
will require a combination of his previous
roles on the Hill. Hell be called on to use his
policy experience to design the 2015 budget
but his primary responsibility will be crafting
the platform, insiders said. Someone who has
experience working with the bureaucrats at
Finance Canada and who can make sure the
numbers add up will be an asset.
Ontario Premier
Kathleen Wynne
athleen Wynne probably

deserves the award for political comeback of the year in 2014.
Leading a scandal-plagued Liberal
Party into the provincial election
last June, winning a fourth consecutive mandate was thought to
be hard enough but Ms. Wynne,
a minister in predecessor Dalton
McGuintys government, won a
comfortable majority.
The federal Conservatives will have noticed that

part of her campaign strategy
involved taking shots at the
prime minister. Shell continue
to do so this year, over equalization payments, pensions,
infrastructure money and
possibly even pipelines, as the
debate over TransCanadas
Energy East proposal cuts
through Canadas most populous province.

Many insiders are now betting on Kathleen Wynne, whom
they credit with a small ego
and a large, devoted following.
With Ontario set to once again
be the key battleground in the
2015 federal election, with seats
up for grabs all around the
Greater Toronto Area, the federal government could decide
it would be better off making
friends with Ontarios powerful
premier than risk losing those
precious votes.
39
24
Bank of
Canada Governor
Stephen Poloz
n 2013, Stephen Poloz took over

from that rarest of breeds, the
rock-star banker, when Mark
Carney left for England. Naturally, Mr. Poloz doesnt garner news in
the same way his predecessor did. In
fact, the most attention hes received
around Parliament Hill was when he
told a Parliamentary committee last
fall that the 200,000 young Canadians
who are unemployed, underemployed
or have returned to school should
consider working for free until the
situation improves.
Aside from youth unemployment,
in 2015 Mr. Poloza former CEO at
Export Development Canada with a
PhD in economics from the University
of Western Ontariowill be focused
on interest rates, which have now undergone their longest pause since the
Second World War, household debt
and the value of the Canadian dollar
as oil prices remain low.
COCOCO.indd 1
ith all the talk about

short pants in the
PMO, Howard Anglin
who moved from being
Stephen Harpers legal adviser to the deputy role last
summer when Joanne McNamara leftis considered
by some to be the adult
supervision. Formerly chief
of staff to Jason Kenney at
Citizenship and Immigra-
tion, the New York University law grad moved to

the PMO in 2013.He may
not have the same outward
power as Ray Novak and
Jenni Byrne but insiders
characterize Mr. Anglin as
the offices intellectual and
the PMs counsel on serious
matters ranging from appointments to security and
justice issues.
The Wire Reports editorial team stays on top of a

rapidly shifting communications landscape to report
on key regulatory and business developments for
more than 4,000 readers in these sectors.
256 Dalhousie St., Byward Market, Ottawa

613-241-7111 cococo.ottawa@bell.net
40
A strategic and niche news service produced for the

telecom, broadcasting and new media sectors and
associated regulatory bodies.
Ask about free delivery
25
PMO Deputy
Chief of Staff
Howard Anglin
Media and telecom

business news you can trust.
give exquisitely
www.cococoottawa.com
P&I photographs by Jake Wright
Top 25
www.wirereport.ca
Independent reporting means
you get the critical business
knowledge you need.
WR.indd 1
14-12-17 10:16 AM
The
15-01-08 3:50 PM
Top 100
The Top 100

Most Powerful and Influential People
in Government and Politics, 2015
1. Stephen Harper, Prime Minister
2. Joe Oliver, Finance Minister
3. John Baird, Foreign Affairs Minister
4. Jason Kenney, Employment and Social Development Minister
5. Janice Charette, Privy Council Clerk
6. Jenni Byrne, Conservative Party National Campaign Manager
7. Justin Trudeau, Liberal Party Leader
8. Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
9. Richard Fadden, National Security Adviser to the Prime Minister
10. Thomas Mulcair, NDP Leader
11. James Moore, Industry Minister
12. Ray Novak, PMO Chief of Staff
13. Paul Rochon, Deputy Minister of Finance
14. Ed Fast, International Trade Minister
15. Diane Finley, Public Works Minister
16. Bob Paulson, RCMP Commissioner
17. Daniel Nowlan, Chief of Staff to Finance Minister Joe Oliver
18. Yaprak Baltacioglu, Treasury Board Secretary
19. Laureen Harper, Prime Ministers Wife
20. Gerald Butts, Principal Adviser to Justin Trudeau
21. Gary Doer, Canadian Ambassador to the U.S.
22. Sean Speer, PMO Special Adviser
23. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario
24. Stephen Poloz, Governor of the Bank of Canada
25. Howard Anglin, PMO Deputy Chief of Staff
The Politicians
Rona Ambrose, Minister of Health
Steven Blaney, Minister of Public Safety
Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia
Tony Clement, President of the Treasury Board
Philippe Couillard, Premier of Quebec
Peter Julian, NDP House Leader
Denis Lebel, Infrastructure Minister
Megan Leslie, NDP Deputy Leader
Peter MacKay, Minister of Justice
Rob Nicholson, Minister of Defence
Jim Prentice, Premier of Alberta
Lisa Raitt, Minister of Transport
Greg Rickford, Minister of Natural Resources
Peter Van Loan, Government House Leader
Brad Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan
The Political Staffers

Karl Blanger, Principal Secretary to Thomas Mulcair
Rebecca Blaikie, NDP Party President and Campaign Manager for Quebec
Rachel Curran, PMO Policy Director
Dan Gagnier, Liberal National Campaign Co-chair
Raoul Gbert, Chief of Staff to Thomas Mulcair
Guy Giorno, Conservative Campaign Chair
Phil Harwood, PMO Policy Adviser for Fiscal and Economic Affairs
Jeremy Hunt, PMO Director of Stakeholder Relations
Jason MacDonald, PMO Communications Director

James Maunder, Chief of Staff to Industry Minister James Moore
David McArthur, Chief of Staff to Natural Resources Minister Greg Rickford
Anne McGrath, NDP National Campaign Director
John Penner, Deputy Chief of Staff to Finance Minister Joe Oliver
Cyrus Reporter, Chief of Staff to Justin Trudeau
Katie Telford, Liberal National Campaign Co-chair
Andrea van Vugt, Chief of Staff to International Trade Minister Ed Fast
Dustin van Vugt, Executive Director of the Conservative Party
Public Servants and Officials

Jean-Pierre Blais, CRTC Chair
Michel Coulombe, Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Michael Ferguson, Auditor General of Canada
John Forster, Chief, Communications Security Establishment Canada
Bob Hamilton, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources
Bruce and Vicki Heyman, U.S. Ambassador to Canada and his wife
Christine Hogan, Deputy Minister of International Trade
Daniel Jean, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
David Johnston, Governor General of Canada
Simon Kennedy, Deputy Minister of Health
John Knubley, Deputy Minister of Industry
Tom Lawson, Chief of Defence Staff
Marc Mayrand, Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Marta Morgan, Associate Deputy Minister of Finance
John Prato, Consul General of Canada in New York
Colleen Swords, Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development
Daniel Therrien, Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Peter Watson, Chair of the National Energy Board
Michael Wernick, Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council and Associate Secretary to the Cabinet
The Media
David Akin, Ottawa Bureau Chief, Sun Media
Theo Argitis, Bloomberg Ottawa Bureau Chief
Jol-Denis Bellavance, La Presse Bureau Chief
Steve Chase, Globe and Mail Reporter
Andrew Coyne, National Post Comment Editor
Jennifer Ditchburn, Canadian Press Reporter
Bob Fife, CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief
Chantal Hbert, Columnist for The Toronto Star and Lactualit
John Ivison, National Post Columnist
Lisa LaFlamme, Chief Anchor and Senior Editor, CTV National News
Will LeRoy, National Newswatch Founder
Stephen Maher, Postmedia News Reporter and Columnist
Peter Mansbridge, Anchor and Chief Correspondent, CBCs The National
Don Martin, Host of CTVs Power Play
Glen McGregor, Ottawa Citizen Reporter
Althia Raj, Huffington Post Canada Ottawa Bureau Chief
Evan Solomon, Host of CBCNNs Power & Politics and CBC Radios The House
Paul Wells, Macleans Political Editor
The Lobbyists
Perrin Beatty, President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce
Tom Jenkins, Executive Chairman of Open Text
Dan Kelly, President and CEO, Canadian Federation of Independent Business
Jayson Myers, President and CEO of the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters
First Nations Leaders

Perry Bellegarde, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations
Art Sterritt, Executive Director of Coastal First Nations
41
The Ministers
Top 100
Rob Nicholson
Tony Clement
Minister of Defence
President of the Treasury Board
Mr. Nicholson, who

sits on Cabinets Priorities
and Planning Committee
and is vice-chair of the
Cabinet Committee on
Foreign Affairs and Security, will have a busy winter explaining Canadas
combat mission in Iraq,
and the reasons for ending
or extending it.
Peter MacKay
Minister of Justice
Law and order continues to
be a key branding tool for the
Tories, with Mr. MacKay as the
spokesperson. Hell be frontand-centre defending new antiterror legislation this year.
The Treasury Board president

has a fight on his hands. After years
of cuts to the public service and
with a proposal to overhaul the
sick-leave regime, the unions have
signed a solidarity pledge to stand
up to the government. Mr. Clement will be the one directing the
battle, one some strategists think
the Conservatives can use to their
advantage in an election campaign.
Greg Rickford
Minister of Natural Resources
With a federal election looming, much of Natural Resources
Minister Greg Rickfords 2015 will
be Oct. 19th-focused, as so much
of his portfolio falls into areas the
Conservatives are expected to campaign on or that theyll try to push as
important election questions.
With new pipeline safety legislation tabled late last year, Mr. Rickford
will be the one to assuage critics fears.
But 2015 may also be a year where
federal politicians start to seriously talk
about the environment, something the

feds are weak on.
Trevor Mcleod, director of the
Centre for Natural Resources Policy
with the Canada West Foundation,
says the Conservative Partys preferred
ballot question centres on the economy,
resource development and trade infrastructure, in terms of pipelines, rails
and ports. And of all of those things,
NRCan is really at the centre of all of it.
But on the environment, theyre
playing defence because they cant
P&I photos by Jake Wright
control the message in the international context.

Katrina Marsh, director of natural
resources and environmental policy with
the Canadian Chamber of Commerce,
agrees that the environment will play a
significant role for Mr. Rickford in 2015.
But climate change and the environment wont be the only issues on
Mr. Rickfords plate. Aboriginal consultations on resource development is
another issue and an energy crisis in
Europe and the Russia-Ukraine crisis
has opened up new energy markets.
Canadas natural resources industry faces tremendous public support
challenges. by Laura Beaulne-Stuebing
Lisa Raitt
Steven Blaney
Rona Ambrose
Minister of Transport
Minister of Public Safety
Minister of Health
Ms. Raitt has been on the defensive on rail

safety since the Lac-Mgantic train disaster in
2013. But shes a strong communicator who offers a less partisan tone that appeals to Canadians outside the Conservative basea valuable
commodity in an election year, especially in the
GTA battleground, as evidenced by the number
of government announcements shes involved in.
Mr. Blaney is one of the governments few Quebec MPs, and the
one with the most senior role in
Cabinet. He hasnt shone in his role
explaining security in the wake of
the Oct. 22 shootings in the Parliamentary Precinct, but hell be called
upon to do it again this year.
The Alberta MP has

received plaudits for her
handling of the challenging Health portfolio since
taking it over in the 2013
shuffle. That role became
even more complicated,
and more important, with
the Ebola crisis. Her role in
that will continue in 2015
and shell also face political pressure on the divisive
physician-assisted suicide
debate. Ms. Ambrose may
also have more than usual
to answer for in the lead-up
to the 2015 election, with
several health-care advocacy
groups determined to get
issues ranging from seniors
care to pharmaceutical plans
to funding on the agenda.
Denis Lebel
Minister of Infrastructure
The minister for infrastructure, communities, intergovernmental affairs and
Quebecs economic development agency
is most important for his role in the Conservatives election strategy in his home
province. All three federal parties will be
competing in La belle province, looking for
42
modest gains or at the very least to protect

what they have. For the Conservatives
thats only five seats, and losing any would
make a second majority government that
much harder. Mr. Lebel will continue to
travel the province making funding announcements, endearing the Conservative
government to as many swayable voters as
possible. I dont know what wed do without him, one senior Conservative source
said. Probably lose all the seats.
P&I photo by Jake Wright
Jason MacDonald
Rachel Curran
Phil Harwood
PMO Director of Policy
PMO Policy Adviser for

Fiscal and Economic Affairs
Though some insiders said Sean

Speers return to Ottawa has made
him the lead on policy as it relates to
the campaign platform, Ms. Curran
is still the policy divisions director.
Jeremy Hunt
PMO Communications
Director
PMO Director of
Stakeholder Relations
The man at the top of the large

pyramid of government communicators, Mr. MacDonald plays a key role
in communicating the Conservatives
agenda. And hes lasted longer than
some of his predecessorshe became
the eighth PMO director of communications since the Conservatives came
to power in 2006 when he took the job
in August 2013.
The one-time executive assistant to the PM has an even

bigger role than usual this year.
Connecting with stakeholders will
be important to crafting the budget
and the 2015 campaign platform,
especially as the Conservatives look
to broaden their tent of voters back
to the sweet spot that won them a
majority in 2011.
P&I photos by Jake Wright and handouts
The Premiers
Christy Clark, Jim Prentice,

Brad Wall and Philippe Couillard
New majority Liberal governments in Ontario and Quebec, rejuvenated PCs in Alberta after Alison
Redfords collapse and the return of
former federal Conservative Cabinet
minister Jim Prentice to his home
provincepower in the provincial
capitals is more stable than it appeared
to be much of last year. Expect that
stability to be leveraged heading into
a federal election. Mr. Wall is a strong
conservative ally to the federal government and Mr. Harper cant be un-
happy with a former minister, and an

effective one, in Edmonton (though
both names come up in any conversations about the Prime Ministers
job), but federal-provincial relations
are less stable in the three provinces
expected to be the major electoral
battlegrounds. On issues from energy
pipelines to health care to equalization, the provinces can look to use the
elections spotlight to champion their
causes, and the federal government
may try its best to keep them happy.
The former chief of staff to Diane

Finley who joined the PMO in 2011 will
have an especially important role this
year as the offices go-to on the 2015
budget. A look at the lobbyists registry
shows that stakeholders have taken note.
John Penner
The backroom boys
The Staffers
Top 100
Deputy Chief of Staff to

Finance Minister Joe Oliver
Mr. Penner, who worked as former Finance minister Jim Flahertys caucus liaison
back in 2008, campaigned for Joe Oliver
in 2011 and followed the minister over to
Finance from Natural Resources. The boss
has a sympathetic ear for Mr. Penner, who
also manages Parliamentary affairs.
Karl Blanger
Principal Secretary
to Thomas Mulcair
Raoul Gbert
Chief of Staff to
Thomas Mulcair
Cyrus Reporter
Chief of Staff to
Justin Trudeau
Old hands Karl Blanger and Cyrus

Reporter have been on the Hill for years.
Raoul Gbert is a new face who keeps
a low profile in the Ottawa bubble. All
three play critical roles in keeping the
opposition parties and their leaders on
point. Mr. Blanger worked as a press
secretary to former NDP leaders Alexa
McDonough and Jack Layton and is a
well-known presence around Parliament whos respected across party lines,
while Mr. Gbert, who ran Mr. Mulcairs
party leadership campaign, is the quiet
adviser in the background who nevertheless is considered the leaders go-to
for advice. Mr. Reporter, a chief of staff
to former Liberal minister Allan Rock, is
known as a mature and organized voice
in Justin Trudeaus office.
43
Top 100
The Spy Chiefs
The tacticians
Michel Coulombe
Peter Van Loan
Director, Canadian Security Intelligence Service
John Forster
Chief, Communications Security

Establishment Canada
The Chiefs
The profiles of Canadas spy agency bosses were already growing

last year in the wake of Edward Snowdens explosive leaks that made
privacy concerns a mainstream issue. Their roles will only grow in
the wake of the Oct. 22 shootings in the Parliamentary Precinct as
lawmakers seek a balance between security and privacy rights.
Government House
Leader
Peter Julian
NDP House
Leader
Debate in the House of Commons is only going to get testier as the

federal election approaches, with each party looking to find partisan
advantage in every dark corner of Parliament. Peter Van Loan and
Peter Julian know where to look. The two House tacticians are central
to everything their respective parties do on the Hill. It will be Mr. Van
Loans job to get as many government bills through to royal assent
before the House rises in June (or earlier) only to return post-election.
Mr. Julian will be doing all he can to slow the Conservatives down and
cry bloody murder at every use of time allocation along the way.
David McArthur
Andrea van Vugt
James Maunder
Chief of Staff to Natural

Resources Minister Greg Rickford
Chief of Staff to International

Trade Minister Ed Fast
Chief of Staff to Industry

Minister James Moore
Regarded as one of the top chiefs of

staff, Mr. McArthur moved from rookie
minister Shelly Glovers office last summer
to be the top staffer to Mr. Rickford, another Cabinet newcomer. The resource file
is a big one with proposed pipeline projects
to both coasts that face considerable grassroots opposition and the Conservatives
trying to prevent any political damage.
Formerly the PMOs policy adviser for

foreign affairs and trade, Ms. van Vugt returned
from maternity leave late last year to apply her
expertise on the file to Mr. Fasts office. Considered a deep-rooted partisan (her husband is
Conservative Party executive director Dustin
van Vugt), shes known for her policy acumen,
an important trait with so many policy issues
looping back to the governments trade agenda.
Another strong chief of

staff, Mr. Maunder will have
to help steer and sell the
governments position on a
number of important files
as the government looks to
make good on its consumerfriendly promises ahead of
the election.
The Watchdogs
Michael Ferguson
Auditor General of Canada

New Senate Speaker Pierre
Claude Nolin said the big stories
are behind us on the Senate expenses
scandal. All eyes will still be on Auditor General Michael Ferguson when
he tables his highly-anticipated audit
on all Senators this spring.
Daniel Therrien
Privacy Commissioner
of Canada
Mr. Therrien, who took over the
role in June, will be an important
voice in the privacy debates of 2015
dealing with everything from data
collection to counterterrorism.
Marc Mayrand Jean-Pierre Blais

Chief Electoral
Officer, Elections
Canada
Marc Mayrand was
personally attacked last
year when Democratic
Reform Minister Pierre
Poilievre tried to push
his controversial electoral reform bill through
Parliament. The head of
elections stood his ground
with the help of some
high-profile friends and
some of the bills more
inflammatory measures
were removed. Now he has
an election to run.
44
CRTC Chair
In two hearings last fallone

on the future of the TV industry
and another on the wholesale
wireless marketJean-Pierre Blais
walked a tightrope, and some are
still waiting to see if he made it.
Faced with challenges to the

regulators authority from Google
and Netflix, Mr. Blais chose to
throw out their evidence rather
than continue a contentious fight
that dragged in politicians and
media pundits. Mr. Blais will have
to show naysayers that the commission is still relevant in 2015.
Peter Watson
Chair of the National Energy Board

Mr. Watson was appointed to the top job with the energy regulator for
a seven-year term in June, just days before the federal Cabinet approved
the Northern Gateway Pipeline subject to the NEBs 209 conditions. He
was a deputy minister in Alberta for energy, the environment and the executive council, the top public servant in the province. Now hes dealing with
two other major projectsKinder Morgans Trans Mountain expansion in
B.C. and TransCanadas Energy East to Quebec and New Brunswickthat
are also crucial to the Conservative governments resource agenda.
Marta Morgan
Christine Hogan
Deputy Minister of
International Trade
Deputy Minister of Aboriginal Affairs

and Northern Development
Ms. Morgan was

shuffled to Finance in
August after holding the
equivalent role at Industry. She arrived just in
time to play a key role in
the federal budget process.
With a background that
includes stints at the Privy
Council Office as well as
six years in the private
sector as vice-president for
trade and competitiveness
at the Forest Products Association of Canada, Ms.
Morgan was a member of
the deputy minister governance committee overseeing the F-35 procurement
secretariat following the
governments reset.
Formerly the top foreign

affairs and defence adviser in the
PMO, Ms. Hogan was appointed
to the critical International
Trade portfolio in January as the
departments deputy minister.
Ms. Swords moved from Canadian Heritage in July, replacing the long-serving Michael Wernick at Aboriginal Affairs. Its
familiar territoryshe had spent four years as Mr. Wernicks
number two before moving to Heritage in 2013and contains
a number of important files for the government, from First
Nations education to skills training to resource development.
Associate Deputy
Minister of Finance
Colleen Swords
Michael Wernick
Daniel Jean
Deputy Clerk of the Privy Council and

Associate Secretary to the Cabinet
Deputy Minister of
Foreign Affairs
His tenure as the longest-serving deputy minister

eight years at Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Developmentended in July, when he was moved to the PCO as
a senior adviser. A few months later he was the offices No.
2. Hes viewed as a strong manager and leader as well as
having a brilliant policy mind, what one former bureaucrat
called your ideal, central-casting role of deputy minister.
Mr. Jean, a former foreign

service officer who moved back to
the department in November 2013
from his deputy role at Heritage, is
playing a lead role in merging his
department with the Canadian International Development Agency.
Simon Kennedy
John Knubley
Deputy Minister of Health
Deputy Minister of Industry
Mr. Kennedy was shuffled in

January into his second DM position, moving to Health. Hes previously worked on foreign investment
reviews at Industry Canada and was
the bureaucratic lead on trade, a
key policy area for the Conservative
government.
With the Conservative governments

commitment in the 2013 Throne Speech to
champion a number of what it presumes are
vote-winning consumer issues, its up to Mr.
Knubley to oversee the sometimes capricious
policies, from wireless competition to price
gaps. He also has a hand in defence procurement, aerospace and copyright policy.
Bob Hamilton
Deputy Minister of
Natural Resources
Shuffled over from Environment in July, Mr. Hamilton has
a comprehensive view of the
tensions over resource development in a critical year for
pipelines and the Conservative
government.
The bureaucrats
Top 100
The campaigners
The Conservatives
Campaign Chair Guy
Giorno and Dustin van
Vugt, Executive Director
of the Conservative Party
Mr. Giorno, a partner at Fasken

Martineau and former chief of staff
to the Prime Minister, returned
to the Conservative fold this
year, while Mr. van Vugt took the
party reins after the Dimitri Soudas
flameout. Hell be responsible for
making sure there are no more
candidate nomination hiccups.
The Dippers
The Liberals
Rebecca Blaikie, Party President and

Campaign Manager for Quebec, and
Anne McGrath, National Campaign Director
As campaign manager for Quebec, Ms. Blaikie is
charged with preserving the Orange Wave in 2015.
Seen as the NDP matriarch, Ms. McGrath, the former
chief of staff to Jack Layton, returned to run the party as
national director in April 2014 after two years away and has
since been overseeing the partys preparations for 2015. With
an intimate knowledge of the partys base, Ms. McGrath will
be a key source of advice for leader Thomas Mulcair, both
in developing an election platform and in putting together a
well-oiled election team.by Laura Ryckewaert
National Campaign Co-Chairs

Katie Telford and Dan Gagnier
The team of Ms. Telford and Mr. Gagnier are seen as an ideal mix of veteran savvy
and new tricks. Mr. Gagnier was working
on campaigns before some members of
Team Trudeau were born. Most recently, he
was Jean Charests chief of staff and played
a role in new Quebec Premier Philippe
Couillards winning campaign. Ms. Telford,
who has played a significant role in reviving
the Liberals by adopting big-data fundraising techniques borrowed from the Obama
campaigns, is the one the Tories fear.
45
The journos
Top 100
Joel-Denis
Bellavance
La Presse
Bureau Chief
Steve Chase
Globe and Mail Reporter

The Globe and Mails Mr. Chase reports on a range of topics, gets government scoops and shows an interest in
the policy side of political discussions.
Andrew Coyne
National Post Comment Editor
He gave up his Twitter account and
the world kept turning. He also kept
writing thoughtful columns on economic
policy and democratic reform, and remains a regular on CBCs At Issue panel.
A leading reporter
for a major Quebec
daily, Mr. Bellavance
will be a key voice
in election coverage
in the province that
could have a major
role in the outcome.
Bob Fife
The man who broke the Wright-Duffy

story will get to watch how it plays out
this spring, but nobody thinks Mr. Fife is
sitting back and resting on his laurels. He
continues to drive the agenda with scoops
and is known for guarding his sources.
National Post Columnist

A columnist who breaks news and who actually
stings the government a bit when hes critical.
Macleans
political editor
A seasoned columnist
whose thoughtful take
on events influences the
conversation, and a force
on Twitter as well.
Theo Argitis
Bloomberg Ottawa Bureau Chief
Bloomberg has become a force on the Hill and
Mr. Argitis deserves a lot of the credit for breaking
business and resource stories. Focusing on big stories and known for guarding his sources, Mr. Argitis
is well-regarded across the political spectrum.
The Dynamic Duo

Stephen Maher, Postmedia News
Reporter and Columnist, and Glen
McGregor, Ottawa Citizen reporter
The pair who broke the Dean Del Mastro and
robocalls stories saw the fruits of their labours in
courtooms last year, with convictions for both Mr. Del
Mastro and Michael Sona. Theyll be watching closely
for any funny business when the writ drops this year.
46
Columnist for
The Toronto Star
and Lactualit
CTV Ottawa Bureau Chief
John Ivison
Paul Wells
The government pays attention

Chantal to Chantal
Hbert, as does anyone
Hbert following federal politics. Perhaps
most importantly in 2015, her
audience includes Quebec and the
GTA, where all three parties are
vying for seats in tight races.
The anchors
Lisa LaFlamme, chief

Anchor and Senior Editor,
CTV National News,
Peter Mansbridge, Anchor
and Chief Correspondent,
CBCs The National
Canadian Press
Reporter
In an election year, the anchors

and nightly news overseers will
have influence over the coverage
and likely opportunities to interview the leaders. Mr. Mansbridge,
of course, also hosts his programs
popular At Issue panel.
Comfortable in both print

and on television, Ms. Ditchburn
gets scoops on the Conservatives
that drive the news agenda.
The Daily Hosts
Jennifer
Ditchburn
David Akin
Evan Solomon, Host of

CBCNNs Power &
Politics and CBC Radios
The House; Don Martin,
Host of CTVs Power Play
A prolific blogger and Twitter user who appears in both

print and on TV for Sun Media,
he reaches a conservative audience outside the Ottawa bubble.
The hosts of the two daily political shows have the chance to analyze
and package the days agenda, testing
the spin from politicians and pundits.
National bureau
chief, Sun Media
Althia Raj
Ottawa bureau chief,

The Huffington Post
Canada
Ms. Rajs reporting reaches
a younger audience outside the
Ottawa bubble, one that could
play a major role in the 2015
election, if it decides to pay attention to politics and vote.
Will LeRoy
National
Newswatch Founder
National Newswatch is the first
stop in the morning and the last
stop at night for most people looking for their federal political coverage fix. Mr. LeRoys decisions about
what stories make it and where
theyre placed make a difference in
the daily political debate.
Dan Kelly
Jayson Myers
President and CEO, Canadian

Federation of Independent Business
Last fall, the federal government
lowered the Employment Insurance
premiums for small businessesapparently without the Finance Department
doing any of its own analysis. The
government has relied on the analysis
of those who are the small business experts, those who actually represent small
business, which is the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, Finance

Minister Joe Oliver told the House
Finance Committee in November. Mr.
Kelly represents a valuable constituency
for the Conservatives and has excellent
access to decision makers, as evidenced
by monthly lobbying reports.
Perrin Beatty
President and CEO of

the Canadian Chamber
of Commerce
The CEO of the countrys major

business organization, representing 200,000 businesses, the former
Progressive Conservative Cabinet
minister has a vast network of contacts in government and media.
President and CEO of the

Canadian Manufacturers
and Exporters
As the Conservative government
drives and touts its trade agenda, Mr. Myers is there every step of the way, pushing
for new markets and celebrating with the
government when theyre found.
Tom Jenkins
Executive Chairman
of Open Text
Mr. Jenkins has his hands in everything. The software executive who
produced reports for the federal government on military procurement and
research and development is seen as a
bridge between the worlds of business
and government with unparalleled
access to the Harper government.
The lobbyists
Top 100
Misc
David Johnston
Perry Bellegarde
Governor General of Canada
National Chief of
the Assembly of
First Nations
The GGs constitutional powers

could be tested in the event of coalition government talk after the 2015
election, but Mr. Johnston makes
this list for another reason: hes a
friend and trusted adviser to the
Prime Minister, a man who insiders
say doesnt have many of either.
Tom Lawson
Chief of Defence Staff

The head of Canadas Armed Forces has a combat
mission in Iraq to deal with overseas, as well as threats
to soldiers in Canada on his agenda in 2015.
Megan Leslie
NDP Deputy Leader
One of the brightest MPs and best communicators on the opposition bench, Ms. Leslie will be
called upon to campaign for the party seeking to
convince voters its the government in waiting.
The Saskatchewan chief

coasted to the AFNs leadership on the first ballot in
December and will be the
top First Nations voice dealing with the government on
thorny issues from resource
development to education.
Art Sterritt
Executive Director
of Coastal First Nations
Mr. Sterritt, whose organization is an alliance of nine
First Nations, is a powerful
opponent of the Enbridge
Northern Gateway pipeline, a
controversial project that will
figure in the political battleground of B.C. in 2015.
Bruce and
Vicki Heyman
U.S. Ambassador to Canada
and his wife
The Goldman Sachs investment banker from
Chicago, who took over the post in March, and
his wife, Vicki, operate like a team, with sources
saying the latter uses the dining room table at
the official residence as more of a networking
tool than others in the past.
John Prato
Consul General of Canada
in New York
Canadas consul general in New York brings
an investment banking background and strong
Conservative ties to the role hes occupied since
2011. Close with the late Jim Flaherty and a fundraiser for Ontario Tories, the former managing
director in the equity capital markets group at TD
Securities has used his Wall Street connections to
create platforms for Prime Minister Harper and
other top ministers looking to reach the investment community and talk energy and trade.
47
POLICY
Harper
governments
inaction on
climate change
irrational
The most recent assessment by Environment
Canada in 2014 shows that rising emissions from the
oil and gas sector, particularly the oilsands, would
drive greenhouse gases about 19 per cent above the
Conservative governments target by 2020.
by Mike De So uza
hen Environment Minister

Leona Aglukkaq stood up in
the House of Commons last fall
to criticize her governments environment
watchdog, it came after the latter gave the
federal environment minister a personal
briefing about weaknesses in federal climate change policies.
The watchdog, federal Environment Commissioner Julie Gelfand, had just released a
scathing evaluation, last October, of the Harper
governments record on climate change.
Ms. Gelfands report criticized the government for ineffective planning, delays
in action and poor overall co-ordination.
The commissioner also took the time
beforehand to sit down with Ms. Aglukkaq
for about an hour to explain the findings.
Our meeting was cordial, Ms. Gelfand
says in an interview with Power & Influence
magazine. I have nothing to indicate to
me that there was any lack of understanding of the role [of an auditor]. Weve been
around a long time. The auditor general
has been around. The departments know
what the role is and what happens on the
day of tabling and afterward. It was her [the
ministers] department that accepted all the
recommendations and so we hope to see
them being implemented.
Ms. Gelfands report, like many other
assessments in recent years, shows that
the federal government wont meet an
48
international promise by Prime Minister

Stephen Harper to reduce Canadas annual
greenhouse gas emissions by 17 per cent
below 2005 levels by 2020.
According to our audit, the evidence is
stronger than it was two years ago that we
wont meet our targets, Ms. Gelfand says.
The most recent assessment by Environment Canada in 2014 shows that rising
emissions from the oil and gas sector,
particularly the oilsands, would drive
greenhouse gases about 19 per cent above
Mr. Harpers target by 2020.
The oilsands industry is the fastest
growing source of greenhouse gas emissions
in Canada, requiring vast amounts of energy
and water to extract heavy oil from natural
deposits of tar-like sand in northern Alberta.
Although the government has studied and
promised to deliver regulations several times
in recent years, Ms. Gelfand says theres still
no action beyond preliminary proposals.
But in December, Prime Minister Harper
openly mocked the prospect of regulating the
industry, describing climate change action
targeting the sector as crazy economic policy because of plummeting global oil prices.
Mr. Harper added that nobody else in the
world was regulating pollution from oil and
gasthis despite action by other countries in
regulating pollution from oil and gas, as well
as carbon pricing policies affecting the sector
in Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec.
Behind the scenes, his government has also

been actively lobbying the European Union
and American politicians to block climate
legislation that would target Canadas oilsands.
But throughout his political career,
Prime Minister Harper was never known
for his enthusiasm about tackling climate
change, although in a year-end interview with CBC News Peter Mansbridge,
Mr. Harper said hes now open to using
a carbon-pricing system like Albertas,
something he previously opposed.
As leader of the opposition in 2002, he
tried to raise money from supporters of his
former political party, the Canadian Alliance,
by questioning peer-reviewed evidence about
climate change. At the time, he said the science
was tentative and contradictory. He also
pledged to lead a campaign to block the jobkilling, economy destroying Kyoto Accord.
In government, he also shut down an
advisory panel, the National Round Table
on the Environment and the Economy,
after it warned that Canada was placing its
economy at risk by failing to tackle climate
change with a comprehensive plan.
The stubborn refusal of Prime Minister
Harper to even consider the costs of inaction
on climate change is irrational, says Keith
Stewart, a climate and energy campaigner
for Greenpeace Canada. He either refuses to
accept what the scientists are telling him, or is
willing to ignore it in favour of the short-term
economic benefit of the oil industry.
Ms. Aglukkaq has also generated
headlines by casting doubtin her first
major television interview as environment
minister in 2013about whether climate
change was melting ice in the Arctic.
She made those comments a few weeks
after her office recommended that the department delete linesin a public response to an
international report assessing the science of
climate changesaying that the government
takes climate change seriously and recognizes the scientific findings that conclude human
activity is mostly responsible for this change.
But Mr. Harpers government has also
introduced regulations to reduce pollution
from new cars, following North American-wide standards led by California,
Quebec, and the Obama administration.
Another set of regulations has banned
construction of traditional coal-fired power
plants, previously one of the largest sources
of greenhouse gases in Canada until the
Ontario government decided to shut down
its existing plants.
Meanwhile, some economists say the
costs of regulating the oil and gas industry
would be small, in relation to overall costs of
the project as well as other recently-adopted
POLICY
government measures restricting foreign
ownership and access to temporary foreign
workers for the sector.
Prior to the recent drop in oil prices, Canadian energy company Suncor was anticipating
that regulations putting a $40-per-tonne price
or tax on carbon pollutionconsidered to be
one of the toughest proposals on the table
would affect profitability of one of its oilsands
development projects in Fort Hills by 0.39 per
cent with oil prices at about $100 per barrel.
Andrew Leach, an economist and professor
of energy policy at the University of Alberta,
says this impact on profitability could grow to
about one per cent, with oil prices of about $60
per barrel, depending on other factors such
as the value of the Canadian dollar. But he
explained that the cost of the GHG regulations
would remain the same, possibly making up a
larger share of the dwindling profit margin.
David McLaughlin, a former Conservative
staffer who also headed the National Round
Table on the Environment and the Economy
prior to its demise, says that the Canadian
government is facing added pressure since
the U.S. has reached a new deal with China,
proposing more aggressive targets after 2020.
Mr. McLaughlin, who served as chief of
staff to former prime minister Brian Mulroney
as well as the late Jim Flaherty in the Finance
portfolio, says the deal means the Harper
government can no longer use the absence of
efforts from the largest polluting countries in
the world as an excuse for delaying action in
Canada, as it has done in recent years.
The U.S. is pivoting more to clean energy
and low-carbon economic performance.
We are doing so in fits and starts, says Mr.
McLaughlin, a strategic adviser to the dean
of the environment at the University of Waterloo. The argument that Canada is such a
small player and cannot move unless the two
biggest emitters move is now gone.
But the lobby group representing
Canadian oil and gas companies expressed
skepticism about the new climate change
deal between the U.S. and China.
On the China side, the arrangement
appears aspirational and we await the
details with interest, says Alex Ferguson,
vice-president of the Canadian Association
of Petroleum Producers.
Meanwhile, Ms. Gelfand says her office
couldnt find any explanation in its audit
for the delays in regulations for the oil and
gas sector.
Without any new rules, the numbers
make it clear that while the largest provinces
such as Quebec and Ontario are reducing
their emissions, the oilsands sector is wiping
out their gains and any possibility of meeting Mr. Harpers climate change target.
Although the numbers may vary based

on the markets demand for oil, Environment Canadas latest projections show that
Albertas annual greenhouse gas emissions
in 2020driven by its oil and gas industrywould exceed the combined carbon
pollution that year of both Ontario and
Quebec.
So its obviously critically important,
if were going to achieve our international
Copenhagen target, Ms. Gelfand says.
But in reacting to Ms. Gelfands latest report, Ms. Aglukkaq focused instead
on comments from a lobby group, the
Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, that
suggested the audit had omitted what the
minister described as a big detail related to
regulations that promote biofuels.
Despite Ms. Aglukkaqs claims, Ms.

Gelfands office had in fact reported on
those measures, noting in a letter to the association that the government was behind
schedule on reporting about whether the
regulations were successful.
Following her participation at an
international climate change summit last
December 2014 in Peru, Ms. Aglukkaq is
expected to revisit the issue later in 2015
with her provincial counterparts, leading
up to new commitments from all countries
prior to the next major summit in Paris at
the end of the year.
Ms. Gelfand says that it was now up
to Parliament to ensure that the Canadian
government meets its goals by keeping the
federal departments feet to the fire.

test.indd 1
49
14-12-17 10:04 AM
CRIMINAL TRIAL
Senator Mike Duffys

trial promises to be one
for the history books
Senator Mike Duffy was charged after a 16-month long RCMP investigation
on July 17, 2014. Forty-one days over April and June 2015 have been set
aside in an Ottawa provincial courthouse, meaning the witness list will be
long and Sen. Duffy himself may well take the stand for several days.
by Le sli e M ac Ki n n on
enator Mike Duffys spring trial for 31

counts of fraud, breach of trust and
bribery will be one of the most riveting court sessions involving a politician
Canada has ever seen, and, as Sen. Duffy
himself prophesied in a bombastic Senate
speech, one for the history books.
Sen. Duffy was charged after a 16-month
long RCMP investigation on July 17, 2014.
Forty-one days over April and June
have been set aside in an Ottawa provincial
courthouse, meaning the witness list will be
long and Sen. Duffy himself may well take
the stand for several days.
Toronto criminal lawyer Steven Skurka, in
a phone interview about Sen. Duffys case, says,
We have very few political corruption trials in
this country to start with, and, secondly, this
is very unusual in the terms oftiming of the
charges. Why did it take so long?
Sen. Duffys charges are to do with his
housing expense claims as well as $65,000
he paid to a contractor, some of which,
the RCMP has alleged, was used for Sen.
Duffys personal gain or expenses, which
circumvent Senate oversight.
But the most sensational charge is for
allegedly accepting a bribe from the most
50
powerful figure in the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) in a secret deal to repay money
the Senate said Sen. Duffy owed for four
years of inappropriate housing claims.
The trial could uncover the behindclosed-door operations of the secretive Senate
Internal Economy Committee, the PMO,
and perhaps even the Prime Minister himself
as to what he knew about the extraordinary
$90,000 cheque written to Sen. Duffy by Nigel
Wright, the PMs chief of staff.
Mr. Wright has since resigned and
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has said he
knew nothing of the deal.
Sen. Duffy, a well-known broadcaster
who covered politics in Ottawa for more
than three decades, was named a Conservative Senator to fill one of P.E.I.s four Senate
spots in December 2008.
He designated his Cavendish, P.E.I.
cottage his primary residence, a declaration
that meant he could charge expenses and
meal allowances for staying in his Ottawa
home while on Senate business.
When media drew attention to the fact
Sen. Duffy had lived in Ottawa for three
decades, the Senate appointed the independent auditor Deloitte to review his, as well
as three other Senators, housing and travel

claims.
The Deloitte audit revealed Sen. Duffy, as
a Senator, spent only 30 per cent of his time
in Prince Edward Island, mostly during the
Senates long summer break. In the winter,
he stayed in Charlottetown hotels. The Senate asked the RCMP to investigate.
In November 2013, Sen. Duffy, along with
Patrick Brazeau and Pamela Wallin, were suspended from the Senate without pay before any
of them were charged criminally. Sen. Brazeau
and Sen. Mac Harb, who resigned from the Senate in August 2013, were subsequently charged.
Sen. Wallin has not yet faced charges.
Both Sen. Duffy and his lawyer, veteran
litigator Donald Bayne, in speeches, statements, and a press conference, have laid out
some lines of their defence.
Sen. Duffy has said he possesses an
email trail that will show the PMO
constructed a scripted scenario in which
he would pretend to willingly repay his
expenses with a personal bank loan even as
he secretly accepted a $90,000 gift from
Mr. Wright to pay off the debt.
The RCMP dropped its investigation into
Mr. Wright in April, without laying any charges.
CRIMINAL TRIAL
Disgraced Senator Mike Duffy, once a Conservative

Party fundraising star, pictured on the Hill in
October 2013. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
Mr. Skurka thinks Sen. Duffy could build

his defence around what he says is the baffling
bribery charge to taint the entire credibility of
the prosecutions case. Its unlikely Mr. Wright, he
says, will testify he offered Sen. Duffy a bribe.
A bribe does require the participation of two
people, he points out. I would do everything to
eviscerate it and connect it to the other charges.
He continues, I think the police may rue the day
they charged Mike Duffy with bribery.
Both Sen. Duffy and Mr. Bayne have suggested Harper could be called as a witness. But Mr.
Skurka doesnt think so.
Hed be the last person I would call, it would
be a circus and a sideshow and unnecessary if Nigel
Wright gets up and denies its a bribe.
There isnt much of a fraud case against
Sen. Duffy based on his housing claims, according to David Debenham, a Toronto lawyer
and fraud expert.
You look at that, its got Parliamentary privilege
written all over itParliament, in effect, creates its
own internal rules, and so thats big hurdle number
one, he says in a phone interview.
Most damaging, perhaps, to the prosecutions
case, is a 2012 email from Mr. Wright that Sen.
Duffy says he can produce.
I am told you have complied with all the
applicable rules and that there would be several Senators with similar arrangements, the
email says.
Yet Sen. Duffy is also charged with claiming
Senate expenses for vacation days he spent in
Florida while he was campaigning for the Conservatives during the last federal election.
Mr. Bayne, in a highly unusual press

conference he gave just before Sen. Duffy was
suspended from the Senate, said evidence will
show that a staffer, working from home and
suffering from post-partum depression, made
an honest mistake in filling out housing claims
for Sen. Duffy.
Its an issue of credibility, Mr. Debenham
says, adding that Sen. Duffys possible willful blindness, given he signed the erroneous
claims, might be equated with an intent to
commit fraud.
At least theres awhiff of a theory of a case
for those, he says.
In addition, Sen. Duffy is charged with
paying $65,000 to Gerry Donohue, a former
technician he once worked with at CTV, for
what the RCMP says is no tangible work. In
his press conference last year Mr. Bayne said just
because there were no written speeches doesnt
mean work wasnt done.
Since that time, the RCMP has alleged some of
the $65,000 went to pay a makeup artist, a personal trainer, and a young office volunteer. Sen. Duffy
has not commented on these allegations
Lawyers will tell you that every rule is within
a context, that the life of the law is not logic but
experience, so you have to say, Were other people
doing this, Mr. Debenham says.
By the time of Sen. Duffys trial, Canadas
auditor general, Michael Ferguson, is expected
to have completed a highly detailed audit of all
Senators expense claims.His examination will
reveal how other Senators bear up under the kind
of light shone on Sen. Duffy.
Its widely anticipated that a portion of
Mr. Fergusons findings will be referred to the
RCMP.
Possible
Witness List in
Duffy Trial
Nigel Wright, former PMO chief of staff
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Conservative Senator Marjory
LeBreton, former government
Senate leader
Conservative Senator Carolyn
Stewart Olsen, former Senate Internal
Economy Committee member
Conservative Senator David Tkachuk,
former head of the Senate Internal
Economy Committee
Conservative Senator John Wallace,
former member, Senate Conflict of
Interest Committee
Liberal Senator George Furey, deputy
director, Senate Internal Economy
Committee
Former Conservative Senator
Nol Kinsella, former chair Internal
Economy Committee
Conservative Senator Irving Gerstein,
chair, Conservative Fund Canada
Benjamin Perrin, former PMO lawyer
Arthur Hamilton, Conservative
Party lawyer
Nicole Proulx, director of
Senate finance
Gary OBrien, former clerk of the Senate
David van Hemmen, former PMO staffer
and current ministerial staffer
Chris Woodcock,
Duffys Trial Lawyers

Donald Bayne, Sen. Duffys lawyer,
the founder of the high-profile
Ottawa law firm Bayne Sellar Boxall.
Hes worked on the Somalia Inquiry,
the Air India Inquiry, and represented
the RCMP in the Arar Commission.
The Crown attorney prosecuting
Sen. Duffy is Jason Neubauer who also
teaches law at the University of Ottawa.
He won a conviction in the beating
death of Ottawa resident Brian Fudge
in 2012 and in 2013 prosecuted Neil
Shah, who pretended to be a lawyer and
defrauded people of $2.3-million.
Assistant Crown attorney Mark
Holmes will join Neubauer. He
prosecuted retired civil servant Roger
Clement who fire-bombed a bank in
Ottawa.
former PMO staffer

Joanne McNamara,
former PMO staffer
Patrick Rogers, former PMO staffer
and current ministerial staffer
Ray Novak, PMO chief of staff
Diane Scharf, former Duffy assistant
Mary McQuaid, former Duffy adviser
Gary Timm, Deloitte auditor
Charlie Allen, P.E.I. health department
RCMP Cpl. Greg Horton,
lead investigator
Marc Grenon, forensic investigator
Gerry Donohoe,
former Duffy contractor
Mike Croskery, personal trainer
Jaqueline Lambert, make-up artist
Ashley Cain, PMO staffer
51
LOBBYING
Earnscliffes Harry Near and Michael
Robinson pictured at Mtropolitain,
also called the cafeteria by the
Earnscliffe crowd. P&I photograph by
Mark Burgess
Inside Earnscliffe
Strategy Group
After being written off by some in the wake of the sponsorship scandal,
the firm that celebrated its 25th anniversary last fall re-grouped around an
approach to lobbying that made it unique when it launched in 1989. But with
its founders nearing retirement and a number of competitors looking to pick
off clients, does Earnscliffe have what it takes to stay ahead of the pack?
by Ma rk Burge ss
he waiter notifies Yaroslav Baran

that a bottle of Bogle Vineyards
Phantom has been chilled for him.
Such is the service at Mtropolitain Brasserie, the restaurant across the National War
Memorial from Earnscliffe Strategy Groups
offices thats fondly referred to within the
firm as the cafeteria. Enigmatic orders
like the Arctic char without the Arctic
char or a side of a pile of green things
are unblinkingly accepted. For a firm that
brands itself as a discerning reader of the
public policy mood, gently making its
asks at just the right time, without causing a ripple, its principals are unrestrained
in their demands as diners. You wouldnt
52
catch their clients making such inscrutable

requests at the Prime Ministers Office.
Wander into Mtropolitain on any
given weekday afternoon and the chances
are youll find Earnscliffe consultants in a
booth, doing the Earnscliffe thinglunch
and repartee. By the time the meal with Mr.
Baran and Velma McColl, two of the firms
next-generation leaders, is finished, fellow
principals Geoff Norquay and Andr Albinati have joined the table, wine glasses in hand.
A coffee meeting a week later with founders Harry Near and Mike Robinson takes
place in the same booth. This is partly out of
necessity; the combination of a new hip for
Mr. Robinson and a broken elevator at Earn-
scliffes home in the Chambers Building has

banished him to this second office. This time
its Ms. McColl who strolls in as we finish, the
first of the lunch crowd. The booth will be
monopolized for another couple of hours.
This is Earnscliffe in late 2014, two weeks
from its 25th anniversary. Its two founding
partners, almost professorial in attire and
tone, are still holding court, planning for
succession but still engaged, one freshly
operated on and ready to continue the fight.
Its next generation is multi-partisan and not
lacking swagger, maintaining the traditions
of policy acumen and collegial banter. Its
most prominent faces are Conservative again,
as they were in 1989, having once again
LOBBYING
adjusted to the political winds after
some thought the firm was doomed
for becoming too closely branded
with the Paul Martin Liberals. And
its maintained the approach it adopted from the beginning: providing
high-level strategic advice, taking
on fewer clients and letting them do
the talking, offering a mix of public
affairs savvy, research and communications advice. In many ways, the
last 25 years has been a story of the
lobbying industry catching up. Now
that it has, the question is whether
Earnscliffe can stay ahead.
arnscliffe was founded in 1989

but its roots go back another
decade. As Mr. Near tells it, he and
Mike Robinson came together
because Joe Clark lost the 1980
federal election. Mr. Near, who had
been working for energy minister
Ray Hnatyshyn at the time, was
out of a job. Enter Mr. Robinson,
a former staffer to Liberal minister
Judd Buchanan, who, with David
MacNaughton (now a principal
with Strategy Corp.) had recently
purchased Public Affairs International (PAI), one of the few lobby
firms in Ottawa at the time. Mr.
Near was happy to join them.
Not long after, PAI bought Decima Research, bringing star pollster
Allan Gregg on boarda seminal
event, Mr. Near says, combining
public policy and polling in the same
shop for the first time. It would soon
add a communications element and
the model Earnscliffe would follow
almost a decade later was set.
The group didnt stay together
long. Mr. Near directed a couple of
successful federal election campaigns

for Brian Mulroney, Mr. Robinson
spent a year in Europe and then took
on Paul Martins Liberal leadership
bid, and Hill and Knowlton bought
PAI. By the late 80s, Mr. Nears
company, Near Consultants, PMO
veteran Bill Foxs firm Fox Communications, and Advance Planning,
run by Hugh Segal and Elizabeth
Roscoe, began sharing office space in
the Bank of Nova Scotia building on
Sparks Street. Earnscliffe was born.
The firm started as four Tories
plus Michael Robinson. Mr. Segal
and Mr. Fox came up with the name,
which refers to Sir. John A. Macdonalds official residence before 24
Sussex Dr. that later became home to
the British high commissioner.
The nascent firm had the government relations and communications
angles covered, but not the public
opinion research. Bruce Anderson,
the president of Decima at the time,
was looking to start his own business; he joined, becoming another
early shareholder, as Mr. Segal left to
work in the Mulroney PMO and Ms.
Roscoe moved on to the Canadian
Cable Television Association.
Elly Alboim, a former CBC National News Parliamentary bureau
chief, and David Herle, a future
Paul Martin campaign manager,
joined Earnscliffe a few years later,
the former handling communications, the latter joining Mr. Anderson on the research side.
he early days of lobbying in

Ottawa was a dark science, as
one lobbyist put it, an unregulated
business where practitioners left
Selling and buying a home is not easy and

emotions can easily get the best of you. Welcome
Dominique, who not only helped us with our life
changing move, but the support and guidance
provided led to our old home being sold within 48
hours of being listed, at asking price. The attention
to detail and ensuring we followed her advice
made our transition and sale a smooth one. If
you live in Ottawa and are looking to change your
scenery, Dominique should be your rst call!
1. Velma McColl addresses the crowd at Earnscliffes 25th

anniversary party on Oct. 15.
2. Founders Hugh Segal, left, Harry Near, centre, and
Mike Robinson share the mic and some tales about the
firms early days.
3. Bruce Young from Earnscliffes B.C. office travelled
to Ottawa for the anniversary party, as did the firms
principals from other offices across the country.
P&I photographs by Jake Wright
DM Dominique Milne
BROKER
C: 613 864 5566

O: 613 842 5000
Dominique@DominiqueMilne.com
www.DominiqueMilne.com
Faud Khan
Chief Security Analyst at TwelveDot
Dominque Milne NEW.indd 1
53
2014-12-18 6:15 PM
LOBBYING
Principal Robin Sears,

right, who joined the firm
in 2012, talks shop with
Bloombergs Theo Argitis
at the anniversary party.
Earnscliffe and Bloomberg
are office neighbours in the
historic Chambers Building
on Elgin Street.
The early days

of lobbying in
Ottawa was a
dark science, as
one lobbyist put
it, an unregulated
business where
practitioners
left government
and milked the
Rolodex.
government and milked the Rolodex. It

was dominated by one-man shops that
landed clients by bragging about whom
they could get on the phone.
When lobbying took off in Ottawa, there were a lot of cowboys running
around, cowboys doing pretty high-profile,
silly things, says Donald Savoie, a public
administration expert at the University of
Moncton. You dont see that anymore.
Theyre much more sophisticated, theyre
better at what they do.
Government was an enigma for many
corporations, which were content to hire
lobby firms to handle their relations for
them. In fact, they expected it.
The marketplace started to create expectations that if they hired somebody, that there
actually was a direct consequence between
hiring them and what they were going to get
out of government, Mr. Robinson says.
Earnscliffe made different promises
from the beginning. The firm sought to differentiate itself by avoiding being lobbyists
in the classic sense.
We were not demandeurs of government, Mr. Robinson says.
54
Their efforts went toward making

sure clients understood the policy context
and were well briefed when they went in
for meetings. The approach, informed
by the founders own work in ministers
offices, was designed to come off as nonthreatening.
They were viewed, and I think rightly
so, as a firm that would provide very
detailed analysis and a strategy plan, not a
firm that would take your hand and walk
you through the strategy, says a lobbyist
from another firm who asked not to be
named while lauding a rival.
That approachMs. McColl described
it as a contrast between running a dating
service and acting as a coachhas
become more or less the mainstream in
the subsequent 25 years. Business and
government have learned to understand
each other much better, and most large
companies have invested in their own
large government relations departments.
Some businesses are still content to
completely pass off their GR to Ottawa
consultants, but their numbers are
diminishing.
LOBBYING
he Lobbyists Registration Act, the first

piece of legislation governing the business and requiring basic registration of activities, came into force in September 1989
but the more stringent reporting requirements didnt come until the 2008 Lobbying
Act. That act impacted the way many firms
operate. Politicians are less keen to be seen
meeting with the hired guns now that those
communications are reported monthly in
an online registry, so the role of lobbyists as
advisers to clientsas the ones preparing
them for meetings but not actually taking
part in those meetingshas grown.
Data from the federal lobbyists registry
shows that while over the last five years the
number of registered consultant lobbyists
has remained relatively static, the number
of firms and organizations that have registered has increased significantly. Theres no
data comparing the number of communications consultants report versus the number reported by firms and organizations,
but the registration numbers suggest that
the rise in in-house registrations is because
those organizations are no longer leaving
the meetings up to their hired guns.
Modern lobbying campaigns have moved
from making a direct case to key contacts on
the Hill to using new tools to engage the public before going to decision makers, adapting
to an environment where governments are
motivated by what motivates the average
voter. Firms have adjusted by expanding their
offerings: communications, government
relations, public opinion research, brand
enhancement, stakeholder relations, social
media strategytheyre all commonly found
under the same roof now, in the way Mr.
Near envisioned in the early days of PAI.
Its a shift that has suited Earnscliffe.
In some ways the marketplace has
come to us, in the sense that I think now
most companies are sophisticated enough
to know that what they really need is good
advice and intelligence, Mr. Robinson says.
Lets not kid

ourselves
here. Were
not talking
shrinking
violets, says
Harry Near.
At press time, the firm had 55 active registrations, including for big-name companies like Microsoft Canada, General Motors
of Canada, big pharma association Rx&D,
CIBC and Tim Hortons. A May 2014 analysis by online news service The Lobby Monitor
put Earnscliffe ninth in the list of firms with
the most active registrations, dwarfed by
competitors like Global Public Affairs, The
Capital Hill Group and Hill and Knowlton
Strategies, who each had more than 125.
A Power & Influence analysis of communication reports filed in the online lobbyists
registrymonthly reporting of phone calls
and meetings with office holdersshows
Earnscliffes consultants combined for only
18 communications in the first 10 months
of 2014. Compare that to firms like Capital Hill, which reported 83, and Hill and
Knowlton, which reported 116, and theres a
clear difference in approach. But its one that
isnt unique to Earnscliffe, even if many give
them credit for being the pioneers. Global
Public Affairs, despite having more than 140
registrations, had reported only 28 communications, and other big-name firms like
Summa Strategies and Ensight Canada had
reported even fewer than Earnscliffe. More

firms are handling the strategy and sending
the companies in to the meetings, the niche
Earnscliffe sought to fill 25 years ago.
Mr. Savoie says theres a downside to
lobbyings professionalization, though.
It permeates the political class and it
permeates Ottawa now. Theyve become
very good at what they do, he says. Unless
you have the resources to influence the
machinery of government, you may have to
take a backseat far too often.
It also remains to be seen whether Earnscliffe can maintain its status in a more competitive field with upstarts adopting its approach.
arnscliffe avoids most of what Mr. Norquay calls rote workthe short-term
media contracts to prepare for press events,
or hosting Parliamentary receptionsand
focuses on long-term relationships with
clients, a rarer bird in this more competitive public affairs field.
Mr. Robinson says the firms retainer-to-project-work split used to be roughly
90-10 but is now closer to 60-40. Its a
change common across the industry, as
companies with in-house GR look to firms
more for help on a specific issue.
But as the need to compete for clients
for short-term work has increased, Earnscliffe has maintained its owner-in-thestore philosophy, with a flat structure that
doesnt include managerial roles.
What we liked was the client work, to
be actually involved in dealing with interesting public policy issues, so the philosophy of Earnscliffe was were only going to
have principals, Mr. Robinson says.
This has led to what Ms. McColl calls the
You buy us, you get us approach to clients:
sign with Earnscliffe and you get the whole
firms attention. Its built into the compensation model. Each quarter, the principals submit
Globally inspired cuisine with air;

catering to the Diplomatic
community for over 20 years
Private Dinning
Wednesday Night
Embassy Dinners
Jazz Club
Winemaker Pairing Dinners Guest Chef Dinners
Fabulous views at 45 Rideau St. and Sussex

www.santerestaurant.com 613.241.7113
HOLTZ SPA NEW.indd 1
55
2015-01-05 11:02 AM
LOBBYING
the percentage of work they put in servicing
each client, and their salaries are based entirely
on that. Some other firms favour an eat what
you kill model where big-name consultants
act as hunters or rainmakers, winning the
contracts, and lower-level consultants do much
of the client work.
Mr. Robinson says the focus on client
service is its own marketing vehicle that
spares the firm from spending time and
energy on that side of the business. Others
in the industry say that aspect can no longer be ignored: lobbying has become more
competitive, with more firms looking to
pick off clients one short-term contract at
a time. While Earnscliffe was the firm in the
early 1990s, some lobbyists say it hasnt regained that influence since the Liberals lost
power. And unless its out there scrapping
for new contracts with the rest of them,
that influence will only continue to decline.
But Mr. Robinson and Mr. Near are
confident their philosophy of finding the
right people to serve their clients will carry
the firm forward. It isnt a model that
would work everywhere and hiring has
been important to maintaining the working
environment, with collegiality as the
mantra repeated by various principals.
Its not possible to apply to work at
Earnscliffe, Mr. Baran says.
The team is handpicked based on need,
whether partisan, generational or related
to particular skills. Mr. Baran, for example, who directed Conservative war room
communications in three different federal
elections, filled the PR and partisan niche
when he joined in 2007. After going back to
government and serving as chief of staff to
then-government House leader Jay Hill, he
returned to the firm in 2009 as the resident
expert in arcane House procedure.
Another recent addition, formerly independent consultant Ken Mackay, filled the procurement expert void with a list of valuable clients.
Hiring became crucial after the Conservatives took power in 2006. Earnscliffe had
already taken a beating with the sponsorship
scandal and was closely associated with the
defeated Martin Liberals. No consulting firm
likes its name in the headlines, particularly not
one branded on its behind-the-scenes work
like Earnscliffe, and particularly not when the
headlines are about links to the most explosive
scandal of the Chrtien-Martin Liberal era.
Opposition parties and the press highlighted the firms government contracts,
particularly millions of dollars in research
contracts where sometimes nothing more
than oral reports were delivered. It led to the
56
firm splitting, with Mr. Anderson, Mr. Herle

and the research unit going off on its own.
Both Mr. Near and Mr. Robinson, who led
Paul Martins transition team when he moved
into the PMO, say they knew the firms
structure, which had it working for both the
government and private sector clients at the
same time, would become an issue.
Wed say, The status quo is not a viable
option and then just kept on with the status
quo. We should have done something sooner. We saw the train coming but we didnt,
Mr. Near says. But it certainly made us a
very interesting political football.
The research side of the firm atrophied
a bit after that, Ms. McColl says, with Mr.
When lobbying took off

in Ottawa, there were a
lot of cowboys running
around, cowboys doing
pretty high-profile, silly
things. You dont see that
anymore. Theyre much
more sophisticated,
theyre better at what
they do.
Donald Savoie, public
administration expert at the
University of Moncton
Alboim staying on but no longer taking government contracts. While they admit there was
some nervousness at the time about how badly
the firm was damaged, Mr. Robinson and Mr.
Near maintain it never hurt the business.
One of the reasons was how it adapted
to the changing political climate, picking up
Mr. Norquay, a veteran of the 2004 election
war room and communications director to
Stephen Harper in opposition, just before
the 2006 election, and adding Mr. Baran in
2007. It compensated for the 2011 elections
Orange Wave by adding Robin Sears in
2012, and picked up another Harper insider,
Andr Bachand, in 2013, fresh from his stint
as the PMOs Quebec adviser. Allan Gregg
re-joined his old colleagues last year, giving
the research unit another boost.
Anybody can go and hire some people
in blue sweaters, but youve got to have a
clear objective and pick the right people, the

rival lobbyist speaking on background says.
Without heaping too much praise on my
competitors, I think theyve made excellent
hiring decisions, which is part of the reason
they got through this in good shape.
Not everyone agrees that their hiring
has been so spot-on: some point out that
Mr. Norquay, a Red Tory who worked in
Brian Mulroneys PMO, and Mr. Sears, who
worked for Bob Raes Ontario New Democrats, represent their respective parties old
guards and arent in tune with the Conservatives and New Democrats in Ottawa today.
Mr. Near speaks vaguely about an approach to the business thats sought in new
hires but admits theres no magic formula.
Somehow, by hook or by crook, we
actually managed to hire the right types for
Earnscliffe. I dont know how we do that,
but we do it, and have done it successfully
over the years, Mr. Near says.
We dont have a model, we dont have a
checklist, but we sure as hell have a type.
The last decades hiring has also been
deliberately intergenerational, with an eye to
succession but also as a strategy for the present.
And the firm has expanded geographically,
with new offices in B.C., Toronto, Alberta and
Saskatchewan popping up over the last 10 years.
As they contemplate retirementMr.
Robinson with a new hip, Mr. Near by selling his shares in the firm to younger principalsthe two remaining founders have
no interest in selling Earnscliffe to a large
multinational and seeing it swallowed up.
More than 10 years ago, they put together a
transition plan to get the next generation of
leaders into ownership positions and make
sure the company was sustainable after
their departures. Thats where Ms. McColl,
Mr. Albinati and Mr. Baran come in. And
its where the long lunches and the morning coffee meetings are especially valuable.
We joke about it being the cafeteria
but theres an awful lot of information that
gets exchanged by people a couple of times
a week having lunch together and talking
about client files and politics and so on,
Mr. Robinson says.
And with all the talk about the firms collegiality, Mr. Near stresses that doesnt mean
theres anything vanilla about the sessions.
Youve got a bunch of A-type personalities.
Lets not kid ourselves here. Were not talking
shrinking violets, he says. But the reality is everybody kind of fits into this overall mould and
we do things, like the morning coffee sessions, to
try and encourage the flow of information. And,
on balance, it works.
FOREIGN POLICY
Whos advising Harper on

Iraq and the Middle East
Continued from Page 22
In the Privy Council Office, Ms. Hogan was the Prime Ministers top source of non-partisan advice on international affairs
before she was made deputy minister of International Trade effective Jan. 21. The Yale-educated mandarin held the post of foreign
and defence policy adviser for more than three years, and has been
described by current and former Cabinet staffers as a team player
who understood that her primary role was to provide logistical
support to the governments foreign policy.
Former national security adviser Stephen Rigby also left a mark on
the Harper governments foreign policy. The long-serving bureaucrat
was one of the Prime Ministers most trusted advisers with access to
key sources of domestic and foreign intelligence through PCOs Security and Intelligence Secretariat, CSEC and CSIS. Replacing Mr. Rigby
is Richard Fadden, who one source described as the ultimate public
servant for his focus on carrying out the directions of the government
of the day. Mr. Fadden served four years as head of CSIS and nearly
two years as the deputy minister of National Defence before he was
brought into the Prime Ministers inner circle in January.
In Cabinet, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, Employment
Minister Jason Kenney and Justice Minister Peter MacKay are
among Mr. Harpers most trusted ministers on issues like the mission in Iraq and the governments support for Israel.
Mr. Kenneys influence over the governments foreign policy is
tied to the relationships hes cultivated with Canadas ethnic communities over the years, and his ability to use those relationships to
the Conservative Partys advantage.
Kenneys a guy, because of the relationships hes built with a
lot of communities in Canada, is involved in a lot of foreign policy
issues, whether thats Ukraine or the Middle East, observes Dan
Mader, a former policy adviser and chief of staff to Cabinet ministers
in the Harper government. Hes also the kind of person who is as
knowledgeable as anyone on files, even if they arent his direct files.
Mr. Kenney, Mr. Baird and Mr. MacKay all sit on Cabinets Priorities and Planning Committee, which is responsible for the governments long-term strategic planning. Mr. Kenney also chairs Cabinets Operations Committee, and Peter MacKay continues to chair
Cabinets Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security, despite trading
portfolios with current Defence Minister Rob Nicholson in 2013.
Mr. Baird is surrounded by political staffers who share his
strong views on Israel and the wider Middle East. Among them is
deputy chief of staff Oren Cainer, who lived and studied in Israel
prior to joining the ministers office in 2011. Fellow Conservatives
describe Mr. Cainer as Mr. Bairds point man on Israel.
Shuvaloy Majumdar is another key adviser to the foreign minister. Mr. Majumdar previously spent four years in Iraq and Afghanistan managing research on democracy building for a conservative
think tank chaired by U.S. Republican Senator John McCain.
In 2014, he travelled with the minister to Washington, D.C. and
Ukraine, as well as to NATO meetings in Europe.
Mr. Baird has emerged as the governments most bombastic
spokesperson on the Middle East, but one former public servant
says that the foreign ministers personal views are a matter of
debate within the bureaucracy.
One view on Baird is that if the PM told him tomorrow to become pro-Palestinian, he would run and embrace the Palestinians,
in the sense that he has no ideological leanings, just blind loyalty to
the PM, says the source.
But veteran Liberal MP Irwin Cotler, who has worked closely
with Mr. Baird on international human rights issues, rejects the suggestion that his Parliamentary colleagues positions on the Middle
East are disingenuous.I think that Baird comes by his views honestly. I dont think hes there as a proxy for the PM and that he would be
beholden to whatever the PM would ask him to do, Mr. Cotler says.
Iraq a political differentiator
The decision to extend Canadas mission in Iraq will be one

of the most important policy questions facing the government in
2015 as it prepares to defend its record in the next election. Mr.
Mader says the decision to join the fight in Iraq is a defining moment for the Harper government, in part because both the Liberals
and the NDP opposed Canadian military involvement.
Whether that political differentiator helps or hinders the government depends on how the mission unfolds. So far, polls show
strong public support for Canadas limited involvement in the fight
against ISIL, but public perception could shift with casualties or
the request for more assistance from the U.S.
Mr. Juneau suggests that politics in Canadarather than the
reality in Iraqwill be the determining factor in whether the
Prime Minister decides to stay the course against ISIL.
The main factors that are going to decide whether we renew or
not, and for how long, are not actual successes on the ground over
there. Its going to be his own domestic calculations, he says.
ne catering - n traiteur
We provide
full service
corporate,
government and
social catering
in the greater
Ottawa-Gatineau
Region.
Reserve your
next event
today!
613-741-5643
sales@goodiescatering.com
goodiescatering.com
Providing great food, staff, and party planning since 1984!
Our excellent organizational skills, our very capable wait

staff and our chefs expert knowledge of appropriate and
seasonal foods has enabled Goodies Fine Catering to evolve
as one of Ottawa-Gatineaus premiere catering company.
goodiescatering.com
GOODIES.indd 1
57
14-12-18 6:20 PM
People
Glover enjoys being minister of fun

by De re k Abma
I was in fact the spokesperson for the police service for two
years, she says. Communication skills come with the job of being a police officer. You will deal with victims, and that requires
former hard-nosed cop is now in charge of handing out
funding for things such as arts programs and festivals, as a special kind of sympathy and empathy and compassion. Youll
deal with offenders that require, quite
well as congratulating those
often, more frank and direct commuin cultural industries for a job
nication skills.
well done.
As Heritage minister, Glover gets
And Heritage Minister Shelly Glover is
to be involved with announcements
enjoying it.
that arent likely to raise much fuss
I am the minister of fun, so I love it,
and, at the same time, please those who
she proclaims. Most of the work that I do
most affected. Recent releases from
is really promoting our heritage, arts and
Glover include $34,700 in funding to
culture, so anything to do with Canadian
a French-language music program in
music, Canadian theatre, dance, books, just
Manitoba, congratulations to winners
the things that we all, as Canadians, love, I
and nominees in the Western Canadian
get to be a part of, so Im pretty lucky.
Music Awards, and $65,000 in support
Before politics, Glover spent almost
for an international arts festival in
19 years with the Winnipeg police force
Montreal.
and achieved the rank of sergeant. She
Glover did, however, find controwas first elected to the House in 2008, and
versy in her role as the minister responwas appointed to Cabinet five years later.
You dont say: Heritage Minister Shelly Glover,
pictured with This Hour Has 22 Minutes comedian
sible for the Canadian Radio-television
She says there are experiences from
and actor Mark Critch. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
and Telecommunications Commission
her days as a police officera role she
(CRTC), which conducted hearings on
plans to eventually return tothat
the future of television in September. On two occasions during the
she draws on in her job as heritage minister, such as discipline,
two weeks of hearings, Glover made it clear there would be no new
managing people and, most importantly, communicating.
regulations or taxes placed on web-based video services like Netflix
and YouTube.
Though she was criticized for interfering with the process,
Glover says she wasnt saying anything new.
We have, for a long time, been of the opinion that we believe
in what the CRTC has said in the past, and what they said in the
past is they decline to regulate online services, Glover says. And
our government in the past was firmly supportive of this position,
and I simply repeated that this is the position that we continue to
support.
Former Liberal heritage minister Sheila Copps says thats not
the approach she would have taken.
There are complex subjects that require a deep look and
multiple pairs of eyes by people who actually know the business
Comprehensive Eye Exams
intimately over a period of several months, she says. Thats what
New Patients Welcome
the CRTC is supposed to do, and the minister and the government
Digital Retinal Photography
should let them do it and butt out.
Visual Field Testing
Ms. Glover expects decisions that result from the CRTCs
Laser Surgery Consultations
review of the TV industry to be among her biggest priorities in the
On-site Lab
coming months.
Contact Lenses & Eye Glasses
The preparation for, and ongoing events related to Canadas
Bilingual Services
150th birthday in 2017, will be another major focus for the minister.
She says, regardless of the outcome of the election in October, its
something shell be deeply involved in until that time.
A New Optometrist has Joined our Practice!
Weve called it already the Road to 2017, and weve already
begun the celebrations and commemorations including the War
of 1812, the 400th anniversary of Quebec. This year, of course, we
are commemorating the 100th anniversary of World War I and
then of course the 75th of World War II, the 50th anniversary of
the national flag, the 100th anniversary of the womens suffrage
movement is coming. Weve got just an entire list.
services
Helping Families See

Clearly Since 1913
613-236-6066 | 447 Cumberland St. | bastienprizant@gmail.com

B&P Optometry new.indd 1
58
2014-12-18 6:27 PM
STYLE
Hairstylist
to the
political
stars
Stefania Capovilla, pictured in her studio in Ottawa. Her client list includes
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
I always try to keep in mind that theyre going to be judged in all kinds of ways.
I dont want their hair to be one of them. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
Stefania Capovilla is hairstylist

to many MPs, including Prime
Minister Stephen Harper and
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird.
by Laura Ryc kewaer t

Parliament Hill is a world where word-ofmouth is supreme, reputation is everything
and even the smallest of changes can have big
ripplessomething Stefania Capovilla, hairstylist to many of the countrys top political
players, has learned first hand over the years.
I always try to keep in mind that theyre
going to be judged in all kinds of ways. I dont
want their hair to be one of them, says Ms.
Capovilla, who has tattoo of Mary Magdalene,
patron saint to hair stylists on her left arm.
From Prime Minister Stephen Harper, to
Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, to the
late Jim Flaherty, to Employment and Social
Development Minister Jason Kenney, to Canadas ambassador to France Lawrence Cannon,
to Liberal leader Justin Trudeau (as well as
his mother, Margaret) Ms. Capovilla has cut
the hair of many an MP over the years, and
currently regularly cuts the hair of about half
a dozen MPs, including Mr. Harper. She also
regularly does hair and makeup for Sun News
Networks on air personalities, in addition to
running her own private salon.
It all started at renowned Ottawa hair salon,
Rinaldos. Originally from Winnipeg, Man.,
she moved to Ottawa in 2003 and shortly after
landed a job at Rinaldos, a popular hair salon
previously located in the World Exchange Building across the street from Conservative Party
headquarters, and now in the ByWard Market. A
lot of Conservative Party staffers would come to
get a haircut from Ms. Capovilla.
Staffers who would then refer their bosses
or who would then eventually move up within
the Conservative Party, said Ms. Capovilla.
Word-of-mouth made its way to Mr.
Harper, then opposition leader, and in 2005,
Ms. Capovilla began cutting Prime Minister
Harpers hair, which she continues to regularly
cut today. In 2008, Ms. Capovilla left Rinaldos
to open her own salon, which since 2013, has
been located in part of her loft apartment at
the corner of Laurier Avenue West and Bank
Street in downtown Ottawa.
There are a lot of early morning appointments, she said when asked about the
hours for her political clients. Ms. Capovilla
cuts both womens and mens hair, at $40 a
pop for the latter.
Its a cozy space: with a plush barbers
chair facing a large mirror, a shelf and a
mirrored-dresser stocked with equipment
Continued on Page 65
59
People
Celebrating the
sweet nectar of life:
Conservative MP
Dean Allison, centre,
with Conservative
MPs Ron Cannan,
right, and Rick
Dykstra, left, created
the Conservative
Wine Caucus after
the election in
2004 to discuss
issues of value
and policy related
to the Canadian
wine industry. P&I
photograph by Jake
Wright
Inside the Conservative

wine caucus:
somebodys gotta do it
by Asha Hi n gora n i
ipping on a 2012 chardonnay from

the vines of Burrowing Owls vineyard in B.C.s Okanagan Valley renders a sense of power, influence, and
hope during talks on wine policy, interprovincial trade and tourism with the members
of the Conservative wine caucus and the
Canadian Vintners Association (CVA).
Conservative MP Dean Allison, who has
dozens of wineries in his riding of Niagara
West-Glanbrook, Ont., created the Conservative Wine Caucus after the election in
2004 to discuss issues of value and policy
related to the Canadian wine industryan
industry which has a $6.8-billion impact
on the Canadian economy, according to
a report commissioned by the Canadian
Vintners Association, the Winery & Grower
Alliance of Ontario, the British Columbia
Wine Institute and the Winery Association
of Nova Scotia, in March 2013.
Sitting down to sip wines at the inforPower & Inf luence Winter 2015
60
mal caucus meeting recently were chair of

the wine caucus and Conservative MP Ron
Cannan, who represents Kelowna-Lake
Country, B.C.; Mr. Allison; president and
CEO of the CVA, Dan Paszkowski; and
Beth McMahon, vice-president of government and public relations for the CVA.
I think we are fairly close with the
CVA. In terms of issues, weve solved some
and there are others to be solved, but it
gives us a chance to talk policy and hear
some of the issues that are ongoing in the
industry especially to hear whats going on
from coast to coast, says Mr. Allison.
Members of the wine caucus had a
hand in the success and passage of Mr.
Albas private members bill C-311, which
allows individuals to import wine for their
personal use. The bill passed with unanimous consent in 2012.
Once a year the CVA, in conjunction with
its lobby day, will throw a reception for Parlia-
mentarians. Wineries from across the country

will come to dazzle political palates with
the fruits of their labour and showcase the
best-produced wines from their vineyards.
I think the event plays a big part in
the whole direct consumer delivery issue.
Members of Parliament start talking about
the fact that you come to one of those receptions and you taste a B.C. wine and say, Why
cant I get that here? Mr. Paszkowski says.
These kind of receptions are an expansion of the wine caucus, it has become one of
the wine caucus events of the year. I just remember in 2006 when I met Dean regarding
chairing that caucus. It was built off the U.S.
Congressional wine caucus, and we looked at
that and thought that was a model and could
work here. You meet occasionally, theres a
large event at least once a year, you can support all parts of the wine industry and share
the fruits of this industry with every Member
of Parliament, adds Mr. Paszkowski.
People
Its been a pet peeve for a lot of MPs, from all parties, when
Mr. Cannan, chair of the wine caucus, and a local champion
they fly home and there is no Canadian wine served on the flight,
for the wine industry in his home province of B.C., says that the
says Mr. Paszkowski.
caucus is, in a sense, multi-partisan, and not just restricted to ConHaving Canadian wine served on flights is not a simple process.
servative Party members.
Questions regarding taste profiles, price point, case size, quantity of the
You find people who are passionate about it and you build on
wine produced, and even bottle sizes are points of concern and discusthat and we have certainly done that across party lines. The art of
sions for the wineries and for the airline before any decisions are made.
lobbying is you first inform and then you persuade. I think whats
Mr. Cannan says that the caucus doesnt just talk
been the fun thing about this is being able to make
on wine and roses so to speak, but they also discuss
some progress starting with six members and
MPs on the wine
more technical issues such as labelling regulations.
growing, says Mr. Cannan.
Discussions on labelling regulations or conIn the summer of 2014, the Harper government
caucus and the CVA
tainer
sizes may be boring to some, but they are
increased efforts to open interprovincial trade barare trying to lobby
issues that are of great importance to a business,
riers, especially in regards to the flow of Canadian
to get Canadian
says Mr. Cannan.
wines and spirits.
wine
served on Air
Other issues, which have been raised and
Mr. Allison says that interprovincial trade is a big
Canada flights and
discussed, include allergen labelling, sulfite
topic of discussion in the caucus, as it is a barrier to
labelling and ice wine definitions.
the Canadian wine industry. He also said as much
in lounges. Its not a
Last winter, the CVA and the wine caucus also
as the government wants to open up the barriers to
simple process.
teamed up to host an event with MP Blake Richtrade, its really in the hands of the provinces.
ards, chair of the Conservative tourism caucus.
I wish this would be an election issue, but the
Tory MP Ron Cannan
Mr. Paszkowski says that the event brought
challenge is that the provinces control this, so we
in members from all parties including Defence
cant make it an election issue, says Mr. Allison.
Mr. Allison added that because of the impact of social media on Minister Rob Nicholson, Minister of State for Small Business
and Tourism Maxime Bernier, Minister of State for Western
Mr. Albas private members bill, the pressure is much greater on
Economic Diversification Michelle Rempel, and now tourism is
the provinces to open up their borders.
part of the CVAs market development promotion strategy.
I think the buzz around Albas bill is ongoing, and I think we
Mr. Cannan and Mr. Allison are from opposite sides of the
also need to continue to work with the CVA on branding Canadian
wine internally. You know the challenge is that most counties have 80 country, but both come from regions producing wines that are
competing in global markets.
per cent plus of their own markets then sell outside of their markets
and here in Canada its reversed. I think we need to do a better job as
Canadians on this, says Mr. Allison.
Mr. Paszkowski says that one of the items that the CVA is currently working on is a pre-budget submission to get funding for a
domestic market promotion program.
We are the reverse of most countries in terms of what we own
in Canada, we only own about 10 per cent market share on 100 per
cent Canadian wines and about another 20 per cent on the blended
wine side of the business. So we have 30 per cent of the market,
which is pretty small, says Mr. Paszkowski.
He notes that prior to the Canada-U.S. free trade agreement,
Canada was at 50 per cent market share and that is the CVAs target.
We can get back to 50 per cent by doing some of the things
other countries do, such as promoting the brands across Canada
as focused in on the premium end of the business. So to grow the
VQA [Vintners Quality Alliance], and the Nova Scotia and Quebec
100 per cent Canadian wines across the country. So thats part of
the discussions we are working with Ron and Dean and seeking
that support, says Mr. Paszkowski.
Mr. Allison says there are really three main goals of the caucus
which include: increasing Canadian wine sold across the country;
making sure that Canadian embassies promote the products; and
wherever there is an opportunity for Canadian wine to be branded,
to jump on it.
Over the last few months, members of the wine caucus and the
CVA have been back and forth in communication with Air Canada,
trying to lobby to get Canadian wine served on Air Canada flights
canadianlandscapegallery
and in lounges.
We ended up getting 30 additional Canadian wines into the
4 9 5 s u s s e x d r i ve, o t t aw a 6 1 3 . 7 4 6 . 6 8 5 3
current selection tasting process. Theyve given Canada special
tasting. So they have their sommelier looking for good quality
gordonharrisongaller y.com
Canadian wines, says Ms. McMahon.
gordon harrison

test.indd 1
61
14-12-18 12:20 PM
CRAFT BEER
Ottawas
tapping in
to craft beer
After watching the craft beer scene in Ottawa grow over the
last few years, lobbyist-turned-local-brewer Josh McJannett
considers whats happening now full-on explosion mode.
by Rac he l Aie l lo
raft beer and new places to enjoy it

have been popping up all over the
Parliamentary Precinct neighbourhood in the last year. Some say Ottawa is
experiencing a return to its roots with the
recent explosion of small-batch breweries,
reminiscent of the early days when the
Founding Fathers would gather at local taverns to imbibe. Beer has long been a part of
political Ottawa lifefrom the long gone
beer vending machine in the Hot Room, to
the Liberals infamous beer and popcorn
remarks from the 2006 election campaign,
to the lifetime supply given as thanks to
one Parliament Hill guard following the
shooting this fall. But the recent trend is
taking Ottawans on a turn towards the
artisanal, and politicos are taking note.
Gone are the days that someone could
say Ottawa is the town that fun forgot
or that its boring. In the case of craft
brewing, its just exploding, says NDP
MP Paul Dewar, who represents Ottawa
Centre, where there are now more than a
dozen craft breweries up and running, and
numerous chef-run restaurants collaborating with craft brewers to create truly local
gastro experiences.
There are a lot of people who work in
intense jobs by day and enjoy kicking back
on weekends and going to nice restaurants
and enjoying finer things and, for many of
us, interesting delicious beer is one of them,
says Josh McJannett, a government affairs
director at Rogers Communications who is
leaving his full-time government relations
62
work at the end of January to work on

building Dominion City Brewing Co. fulltime, after opening in August, alongside Alex
Monk, director of research and finance at
Abacus Data, and friend Andrew Kent who
works at Air Canada.
To be able to have that crossover now
where folks we know and interact with are
also customers, or trying things out and
giving us feedback, its pretty cool, says
Mr. McJannett. After watching the craft
beer scene in Ottawa grow over the last few
years, he considers whats happening now
full-on explosion mode.
According to Beer Canada, the lobby
group for Canadian brewers, the number
of licensed breweries in Canada rose almost
50 per cent between 2008 and 2013.
Every brewery that opens is going to
convince somebody that its a viable opportunity and an alternative to light industrial
lagers, says Steve Beauchesne, co-owner of
Beaus All Natural Brewing Company, with
his father Tim. Mr. Beauchesne now views
the new brewers on the scene part of his marketing, because he thinks the main thing any
craft brewer is trying to achieve is convincing
somebody to try craft, and once theyve begun buying craft beer, the more likely they are
to be open to trying other brewers products.
Theres something about it, I wouldnt
want to call it romantic, but theres something about beer developed or produced
on site that is, for lack of a better word, is
nice its more homey, says Liberal P.E.I.
MP Wayne Easter, a Member of the Par-
Cheers: There are a lot of people who work in intens

finer things and, for many of us, interesting deliciou
relations work at the end of January to work on build
of research and finance at Abacus Data, and friend A
liamentary Beer Caucus who is known to

take Ottawa visitors to Les 3 Brasseurs on
Sparks Street, and who enjoys a good dark
beer every now and again.
Another friend of craft brews is the
Parliamentary Press Gallery, both off the
Hill and on it when the occasion calls, such
as a mugging ceremony to honour a retiring
member Turtle Island Brewing Co. founder
J.P. Fournier is often there offering up unique
creations on tap, the latest of which includes a
cherry pale ale and a chocolate stout.
Its an exciting time in the craft beer
industry and weve definitely been getting
support from people on the Hill, says Paul
Meek, owner of Kichesippi Beer Co., who
said both the homegrown pride in Ottawas
small businesses and the MPs passion for
supporting local in their ridings extending
to their life in this city have helped the craft
beer scene in Ottawa take off.
There are approximately 125 MPs in the
Parliamentary Beer Caucus, an all-party, informal caucus meant to promote Canadian
products used at all stages of the brewing
process. Anyone who has a brewery in their
riding is a de-facto member and the chair
is Conservative MP from Leeds-Grenville
CRAFT BEER
Gord Brown, whose constituency includes the
Gananoque Brewing Co.
Maybe the most well-known lover and supporter of craft beer in Parliament is Conservative
MP Scott Reid, who has been hosting beer tasting
events in his office since 2003. Every spring,
Mr. Reid invites his colleagues in to sample an
assortment of craft beers from across Canada.
I happen to like artisanal beer, I just dont find
large-scale commodity beer very interesting Im
an aficionado like everybody else, says Mr. Reid,
who knows his stuff about beer and could rattle
off the entire history of the 1487 Bavarian beer
purity law. Hes impressed with how many places
there are in Ottawa to try craft beer, but also in his
Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, Ont.,
riding where Almonte Mexican General Beer is on
tap, and where the Ashton Brew Pub is located.
The game changer: Beaus
se jobs by day and enjoy kicking back on weekends and going to nice restaurants and enjoying
us beer is one of them, says Josh McJannett, left, who is leaving his full-time government
ding Dominion City Brewing Co. full-time, after opening in August, alongside Alex Monk, director
Andrew Kent who works at Air Canada. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
Considered to some as the grandfather of the

current craft beer scene in the Ottawa area, when
Beaus All Natural Brewing Company in Vankleek
Hill brewed its first batch of Lug Tread in 2006,
it was determined to make craft beer a viable
alternative. Owned and operated by father and
son Tim and Steve Beauchesne, who happen to
be Pundits Guide Alice Funkes brother-in-law
and nephew, Beaus has now been on tap at political parties across Ontario, including three of
Prime Minister Stephen Harpers garden parties
at 24 Sussex, at which the duo taught the PM and
Laureen Harper how to pour a pint.
Steve said hes seen photos of Justin Trudeau
drinking their beer, so it seems like a good craft brew
is something both parties can agree on. The brewery
also collaborated with Agency Public in Torontos
Trinity Spadina municipal ward to create a special
Ballot Beer to encourage young people to vote, and
celebrate exercising their civic duty. What does a
democracy beer taste like, you ask? A very sessionable pale ale with low alcohol content, but with a
whole pile of hops in there mostly for aroma and
incredibly distinct because of a big citrus punch in
the nose of the beer, says Mr. Beauchesne.
The brand masters:

Dominion City Brewing Co.
Urban hip: Every brewery that opens is going to convince somebody that its a viable
alternative to light industrial lagers, says Steve Beauchesne, who with his father Tim are
considered the grandfathers of craft beer. Photograph courtesy of Beaus
Although relative newcomers to the craft beer

scene in Ottawa, the trio behind Dominion City
are no kids in short pants. Josh McJannett was a
staffer in former government whip Jay Hills office, followed by working in GR at Rogers Communications, and is now refocusing to dedicate
his full attention to the brewery full-time; Alex
Monk is the director of research and finance
at Abacus Data; and Andrew Kent works at Air
Canada. The trio spend any time outside of their
day jobs at their brewery and are often joined by
63
CRAFT BEER
fellow Hill friends looking for a good beer to unwind with,
including political staffers and a handful of MPs.
Dominion City is serving up a real taste of Ottawa, from their
ingredients, including Bridgehead earl gray tea, to the names of
their beers. Take the Two Flags IPA, the seasonal Earnscliffe (a
favourite at the U.K. High Commission to Canada, P&I hears),
or the newest Lost Train Oatmeal Stout, for example. Theres also
the wood used to craft their bar, reclaimed pine from the bottom
of the Ottawa River. A trip to their Canotek Road bottle shop
doubles as a National Capital Region history lesson.
All three of us kind of nerd out in that crossover point
between local history, Canadian history and politics, and obviously really great beer, and so the fact that we can sort of meld
all those together and come up with something that is sort of
fun and symbolic and old and new at the same time is kind of a
constant source of excitement for us, says Mr. McJannett.
The mover and shaker:

Kichesippi Beer Co.
Ottawa and surrounding area

craft breweries:
Beaus All Natural Brewing Co.: 10 Terry Fox Dr., Vankleek Hill, 613-678-2799.
Beyond the Pale Brewing Co.: 5 Hamilton Ave. North, Ottawa, 613-695-2991.
Bicycle Craft Brewery: 850 Industrial Ave., Unit 12, Ottawa,613-408-3326.
Broadhead Brewing Co.: 81 Auriga Dr. #14, Ottawa,613-695-9444.
Broken Stick Brewing Co.: 78-5450 Canotek Rd., Ottawa, info@brokenstickbrewing.com.
Cassel Brewery Co.: 715-C rue Principale, Casselman, 613-816-2317.
Covered Bridge Brewing: 6-119 Iber Rd., Stittsville, 613-915-2337.
Dominion City Brewing Co.: 5510 Canotek Rd., Ottawa,613-688-6207.
Kichesippi Beer Co.: 866 Campbell Ave., Ottawa, 613-728-7845.
Square Timber Brewing Co.:800 Woito Station Rd., Pembroke, 613-312-9474.
Whiprsnapr Brewing Co.: 14 Bexley Pl Unit 106, Nepean, 613-596-9882.
Whitewater Brewing Company: 22 Fletcher Rd., Forresters Falls, 613-582-7227
Contract breweries:
B-Side Brewing Label: Brews out of Beaus, info@b-side.ca.

HogsBack Brewing Company: Brews out of Broadhead, info@hogsback.ca, 613-986-2337.
Turtle Island Brewing Company: Brews out of Broadhead, info@turtleislandbrewing.com.
Opening soon:
Cartwright Springs Brewery: Pakenham

Mad Hatter Brew Co.: Ottawa
Rurban Brewing: Cornwall, rurbanbrewing@gmail.com.
Waller St. Brewery: Basement of the Lunenberg Pub, 14 Waller St. Ottawa.
Brew pubs:
Ashton Brew Pub: 113 Old Mill Rd., Beckwith, 613-257-4423.

Big Rig Brewery & Kitchen: 103 Schneider Rd., Kanata, 613-591-6262.
Les Brasseurs du Temps: 170 Rue Montcalm, Gatineau, Que., 819-205-4999.
Les 3 Brasseurs: 240 Sparks St., Ottawa, 613-380-8140, Location in Kanata as well.
Lowertown Brewery: 73 York St., Ottawa, 613-7221454.
Microbrasserie-Bistro Gainsbourg: 9 rue Aubry, Gatineau, 819-777-3700.
Mill Street Brew Pub: 555 Wellington St. Ottawa, 613-567-2337.
The Clocktower Brew Pub: 89 Clarence St., Ottawa, 613-241-8783,
Locations in the Glebe, New Edinburgh, and Westboro as well.
Best places to grab a craft pint:

Paul Meek, owner of Kichesippi Beer Co., was one of the
first craft brewers to join lobbyist group Beer Canada.
Photograph courtesy of Kichesippi
Much like the Ottawa River its named after, Kichesippi

has Ottawa pretty well covered, especially in the Parliamentary Precinct neighbourhood. On tap at many of the Hills top
haunts, and often seen in the hands of journalists, lobbyists
and public servants at social events, this brewing company has
taken Ottawas craft beverage scene to the next level, introducing a line of homebrewed sodas.
The brewery is located in Westboros industrial area and
is a family-run affair, headed up by Paul Meek. Kichesippi has
been the beer of choice at the last two NDP Christmas parties,
selling a ton of kegs delivered to the Hill. One of the companys most loyal buyers is Sparks Street pub DArcy McGees: it
was invoice No. 1 at the popular watering hole in 2010, where
the question always seems to be, whether from a politician or
a tourist, What do you have thats local?
Mr. Meek was also one of the first craft brewers to join
lobbyist group Beer Canada and sits alongside reps from the
big-name beers like Molson and Sleeman to be a voice for the
small-scale brewmasters in the industry.
64
In the Byward Market:

BITE Burger House: 108 Murray St.,
613-562-2483.
Black Tomato: 11 George St.,
613-789-8123.
Brothers Beer Bistro: 366 Dalhousie St.,
613-695-6300.
Murray Street Kitchen: 110 Murray St.,
613-562-7244.
Must Wine Bar: 41 William St.,
613-680-3107.
Supply and Demand: 1335 Wellington St. West,
613-680-2949.
The Albion Rooms: 33 Nicholas St.,
613-760-4771.
Vineyards Wine Bar Bistro: 54 York St.,
613-241-4270.
On Sparks Street:
Brixtons: 210 Sparks St., 613-233-8283.
Bier Markt: 156 Sparks St., 613-780-7575.
DArcy McGees: 44 Sparks St.,
613-230-4433.
Parliament Pub: 101 Sparks St.,
613-563-0636.
In Centretown/Glebe:
Arrow and Loon: 99 Fifth Ave.,
613-237-0448.
Atomic Rooster: 303 Bank St.,
613-569-1000.
Fauna: 425 Bank St., 613-563-2862.
Irenes Pub: 885 Bank St.,
613-230-4474.
Local Public Eatery: Unit 107 - 825
Exhibition Way, 613-233-5639.
Pour Boy: 495 Somerset St. West,
613-695-7687.
Union Local 613: 315 Somerset St.
West, 613-231-1010.
On Elgin Street:
Deacon Brodies: 247 Elgin St.,
613-236-6464.
Fox & Feather: 283 Elgin St.
613-233-2219.
Lieutenants Pump: 361 Elgin St.,
613-238-2949.
The Manx Pub: 370 Elgin St.,
613-231-2070.
Town: 296 Elgin St., 613-695-8696.
STYLE
Continued from Page 59
and a lounge chair, frequently occupied by Ms.

Capovillas cat, Miles, whos taken a particular
liking to Mr. Baird.
He sits in Bairds lap almost the entire duration of his appointment, says Ms. Capovilla,
whos been cutting Mr. Bairds hair for the past
six years and considers him a friend.
Tall windows look out north towards the
Ottawa River, with just the tip of the West
Blocks tallest tower showing. On the opposite
wall in her studio, hangs a large Andy Warhol
Rorschach print. Ms. Capovilla likes to ask
people what they see in it on their first visit.
While Mr. Harper and his Cabinet may be
known in the media for being tight-lipped,
Ms. Capovilla says the barber-client relationship isnt any different with MPs than it is with
her other, non-political clients.
Its definitely interesting, but I guess
because a lot of them Ive known for a really
long time its just kind of like cutting anybody
elses hair because you get to know your clients
after a while and you do get to see another side
to them than the average person might, says
Ms. Capovilla.
Theres something very disarming about
sitting in a chair, having your hair done and
someone is touching you, and theres a level of
trust thats established, she says.
Ms. Capovilla, who jokingly describes herself as an Orange Tory, says shes interested
in politics, but tries not to talk shop with her
clients. I would find that annoying if someone did that to me, she says.
But thats not to say her barbers chair is
governed by dinner table rules of conversation.
They teach you that in hair school, but that goes
out the window really, really quickly, she says.
Youve just got to be conscientious.
Word-of-mouth has also led Ms. Capovilla to frequently be asked to do the hair for
recipients of the Order of Canada before the
ceremony, and this year she got the chance to
meet and style Canadian television personality
Jeanne Bekers hair, a childhood idol.
It was a thrill, says Ms. Capovilla.
Mr. Harpers hairstyle, seemingly unchanged over the decades, has developed something of a reputation of its own. Even American
comedian Jon
Stewart
has joked
about
how Mr. Harpers do doesnt seem to move
even in blizzard-level wind and snow. Asked
what she thinks of talk of Mr. Harpers hair, Ms.
Capovilla is quick to laughits not a tupe!
I just think its funny, I think it just goes to show
how hair is such a big part of peoples lives.
Stefania Capovilla in her Ottawa studio.

When someones touching you,

theres a level of trust.Stefania Capovilla
The best connection to Europe through food!

Lobby
coalitions
are forming
to influence
the policies
of tomorrow
Knowledge is the
ammunition you need.
New features in The Lobby Monitor :
Policy Map:
Charts of the key people in government
working on a policy file
On Queen Street:
Tracking the careers of Ottawas national
GR and PR professionals
Morning Brief:
Your guide to the business and policy
stories shaping the day
www.lobbymonitor.ca
Come to Lakomka for the best caviar and smoked fish in town!
We have an excellent selection of deli meats and salamis,
artisan breads, perogies and pelmeni, teas and
decadent chocolates, and many more unique items
imported from more than 20 European countries.
Proudly serving Ottawa since 1998

Monday:
10 a.m. 7 p.m.
Tue Friday:
10 a.m. 8 p.m.
circulation@hilltimes.com | 613.688.8822
1127 Baxter Rd
Ottawa, ON
K2C 3R4
613.596.4666
lakomka@rogers.com
Saturday:
10 a.m. 6 p.m.
Sunday:
11 a.m. 5 p.m.

LMQP.indd 1
15-01-08 4:16 PM
65
People
Rockin
the Hill
Treasury Board President Tony

Clementin Gravenhurst on Oct.
18, 2014. He was the opening
act for a concert series put on by
Curries Music in his riding.
Transport Minister Lisa Raitt

singing The Rankin Familys The
Mill River Shuffle at last years
Jaimie Anderson Parliamentary
Internship Fundraiser at
the Black Sheep Inn. P&I
photograph by Jake Wright
NDP MPs
Charlie Angus
and Andrew
Cash onstage
in Toronto.
From amateurs, to touring songwriters,

music helps some of the countrys
federal lawmakers unwind, relate to
constituents, and to one another.
And if youre Tony Clement, you do a
punk version of Lordes Royals.
by De n i s Ca ln a n
veryone knows Prime Minister Stephen Harper sings and

plays the piano, but many more of the elected officials who
walk Parliaments hallways have a musical conscience. From
amateurs to touring songwriters, music helps the countrys
federal lawmakers keep going.
It is a tremendous stress reliever, says International Trade Minister Ed Fast, who represents Abbotsford, B.C. When I get to sit down
at my grand piano at home I can just play and play and play.
Music also just places your life back into context, says Mr. Fast,
who plays styles ranging from orchestral and southern gospel, to the
Beatles.
Music does span and transcend a lot of divisions and it certainly
easily transcends partisan divisions, says Toronto Danforth NDP MP
Andrew Cash, one of Parliaments best-known musicians. As a singer
and guitarist, he has played punk, rock and country and toured since
the 80s, as a solo artist and as a member of a few groups, including
the Cash Brothers. He then made a career out of doing music for film
and television before becoming a full-time politician in 2011. He still
plays publicly occasionally, but only a fraction of what he used to.
Both Mr. Fast, 59, and Mr. Cash, 52, have been musicians since
their youths, but for some MPs playing music is a newer discipline
than politics.
It had always been something I had always wanted to do, to pick
up an electric guitar, and when I hit 50, it occurred to me that if I
didnt start, I would never start, says newbie musician and Treasury
Board President Tony Clement who represents Parry Sound-Muskoka, Ont.
He turned toward YouTube and the internet for his first lessons.
It was originally just a way to relax, to get my brain on another
plane, rather than briefing notes and politics all the time, says Mr.
Clement, now 53.
When NDP MP Megan Leslie was elected in Halifax, N.S., in 2008,
she had to learn the ropes of being an MP and had to sacrifice some
personal creative pastimes, like a book club she was part of. But by
2012, the 41-year-old needed an outlet beyond politics and public life.
People
I wanted something that was mine, and I decided to take
singing lessons, says Ms. Leslie, who says that gave her a lot of
confidence in her ability. Soon enough she was being asked to sing
in public.
Despite all my good intentions to have something of my own,
that wasnt about politics, eventually I got talked into singing for
politics, she laughs, noting her first public gig was singing a Patsy
Cline tune with The Claytones in the fall of 2012 at the Black
Sheep Inn. It was at a fundraiser for the Jaimie Anderson Parliamentary Internship.
Ms. Leslie also performed with Transport Minister Lisa Raitt at
the April 2014 Politics and the Pen fundraiser for the Writers Trust
of Canada and at the Parliamentary Press Gallery last May where
they sang Ive Got You Babe.
Ms. Raitt, 46, was raised singing. She started in church in Cape
Breton, N.S., where music is a part of life, and continued through
high school choirs. She didnt sing publicly for many years and
picked it up again in 2010. Since then she has performed a few
times for colleagues and for charity. She also performed at both the
2013 and 2014 Jaimie Anderson Parliamentary Internship fundraiser at the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield, Que.
Some politicians keep their instruments on the Hill, like Conservative MP Ron Cannan, who has a set of drums in his office. It
doesnt bother his colleagues on the fourth floor in the Confederation Building because the set is electric, requiring headphones to
hear anything.
Its mental therapy, its a release, says Mr. Cannan, 53, who
represents Kelowna-Lake Country, B.C. You can use it for venting
sometimes. [...] You can put yourself in another world.
I go out walkin after midnight: NDP MP Megan Leslie singing Patsy

Clines Walkin After Midnight at the Black Sheep Inn in 2012.
Trade agreements
are being
negotiated that
will change
our industries
Formulate your strategy before

the negotiations are over.
Its more than trade, its our livelihoods
www.embassynews.ca
advertising@embassynews.ca | 613.688.8822
EM.indd 1
67
15-01-08 4:34 PM
People
Have drums, will travel:
Conservative MP Ron Cannan gets
his groove on playing drums in his
Confederation Building office.
Colleagues may be content that Liberal

MP Kirsty Duncan, who represents Etobicoke North, Ont., does not keep one of the
instruments she is passionate about in her
office. Her love for the bagpipes came from
being immersed in highland dancing since
the age of three. She started learning the
pipes in first-year university.
My dream was always to play pipes, because everyone I knew played. And you know
all the tunes, because youre at the highland
games every weekend, says Ms. Duncan, 48,
who first learned piano and violin.
NDP MP Charlie Angus, who represents Timmins-James Bay, Ont., is one of
the first names that comes to mind when
many Canadians think of musicians on
the Hill. The 52-year-old songwriter and
his former bandmate, Mr. Cash, learned
the guitar together in their late teens in
Scarborough. The duo, who met at church,
formed a punk rock band called LEtranger
and toured the country for a couple of
years before starting their separate careers.
Mr. Angus, who is inspired by musicians like Stan Rogers, The Clash and Neil
Young, says his folk music is intertwined
with northern Ontario and his politics.
68
This Hill
really
is alive
with the
sound of
music
Mr. Cash, who notes Gordon Lightfoot

as a key influence, says he and Mr. Angus
first cover together, when they were teens in
Toronto, was Helpless by Neil Young.
Mr. Angus gave up being a part of his
long-time band, The Grievous Angels, when
he was elected in 2004, but rebooted his music career and reformed the band in 2012.
He says constituents werent content just
talking politics with their representative.
Id go to every event in my riding and
peopled say, Wheres your guitar? says
Mr. Angus. I sing all over my riding now.
Charlie Angus and The Grievous Angels
released a new album, The Great Divide, in
2013 and toured folk festivals out West this
past summer.
Mr. Angus keeps two guitars on the Hill
now: one for himself and one for Mr. Cash.
I always have the guitars there, says
Mr. Angus, noting there is never time for
the two of them to practise.
Its extremely difficult to balance one
political career. To balance two political careers is almost impossible. So even though
we sit in the same caucus and we talk a lot,
I dont think theres ever time to practise,
he says.
People
We all stood just before we

went in and sang Folsom
Prison Blues, a whole bunch
of MPs from different parties,
and said, Well, lets go in and
vote. Were either bringing
the House down or were
going back to work tomorrow.
We had no idea how the vote
was going to turn out.
NDP MP Charlie Angus
NDP MPs Andrew Cash and Charlie Angus onstage in Toronto.

P&I photo courtesy of Charlie Angus
r. Angus and Mr. Cash are not the only music industry veterans on the Hill. Fellow New Democrat Pierre Dionne Labelle
is a musical force who sings and plays the guitar.
Before forming Les Bons Jack, a music group made up of fellow Quebec NDP MPs Jean Rousseau, Robert Aubin and Franois
Lapointe, Mr. Dionne Labelle, 59, wrote songs for Quebec musicians such as Marie Carmen.
When you move to become an MP, your life changes totally,
totally, says Mr. Dionne Labelle, who plays the guitar. Music is one of
the only things we keep in common with our old life. It helps us a lot.
Les Bons Jack, meaning the good guys in French, is a musical tribute to the late NDP leader Jack Layton, and also serves as a
way for the political band members to connect with the public and
fundraise for their campaigns.
Mr. Dionne Labelle says that at party and constituency events
Les Bons Jack sing songs in a variety of styles, like folk and pop,
by francophone artists including Charles Aznavour, Edith Piaf, Joe
Dassin, Robert Charlebois and Felix Leclerc.
We play songs that all people can sing, says Mr. Dionne
Labelle, noting that is what Mr. Layton was good at doinggetting
people to sing along with him.
Les Bons Jack is not the only group of MPs to form a band.
Mr. Fast was one of the people behind MP5, a group that also
included Conservative MPs Kevin Sorenson, Randy Kamp, Mark
Warawa, and former MP Chuck Strahl. Lois Brown also played a
key part in the band, noted Mr. Fast, saying shes no slouch either,
musically.
The group played traditional quartet music and some popular
tunes by The Beatles. MP5 used to gather on Tuesday nights to play
quartet music and one year made a cameo appearance at the National Arts Centre, where they performed a song called Rumour Mill.
The group recently stopped meeting because the members
are finding themselves all over the world, making it hard to be in
Ottawa at the same time.

r. Fast says music is a passion that spans generations in his

family.
I grew up in a fairly large family of eight kids. All of us played
at least two instruments, he says, noting he learned piano, violin
and guitar.
His four daughters have all been raised with music as a
passion and now a couple of them teach it professionally. Two
of them have had the honour of having an Ed Fast original
song written for them for their weddings. Sonjas Serenade and
Carmens Song are described by Mr. Fast as being light classical, without lyrics. They were performed as the processional at
the wedding ceremonies, with Mr. Fast leading a small string
ensemble on piano.
While music can be intergenerational, politics does not necessarily follow in lockstep, says Mr. Cash, who laughs while recounting when he and his son Sam, a working musician who plays
roots-rock, played a gig together in Toronto.
In the show I had asked him if he thought, you know, maybe
down the road, in 25 years, hed be entering politics. And he just
leaned into the mic and said, Not a chance dad.
For several politicians, music is a way to relate to their constituents. Mr. Clement says even though he just learned to play covers
on the guitar, he has already been invited to perform publicly in his
riding.
I think Im the comic relief, he joked. Im not pretending to
be very good at what I do.
He has a 14-song repertoire, mostly alt-rock and classic rock,
including a punk version of Royals by Lorde.
Some of his favorite musicians include The Ramones, The
Clash, Green Day, U2, R.E.M. and AC/DC. He says he is the
biggest fan of Rush and he had a chance to show his fan-boy
colours in Parliament in 2012. He quoted the band in the House

Howes.indd 1
69
14-12-15 4:22 PM
People
and clothes until much of those industries
moved overseas. Weve had a lot of change
in our riding, he says, noting it has become
a bit of a bedroom community.
Im coming from a poor background.
And so people often play music to forget about
the hard life. That influences my writing.
Schroeder would be envious: International Trade Minister Ed Fast at the piano in Paris
during the Prime Ministers trip to France in 2013.Photograph courtesy of the PMO
of Commons when its members stopped

in to receive the Governor Generals
Performing Arts Award.
They were in the gallery for Question
Period and I was so excited to see them
there. And [NDP MP] Alex Boulerice asked
me some question about something and
I stood up to reply. And I said Well, Mr.
Speaker, Ive already answered that question but, may I say Mr. Speaker, for the men
who hold high places, must be the ones
who start to mold a new reality, closer to
the heart, says Mr. Clement, quoting the
Rush song Closer To The Heart.
And I looked up and Alex Lifeson and
Geddy Lee were giving me the thumbs up.
So I felt very validated that day, he joked.
Mr. Clement also hosts a monthly twohour music show, called Tony Clements
Rockin Shindig, on Hunters Bay Radio in
Huntsville, in his riding. The show recently
had This Hour Has 22 Minutes star Mark
Critch drop by to help spin some tunes and
take the mandatory jab at the politician.
Mr. Clements colleague, Ms. Raitt, has a
very different playlist, ranging from broadway tunes, Bette Midler, Kristin Chenoweth
and Frank Sinatra to more modern music
like Adele. She also names well-known
Canadian musicians Gordie Sampson and
Gregory Charles among her most listened
to. Her favorite singer is Barbra Streisand.
70
or songwriters like Mr. Angus, his constituency is not just a place he represents and does concerts in.
Northern Ontario is the entire basis of
what I write, he says about his songwriting.
Theres an incredible beauty and
unique sense of place in this country and
the people are amazing and their stories
need to be told, he says, adding that its
not in some geeky, flag-waving way.
Mr. Angus noted that his groups latest
album, The Great Divide, has several Western Canada references, such as one song
about a man who works in Fort Saint John
in northeastern B.C.
I could say I created the song, but
basically I just talked to the guy at the gas
station as he was loading up his truck and
leaving for the fly-in job, says Mr. Angus.
He wrote another song as a response to
the book Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal
Life by James Daschuk about Canadas
brutal treatment of First Nations. The
publisher responded by using the song,
with Mr. Angus permission, to teach children about the subject matter in the book.
Mr. Dionne Labelle says much of his
musical inspiration comes from the industrial working-class city of Saint-Jrme,
where he was born and raised and now represents. The population used to make shoes
hile politics makes opponents of

MPs, partisan bickering can turn
into harmony on stage. Ms. Leslie says singing with Ms. Raitt at a couple of different
public events was a great time.
I love the opportunity to sing at a
fundraiser, says Ms. Leslie.
Mr. Cannan would love to see co-operation go even further, toward the formation
of a cross-partisan band on the Hill.
I dont know if it will ever happen.
Maybe one day, he says.
But the much-talked-about toxic
atmosphere on the Hill keeps some from
thinking that would be possible.
Not in this culture, I dont think, says
Mr. Angus.
I remember [former Liberal MP] Don
Boudria getting a number of us musicians
from different parties and we would sing.
And it was a nice gesture, he says.
I remember the night of the Chuck
Cadman vote, when we thought we were
going to an election, he says, referring to
the 2005 budget confidence vote that hinged
on the single vote of independent MP Mr.
Cadman. If Mr. Cadman voted against the
Liberal government it would have fallen and
an election would have been triggered.
We all stood just before we went in and
sang Folsom Prison Blues, a whole bunch of
MPs from different parties, and said, Well, lets
go in and vote. Were either bringing the House
down or were going back to work tomorrow.
We had no idea how the vote was going to turn
out, says Mr. Angus. The late Mr. Cadman
ended up voting with the government.
But that culture is not there anymore,
says Mr. Angus.
I found in the last number of years, that
the politics have gotten very, very toxic.
For many politicians, talking about music is a welcome relief from talking about
politics and policy.
Thank you for taking an interest in something beyond politics, says Mr. Fast. We are all
human beings. We all have dimensions beyond
just the dimensions defined by our work place.
And its wonderful when we can flesh out those
other dimensions to add value to our lives. And
add value and joy to the lives of others.
People
Yoga instructor Julie McCarthy, front, NDP MPs Charmaine

Borg, left, Rosane Dor-Lefebvre, Megan Leslie, Matthew
Dub, Dany Morin, back row left, Hoang Mai, Rithika
Sitsabaiesan, and Mylne Freeman. P&I Photo by Jake Wright
This yoga class waits

for House votes
Every Monday night, when the House is sitting, about 10 NDP
MPs meet for a yoga class in the Parliamentary Precinct. In the
toxic Hill world of federal politics, the weekly routine helps their
minds, bodies, and souls. They also call it a safe space. Namaste.
by Kate M a lloy
ts a crisp fall evening in Ottawa and 10

NDP MPs are meeting in the Parliamentary Precinct for their weekly
Monday night yoga class. Theyve been
doing it for more than a year and, on any
Monday night when the House is sitting,
theyll spend an hour doing upward and
downward dogs, warrior ones and twos,
planks, side planks, cats, cows, sphinxes,
crows, frogs, flows, sun salutations and
stretches. Theyll tone and strengthen their
cores, breathe deeply in and out of their
noses, and may feel like theyve rinsed out
their inner organs or been wrung through
an old wringer washing machine by the
end of the class. They will get their om on
and will end the class by saying together,
Namaste, while lying flat out on their backs,
legs and arms stretched out like star fish on

their yoga mats.
Nope, theres no politics here, just a
bunch of NDP MPs getting a yoga buzz and
trying to feel more balanced, aligned, and
alive in the world.
On this evening, the regularsNDP
MPs Charmaine Borg, Rathika Sitsabaiesan,
Mylne Freeman, Rosane Dor-Lefebvre,
Dany Morin, Dennis Bevington, his spouse,
Joan Bevington, Malcolm Allen, Hoang
Mai, Matthew Dub, Megan Leslie, and
NDP staffer Cdric Williamsare all here.
Theyve come from House votes on the Hill
and have changed into their yoga clothes.
Mr. Allen, 61, who represents Welland,
Ont., is the straggler. Wearing a bright yellow T-shirt that says, Farmers Feed Cities,
he jokes that theyve had to wait for the

old guy to start class. The mood is light
and everyone is laughing and talking.
Their teacher, Julie McCarthy, 33, is a
certified yoga instructor at Yogatown in Ottawas Little Italy and at Upward Dog. Shes
also the veteran bar manager at Brixtons,
the NDPs favourite Ottawa political hangout and watering hole. She has been serving
the NDP crowd since 2006. They trust her.
Tonight, Ms. McCarthy has brought a
massive box of cupcakes for Ms. Leslies
birthday. The class will later do 41 sun salutations to celebrate Ms. Leslies 41st birthday
and theyll each get a cupcake.
Rookie NDP MP Dany Morin, 28, a burly
guy who represents the riding of ChicoutimiLe Fjord, Que., was one of the first to join
71
People
of my colleagues getting sick and being stiff
and this, that, and whatever, and I know
how good a yoga practice is and thats how
I decided that we needed to start one for
the caucus, says Ms. Sitsabaiesan, whos a
fast talker and a high achiever.
All of us do so much to build community and everything, and we are very good
at being hypocrites and forgetting about
ourselves. And its a safe group, its a very
comfortable group, and we know that were
all friends and colleagues and we feel very
comfortable and safe amongst ourselves and,
at first, it was only MPs and, only after a little
while, we opened it to spouses also because
we felt comfortable and felt, Okay, we can do
this now. And people who have never thought of yoga before are some
of our regular practitioners now, so
its been an opportunity to open up
the world of practicing yoga to new
people, says Ms. Sitsabaiesan.
Cdric Williams, national
caucus coordinator, whos also in a
relationship with rookie NDP MP
Charmaine Borg, who represents
the riding of Terrebonne-Blaineville,
Que., is another regular yoga practitioner. He says its one way to get
some exercise, plus its a lot of fun.
Left to right, Charmaine Borg, Rosane Dor-Lefebvre,
Hoang Mai, Julie McCarthy, Rathika Sitsabaiesan,Dany
Ms. Borg is a regular too.
Morin, Mylne Freeman, Megan Leslie, and Matthew
Ms. Sitsabaiesan approached Ms.
Dub. P&I photograph by Jake Wright
McCarthy about teaching the class
more than a year ago and theyve
how busy MPs are. His colleagues, Matthew been doing it ever since. A spiritual person,
Ms. Sitsabaiesan says its important for people
Dub, 25, and Hoang Mai, whos 41, but
to have mind, body, and spiritual alignment,
looks 20-something, heartily agree. The
especially in this high-powered and sometimes
three are eager to talk about yoga and the
toxic job of federal politics.
entire group has a nice dynamic. Some of
Its really tough to try to stay healthy as
them went to a Wanderlust yoga retreat in
an MP, Ms. Sitsabaiesan says, especially with
the fall to Mont Tremblant, Que.
all sitting down on flights to and from OtAfter QP, the emotions run high and
tawa, in House committee meetings, House
we are so passionate about work, but its
duty, caucus meetings, and constituency
important to remember that were only
meetings. She doesnt take as much time to
human beings sometimes doing superhuman jobs, if I could put it that way, and this exercise and finds the job mentally stressful
too. As a young woman, she says she deals
time during the week is so precious, for me
with a lot of external negative pressures in
anyways, says Mr. Morin.
the riding and on Parliament Hill.
Rookie NDP MP Rathika Sitsabaiesan,
I deal with many isms because Im a
32, who represents Scarborough-Rouge Rivwoman, because Im young, because Im
er, Ont., says she was training to be a yoga
whatever, so theres a lot of negative mental
instructor in Brampton and working full
pressure as well and also not just external
time as the University of Torontos students
mental pressure, but also self-inflicted mental
union operations person, when she decided
pressure because its like, I need to do more,
to run in the 2011 election. She campaigned
strive harder, I need to work harder, I need
for a year-and-a-half and, once elected, was
to do better, I need to perform, I need to
blown away by the hectic pace of the work
do everything, and apparently I cant do
of a federal Member of Parliament.
everything and be everything, says Ms.
My meditation and yoga practice went
down the toilet with this schedule and I was Sitsabaiesan. So its that and I think theres a
lot of spiritual disconnect and Im not a huge
deputy chair of the caucus and I saw a lot
the class a year ago because he says he has a
tendency not to care about his health, although
hes trying. On Saturdays, he does cross fit
training in his riding and says the yoga class
helps him stretch his large, tight calve muscles.
Hes full of positive energy and is clearly the
class keener.
This lifestyle is always more, more, more,
and we dont spend as much time with the
people we love doing non-political activities
or doing physical exercise, says Mr. Morin.
He says he admired how Jack Layton
managed to run every morning even
though he was leader of a federal political
party and says there are no excuses not to
find one hour a day to exercise, no matter
72
religious person, but Im very spiritual and

being able to remind yourself that youre part
of the universe and connecting yourself to the
universe is important and we dont do that
enough around here.
NDP MP Megan Leslie, 41, tries to
practise yoga three times a week when shes
in her Halifax, N.S., riding, but says its
hard to keep it up in Ottawa. Deputy leader
of the party, a star in the caucus and in the
Houses daily Question Period, she does
a lot of the political talk shows and is one
busy Member of Parliament. In her private
time, she also sings and plays on a roller
derby team in the riding, which she acknowledges is pretty out there. She looks
forward to the Monday night class.
This yoga class waits for House votes. If
we have votes, it starts after votes, Ms. Leslie
says. So its nice to know that this class is
going to happen, at least once a week you get
on your mat, and its also good to get some
exercise while youre here and its a safe space
too. Its just us, you know, theres no one,
not that you have to worry about this too
much in Ottawa, but were all friends here,
were all part of the same team. It feels good
to be together, it feels good to do something
together. I like that aspect of it as well.
Ottawa native Ms. McCarthy started
doing yoga to diversify her workouts and fitness routines and got hooked because of the
mental benefits. She says shes a much more
patient, grounded, mindful personthanks to
yoga and enjoys teaching the MPs. She hopes
to leave them feeling more balanced.
Ms. McCarthy, who started working at
Brixtons 12 years ago, is a regular attendee
at lots of Parliament Hill events. She says
its all about balance.
I do have many friends on the Hill
and the majority of my friends work in
politics.I am friends with politicians and
staffers from all parties, as well as journalists.I love going to Hill parties and feel very
lucky to be included, says Ms. McCarthy.
In the end, Ms. Leslie says its really
easy for MPs to drink or to make other
unhealthy choices to unwind at night while
in Ottawa, but that the yoga class is one
great, positive outlet instead. Its also a nice
to way to connect with her NDP colleagues.
Yoga is a very personal experience that
you somehow share with other people in the
room, so I think it could be something across
party lines, easily, because you share in this
experience together, while at the same time,
have a personal experience. I feel connected
to the people in the class, even if I dont know
them, so it would be nice to be connected to
other MPs, says Ms. Leslie.
New legislation
is being written
New legislation
right now that
is being written
will affect Canada
right now that
for generations
will affect Canada
Deliver your
message
through
Deliver your
multiple
channels
message through
multiple channels
Website
Print
Email
Website
Print
Email
for
generations
Canadas Politics and Government Newsweekly
www.hilltimes.com | advertising@hilltimes.com | 613.688.8822
HtCanadas
Promo.indd
1
Politics
and Government Newsweekly
14-10-15 4:37 PM
www.hilltimes.com | advertising@hilltimes.com | 613.688.8822
95%
CANADIANS
BELIEVE
95%
OFOF
CANADIANS
BELIEVE
PUBLIC
TRANSIT
IS IMPORTANT
PUBLIC
TRANSIT
IS IMPORTANT
FOR
THEIR
COMMUNITY
FOR
THEIR
COMMUNITY
CANTHEY
THEY
CAN
COUNTON
ON
COUNT
YOURVOTE?
VOTE?
YOUR
ACTU.CA
ACTU.CA
LETS
MOVE.CUTACUTA
LETS
MOVE.

Power and Influence

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Power and Influence

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Harpers inaction on climate change irrational HAIRSTYLIST TO

Hes got the POWER

$6.99 Winter 2015

Join 1865 and earn exclusive benefits including express check-in,

eatonchelsea.com / 1-800-CHELSEA (243-5732)

A member of Langham Hospitality Group

After being written off

Senator Mike Duffys trial

Inside the Conservative

With the first fixed-date

The Top 100

Power & Inf luence Winter 2015

bout eight years ago, I thought of the

Power & Inf luence Winter 2015

changed a few times, but the 2015 top 100 list is

started working in the Prime Ministers

If you are a political staffer, the PMO

The one constant throughout

have to listen to every word you say. All too

e had a good mix of senior staff

wheels or a blowhard that promises a lot but

taffers became adrenalin junkies, going

PM and the following one prepping the

Like the senior staff, the workday

how the new federal electoral map

Power & Inf luence Winter 2015

ow will the 30 new ridings change the

can i pick youryourbrain?

Thats why, for 50 years, weve encouraged our students to study

They learn to think across boundaries, see problems from all

Potential. We all have it. At Trent University, we believe the way

challenge the way you think.

wo other elections stand out in recent

Power & Inf luence Winter 2015

narratives of the national campaign and the

starting point for any analysis of a new ridings

Three competing trends will play out in the fight

NDP competitor. A similar example exists in

Prime Minister Stephen

he next election is not supposed to

Dec. 17, 2014, Prime Minister Harper did not

very election is a high-stakes game

The main players

Jenni Byrne, pictured left, deputy chief

Power & Inf luence Winter 2015

Jenni Byrne, deputy chief of staff to

All the lifestyle advantages of ultra-livable Rockcliffe Park without

Cindy Charles Dominique

Sezlik Sezlik Laframboise

Entertaining ourishes in this extraordinary two-storey condo home

2012-Prudential Real Estates Afliates

Top 1% of Royal Lepage

Penthouse 2700 Sussex Drive $ 2 , 2 9 0 , 0 0 0

Visit Sezlik.com/listings to view photos,

Mr. Speer is taking the

vative Partys nomination

Salaries and wages:

2014 Financial Returns to date:

Tory MPs Not Running In 2015 So Far:

he NDP will run its biggest campaign yet in 2015, with a

The NDP has been actively working

Total spent on 2011 election:

Since stepping into the

an asset in helping the party