From Langevin to Pennslyvania Avenue

Hope you weren’t looking forward to cherry blossom season in Washington, Ambassador Wilson, because the PM’s right-hand mandarin may be headed down south to take your job. This week’s Hill Times reports that Privy Council Clerk Kevin Lynch is "locked for the job," according to a tantalizingly anonymous "Hill insider." The former Finance deputy minister has DC experience—he repped Canada during his tenure at the International Monetary Fund—and although the rumour has been officially denied by a PCO official, you know what they say about official denials. Wilson’s term doesn’t officially expire for another couple of years, but he’s been seen as a Former Ambassador Walking since that whole NAFTA memo leak unpleasantness exploded during the Democratic primaries last spring. Of course, this wouldn’t be Ottawa without a competing theory: the same story notes that "another name" being "talked about" is that of Liberal turned Conservative Industry Minister David Emerson. Diplomatic speculators, start your engines!

The Hill Times