The Director of Communications in the Prime Minister's Office (French : Directeur de la Communication au Cabinet du Premier Ministre) is one of the most senior roles in the Canadian Prime Minister's Office, reporting directly to the prime minister and his or her chief of staff. The person is responsible for selling the government's agenda to the media and public.
The portfolio thus encompasses everything from speech writing, communications packages, coordinating announcements, creating media appearances for the Prime Minister, crafting communications responses, liaising with the media, coordinating with ministers' and Members of Parliament's offices, and responding to government controversies.
The position's grueling hours are close only to the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff and Director of Policy. [1]
Since 2006 only half of the directors have lasted more than one year, with the average in the position being just 395 days, or roughly 13 months. The longest serving director is Kate Purchase, who served as Justin Trudeau’s first communications director from October 2015 to December 2019. The shortest duration was just 32 days with William Stairs, who left shortly after Prime Minister Stephen Harper was elected with a minority government.
Name | Prime Minister | Dates Served | Reason for Leaving |
---|---|---|---|
Peter Donolo | Jean Chrétien | 1993–1999 | Resigned |
Françoise Ducros | 1999–2002 | Resigned following controversy | |
Jim Munson | 2002–2003 | Appointed to the Senate of Canada | |
Mario Laguë | Paul Martin | 2003–2005 | Appointed to a diplomatic position |
Scott Reid | 2005–2006 | Party defeated in 2006 election | |
William J. Stairs | Stephen Harper | January – February 2006 | Unknown |
Sandra Buckler | February 2006 – June 27, 2008 | Cancer treatment | |
Kory Teneycke | July 7, 2008 – July 28, 2009 | Job with Sun News Network | |
John Williamson | August 2009 – March 2010 [2] | To run for Parliament | |
Dimitri Soudas | March 2010 – September 5, 2011 [3] | Hired by the Canadian Olympic Committee | |
Angelo Persichilli | October 2011 – April 2012 [4] | Job stress | |
Andrew MacDougall | April 2012 – September 2, 2013 [5] | Job in London, England | |
Jason MacDonald | September 12, 2013 – February 13, 2015 [6] | Unknown | |
Rob Nicol | February 14, 2015 [6] – October 18, 2015 | party defeated in 2015 election | |
Kate Purchase | Justin Trudeau | October 2015 – December 2019 [7] | Job with Microsoft |
Cameron Ahmad | Justin Trudeau | January 2020 – June 2023 [8] | Unknown |
Vanessa Hage-Moussa | June 2023 – current [9] | Incumbent |
In Canada, the principal secretary is a senior aide, often the most senior political aide, to a head of government. Formerly, the position of principal secretary was the most senior one in the Canadian prime minister's office (PMO). However, since 1987, it has been second to the chief of staff position.
Michael Dennis Duffy is a former Canadian senator and former Canadian television journalist. Prior to his appointment to the upper house in 2008, he was the Ottawa editor for CTV News Channel. Upon turning 75 on May 27, 2021, Duffy retired from the senate due to mandatory retirement rules.
The Office of the Prime Minister comprises the political staff which support the prime minister of Canada. Located in the Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council Building in Ottawa, Ontario. The PMO provides policy advice, information gathering, communications, planning, and strategizing. It should not be confused with the Privy Council Office (PCO) – a department of the Government of Canada and part of the Public Service, which is expressly non-partisan. The PMO is concerned with making policy, whereas the PCO is concerned with executing the policy decisions.
Mona Nemer, is a Lebanese-Canadian scientist specializing in molecular genetics and cardiac regeneration. She was formerly a professor of pharmacology at the University of Montreal and the Director of the Cardiac Development Research Unit at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM) where she held a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular Cell Differentiation. She is a professor of biochemistry at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Medicine, and also served as Vice-President, Research at the University of Ottawa from 2006 to 2017.
Peter Michael Boehm is a Canadian politician, former diplomat and deputy minister. He was appointed to the Senate of Canada in October 2018. Boehm was ambassador of Canada to Germany from 2008 to 2012. He was associate deputy minister and then senior associate deputy minister at Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada from 2012 to 2016. He became deputy minister of international development in March 2016, and on July 31, 2017, was appointed deputy minister for the 2018 G7 Summit. He also continued as the Canadian "Sherpa" or personal representative of the prime minister for the G7 summits, as well as the Nuclear Security Summit.
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Sandra Buckler is a former director of communications for the Office of the Prime Minister of Canada under Conservative Party of Canada Prime Minister Stephen Harper. She was appointed in 2006 and resigned from her position on June 26, 2008. Her tenure was contentious, including charges from the national media that she was overly restricted in sharing information, pressing journalists to instead focus on photo ops and adhering rigorously to talking points from the Office of the Prime Minister (PMO), as well as accusations from Members of Parliament that she had bullied them, and charges of conflict of interest. She joined Canadian Tire as Vice President of communications in 2015.
Kory Teneycke is the former vice-president of Sun News Network. He was also the former Director of Communications to the Prime Minister's Office under Stephen Harper. He was the campaign manager for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party during the 2018 Ontario election.
The Canadian secretary to the King is the senior operational member of the royal household for the monarch of Canada, presently King Charles III. The office was established as Canadian secretary to the Queen in 1959. The present office holder is Donald Booth, who was appointed to the position in 2019.
Dimitri Soudas is the former Director of Communications to the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former executive director of the Canadian Olympic Committee and former executive director of the Conservative Party of Canada.
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