UPDATE – Wow, that was fast. As of this afternoon, Darrel Reid – who really has to figure out how he wants to spell his name and let the folks at GEDS in on the secret – is no longer listed as a director at Policy, but is now a (or possibly the) Deputy Chief of Staff under Strategy, which could auger the beginning of the end of the Muttartian era. ITQ will keep you posted.
UPDATE – Wow, that was fast. As of this afternoon, Darrel Reid – who really has to figure out how he wants to spell his name and let the folks at GEDS in on the secret – is no longer listed as a director at Policy, but is now a (or possibly the) Deputy Chief of Staff under Strategy, which could auger the beginning of the end of the Muttartian era. ITQ will keep you posted.
UPDATED AGAIN – Okay, it looks like it’s officially time to break out the trusty GEDS refresh macro, otherwise known as my thumb: As of this afternoon, Mark Cameron is listed as Senior Advisor, Director of Strategic Initiatives and Public Liaison at Priorities, Planning and Research.
Note: Future updates will appear at the top of this post.
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Senior PMO staff fleeing in droves even as ostensibly nonpartisan outsiders are imported to mollify the madding crowd? Is it an exodus or an — incodus? We’re so confused! Time for another edition of GiornoWatch!
The big news – well, officially-confirmed-via-GEDS-changes big news, anyway – as far as internal PMO restructuring is, of course, Carolyn Stewart Olsen’s brand spankin’ new if unimaginatively named office of Strategic Communication – no S, of course. Does this mean that up until now, PMO policy was to practice Random Haphazard Communication?
Anyway, in a daring daytime Boudicean raid on the soon-to-be-rulerless Republic of Muttartiana, Olsen captured all but one of the Great and Terrible’s communications squadron: David Curtin, Jeff Graham, Anne Howland, and David Tarrant, as well as former-executive-now-special assistant David Courturier. She even managed to lure strong, eerily silent Heathcliff look-alike Marc-Andre Plouffe, previously sequestered in the Speechwriting Unit, into her new inner circle, as well as France Lavergne, late of the (Apparently Not So Strategic) Communication office, now her special assistant. Not to be outflanked by his fellow s-less communicator, Kory Teneycke has replenished his ranks with Gregory Gallagher and Sadia Quereshi, media assistant and officer, respectively.
Following the sudden, spectacular rise of the Greater Olsenian Empire, just one communications specialist remains in the Court of the Dark Lord Demographician,otherwise known as Strategy: Michael Winterburn. ITQ hopes he won’t get too lonely, although at least he’ll have the newly retitled Rebecca Thompson for company: before the most recent outbreak of organizational rejiggery, she was manager of strategy; now, she’s in charge of “public liaison”.
“Public liaison”, apparently, is the phrase du jour over PMO these days: it also turns up over at Priorities, Planning and Research, which recently brought in a similarly designated assistant in the form of Julie Gaudreau.
Meanwhile, Daryl Reid’s Policy wonks have also been engaging in a bout of renaming that may foreshadow further changes, particularly given recent reports of an imminent new arrival: Jasmine Igneski, formerly listed as a policy advisor, is now listed as director of priorities and planning, according to GEDSide sources; Amanda Philp, meanwhile, is now manager of priorities, planning and research.
The office has also brought in a new policy advisor: Andrew Wallace, a finance and industry expert formerly of Bay Street but now fated to wander the halls of Langevin delivering words of wisdom and sanity on the Global Economic Unpleasantness. Perhaps he can take the new office intern, Joel Reinhardt, out for lunch some afternoon to compare notes on their respective first weeks on the job.
And finally, to the Inner Giornosanctum, where the PMO’s chief pawn-pusher has apparently been on a housekeeping kick of late, as he has added two new administrative assistants to the ranks: Monica Bernard and Amber Doucet. Doucet hails from Personnel, Administration and Appointments, which has also lost operations manager Geraldine Hyland and special assistant Will Lymer to the CoSoSphere. Ask not what Guy Giorno can do for your office, ask what you can do for Guy Giorno. (Also, if you enjoy your current position, you may want to stay out of his way over the next few weeks.)
Bernard, meanwhile, is another wide-eyed newcomer – well, to PMO at least, as is newly minted special assistant Donna Robertson – yes, another one, bringing the total to four. Gone, however, is the itchy-footed Robert Elliott, who kept appearing and disappearing from the staff list over the last eight months, but who has now put down stakes over at the Conservative Resource Group, where ITQ hopes he will be content enough to stick around for a while.
Anything else? Oh, a few advancekateers over at Tour and Scheduling – including Aaron Campbell, who is now senior advance, as is Jennifer Gibbons – seem to have had “to the Prime Minister” affixed to their titles; not sure what that is all about, but at least they didn’t lose any letters, right? Advance alums Lynne Frappier and Brendan Marshall have moved on: Frappier is now a policy advisor over at Human Resources and Skills Development, and Marshall is an executive assistant at Canadian Heritage.
That’s all for the moment, but as noted above, there are apparently more changes on the way, so we’ll keep you posted on any and all new developments. (As always, feel free to share any additional information in the comments.)