PMO looks to 2015 election, turns eyes on Quebec, strengthening strategic communications, say sources
Recent key staffing changes in the Prime Minister’s Office suggest the PMO is turning its focus on the 2015 election and pre-election preparations, say sources, even though it’s quiet and many staffers are wasting no time getting out of dodge for summer holidays after a hard political year.
“Everybody just disappeared the fastest they could get out of town for the holidays. They all know what it’s going to be like in August when they come back so most people I know are long gone and are taking their two, three weeks off,” said Keith Beardsley, president of Cenco Public Affairs and a former deputy chief of staff for issues management to Mr. Harper.
“They’re beginning to do the 12 months, 18 months, run-up to the election and now they’re starting to take a closer look at where do they have to go; what policies do they have to bring forward; how are they going to bring it forward; so you’re starting to see that. That’s just the bulking up that pretty well all the parties are going to be doing as you go along,” he said, referring to recent staff changes in the PMO.
Michele Austin, a senior adviser at Summa Strategies and a former ministerial staffer, said “for the first time in a while” the PMO has emerged from under the cloud of the Nigel Wright-Mike Duffy scandal and is now “much more stable” when it comes to strategy.
“The Prime Minister’s Office is coming out from the other side of the Duffy affair. I think the Duffy affair has finally been put to sleep and the office is much more stable now, and focused on long term and big picture. It is where it wants to be,” said Michele Austin
“The party is still by far in control of the electoral readiness process, but I think the Prime Minister’s Office is gearing up, most especially with the budget, which will be perhaps the most important election document before the actual platform from this government,” she said.
In April, the RCMP dropped its investigation into a $90,000 cheque cut by former PMO chief of staff Nigel Wright to then-Conservative P.E.I. Senator Mike Duffy to repay the Senator’s improper housing expense claims, which had become a dark cloud over the PMO. The RCMP, in explaining its decision, said evidence gathered doesn’t support laying criminal charges against Mr. Wright and referred the matter back to Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson. But a separate RCMP investigation into Sen. Duffy is ongoing.
In the past couple of months, there have also been a number of staff changes in the Prime Minister’s Office.
In May, Lanny Cardow, manager of government advertising and marketing, left the PMO and was replaced by speechwriter Scott Anderson, a former editor of The Ottawa Citizen who also took on the new role of senior adviser to PMO Chief of Staff Ray Novak.
Derek Shelly was hired to replace Mr. Anderson as a speechwriter. Mr. Shelly also worked for years at the Ottawa Citizen and for Postmedia News before more recently serving as editor of The Kingston Whig-Standard. In addition to Mr. Shelly, last month the PMO recruited veteran Mulroney-era Tory staffer Paul Terrien to serve as yet another speechwriter, making the unit five-people strong, an apparent all-time high under Mr. Harper.
The speechwriting unit is led by manager Nigel Hannaford, and in addition to Mr. Shelly and Mr. Terrien, there are also speechwriters Rebecca Staley (who’s brother, Stephen Staley, is executive assistant to Mr. Harper) and Arthur Milnes.
A former Quebec journalist, Mr. Terrien was a speechwriter to former Progressive Conservative prime ministers Joe Clark, Brian Mulroney and Kim Campbell and worked as a speechwriter to Mr. Harper beginning in 2004 during his time as leader of the opposition. Mr. Terrien became more than just a speechwriter in the office though, and was a key adviser to Mr. Harper on all matters in Quebec and was one of a few people at the table during PMO discussions over the question of Quebec’s nationhood back in 2006. Most recently, Mr. Terrien was the representative for Quebec’s Charest government in Ottawa.
While he’s listed specifically as a speechwriter, sources told The Hill Times Mr. Terrien will be a big asset for the PMO on all Quebec matters. Catherine Loubier is already working in the PMO as a senior adviser for Quebec to Mr. Harper.
“He has a wonderful grasp of Quebec politics, as well as a whole web of connections, from Mulroney on down. The background he’s going to give, particularly for speeches in Quebec and even on policy discussions on Quebec, that’s, for Harper, I think a very good move, [he’s] just a wealth of knowledge. So I’m just wondering if this doesn’t mean that we’re going to see a push coming from the PMO … to try and repair the Conservative game in Quebec,” said Mr. Beardsley. “He’s an excellent addition and he’s an exceptionally good speechwriter.”
Ms. Austin said Mr. Terrien’s hiring indicates that the PMO “has an eye” to finding a stronger voice for the government in Quebec and doing a better job at reflecting priorities of Quebec voters.
“Obviously the party has struggled a lot [in Quebec] and Paul was part of the 2006 success story that the CPC had in Quebec, and we haven’t been able to repeat that. I think they’re looking to bring in a bit of Paul’s fairy dust to try and put the sort of Quebec message back on track,” said Ms. Austin.
Every seat will count in 2015 when it comes to the Conservative Party maintaining its majority government status. The party currently holds five of Quebec’s 75 seats, and three more seats are being added to the province for 2015 as a result of electoral redistribution. The NDP holds 56 seats, the Liberals eight, the Bloc four, and there are two Independents.
Political offices have a reputation for having revolving doors, and the PMO is no exception. But some structural changes can also be noted in the office, in addition to the swelling of the PMO’s speechwriting unit, the hiring of Mr. Terrien and Mr. Anderson’s appointment as a senior adviser. The PMO’s strategic communications operations have been adjusted under the leadership of Joseph Lavoie, director of strategic communications, who’s been in the job since the fall of 2013.
Strategic communications staffers appear to have a boosted level of seniority in the PMO compared to previous years. In the spring of 2013, for example, there were four communications strategists, one manager of strategic communications and a director. Now, there are three managers of strategic communications: Madison Cox, Steven Hebert and Steven Woodhead; one producer, Carly Hourigan; one deputy director, Erin Bonokoski; and a director, Mr. Lavoie.
Mr. Beardsley said a strengthened strategic communications unit is a “sign” that the office is beginning to work on election ramp-up, and said it’s part of the bulking up all parties do.
“You can’t help it if it’s this close down the road [to the next election], and a lot of this will be put together over the summer and getting ready for the fall into the spring push,” said Mr. Beardsley.
Most recently, longtime staffer Joanne McNamara, deputy chief of staff and director of personnel and administration, announced she’s set to leave the PMO and the Hill in general later this month to take up a job at Western University in her hometown of London, Ont. Ms. McNamara has been staffer on the Hill for the past decade starting in 2004, and was chief of staff to then Industry minister James Moore before being recruited to the PMO in December 2012.
As one of two deputy chiefs of staff in the PMO, Ms. McNamara was focused on running the administration of the office, was involved in overseeing appointments (both in offices on the Hill and larger government appointments), and was one of the key PMO point-people for ministerial chiefs of staff. Jenni Byrne, also deputy chief of staff to Mr. Harper, focused on issues management work.
As a director of personnel and administration involved in appointments, Ms. McNamara was a key point of contact for ministerial staffers and sat in on the weekly PMO-led meeting of ministerial chiefs of staff, said Chad Rogers, a partner at Crestview Strategy.
“The chiefs of staff essentially have two masters, that being their minister and the PMO, both of whom are involved in their selection [to become a ministerial chief of staff] and there’s a weekly meeting, I know Joanne was intimately involved with that,” said Mr. Rogers, adding that the coordinating of high level appointments, both in terms of internal political staff and major appointments reviewed by government, fell to Ms. McNamara. He said change is constant in any political office.
“It’s very, very rarely a permanent job…. [It] is hugely draining and hugely challenging. The hours and the commitment aren’t normal, and believe it or not, not everyone wants to make their life in Ottawa,” he said.
Mr. Rogers said he doesn’t think recent staffing changes indicate anything about the tone or focus of the PMO, which is always set by the leader, Mr. Harper, who remains a constant.
“I think the campaign and the party, at the direction of the Prime Minister, have never stopped in getting ready for next year,” said Mr. Rogers.
Tim Powers, vice-chairman of Summa Strategies, said it’s “no surprise” Ms. McNamara is leaving after a decade on the Hill, particularly with the last few years having been spent as a ministerial chief of staff and as a PMO deputy chief of staff—two extremely high-pressure roles.
“She’s given a lot of good service and so seeing her go is no surprise,” said Mr. Powers. “The summer is always a time when it’s good to make staff changes because you do have a bit of a transition period before Parliament comes back, people can take some holidays, new people can fit in, they can get their feet under them a little bit before things kick up again in the fall.”
It’s unclear at this point how the PMO plans to adjust to Ms. McNamara’s departure, whether it will necessarily hire another deputy chief of staff or if a new arrangement will be made, but Mr. Powers said whoever takes over the job as head of personnel, administration and appointments is likely to be a familiar face.
“You tend to see people who have been in and around the government for a while taking jobs like that, because they do have corporate history, they do have established relationships,” said Mr. Powers.
“In Joanne’s case, she was a ministerial chief of staff for a very long time and knew them all, got on well with them all, and they respected her too. I think that helped her immeasurably,” he said.
Mr. Beardsley said summer is typically the time for big staffing changes, especially in the PMO as staffers don’t want to leave the prime minister in the lurch, and said after 10 years, he can understand Ms. McNamara’s desire “to take a break” and said he sees nothing “unusual” in her departure.
But a former Conservative staffer who spoke with The Hill Times said Ms. McNamara “was stung” by the Nigel Wright-Mike Duffy affair and it left a “bit of a sour taste in her mouth.”
“One of her responsibilities over at the Prime Minister’s Office was to act as Nigel Wright’s ethical wall—it didn’t go so well,” said the source on the condition of anonymity.
The source also said PMO control over political staff has expanded even further over the last year because many staffers in positions of seniority in minister’s office have been “fully flushed and scripted by the Prime Minister’s Office.”
“It used to be the polar opposite, you work in a chiefs of staff office and hope to get the call from the Prime Minister’s office because that’s where the adults played, right. Now it’s the absolute polar opposite…. It has become a clearing-house for staff. Look at how many people they’re flushed through into chief of staff jobs,” said the source, pointing to former PMO staffer Nick Pappalardo’s appointment as chief of staff to Transport Minister Lisa Raitt (Halton, Ont.) as one example.
“Everyone is out on message and nobody will cause [the Prime Minister] any grief, the only people left to do that is caucus and half of them are quitting,” said the source, referring to Conservative MPs who have already announced they won’t run for election in 2015.
http://www.hilltimes.com/news/news/2014/07/07/pmo-looking-to-2015-election-say-sources/39021