During the five years of a Conservative minority government from 2006 to 2011, the PMO was “constantly on electoral war footing,” said Tim Powers, vice-president of Summa Strategies and former Conservative Hill staffer. Now, he said, the governing Conservatives have time to focus more on bigger policy issues. Moreover, Mr. Powers said both Mr. Wright and new communications director Andrew MacDougall are professional, polished and approachable people—characteristics that are an asset to PMO dealings.
“Sometimes there are people in those positions who don’t have the same level of respect,” said Mr. Powers.
Yaroslav Baran, a former campaign communications director to Prime Minister Stephen Harper (Calgary Southwest, Alta.) who is now a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group, said there seems to be a good “esprit de corps” in the Langevin Block, where the PMO is housed.
“Mr. Wright has made quite a few promotions from within and that always sends a really good signal, a positive signal to staff that hard work and good work is appreciated and recognized, and I think that’s certainly helped. That comes down to management style … and it’s contributed to a positive environment, positive atmosphere,” said Mr. Baran.
Since the May 2011 election in particular there have been a whole slew of PMO promotions, including then policy adviser Sean Speer’s promotion to senior economic policy adviser, then press secretary and spokesperson Mr. MacDougall’s promotion to his current role, and then PMO issues management adviser Chris Woodcock’s promotion to director of issues management.
With a majority government, the PMO has the time and energy to develop a clear sense of where it’s going, and is much more “accomplishment oriented” as it’s “spending far less time making sure the government doesn’t fall,” said a senior Conservative source, who said the mood in the PMO right now is predominantly calm and business-like.
“Nigel Wright is about business. He’s very political but he’s a man that wants to accomplish something,” the Conservative source said. “Nigel Wright wants to go somewhere, Guy Giorno just wanted to be there.”
Mr. Wright arrived in the PMO in November 2010 while former chief of staff Guy Giorno was still in his post and transitioned into the job before officially taking over the reins in January 2011.
Mr. Giorno, who is now a partner at law firm Fasken Martineau and who led the PMO from 2008 until 2010, has been noted in the media for his sharp partisanship and for maintaining centralized control.
Mr. Wright stepped away from a high-profile job on Bay Street in Toronto as managing director at Onex Corporation to serve as Mr. Harper’s chief of staff, and is business-oriented with a strong work ethic.
Last January, the PMO was reorganized to merge the policy and stakeholder relations units, with Rachel Curran serving as the overseeing director, and at the time Mr. Baran noted that the decision appeared to be Mr. Wright’s “common sense management reform” style.
“[With a majority government] I think that they’ve gone back and focused on where they wanted to go in the first place. Stephen Harper is many things, but erratic is not one of them. He knows where he wants to go and he’s thought out his positions and that’s where he’s headed,” said the senior Conservative source. “So I think it’s much easier now…[Nigel Wright] can say, ‘Alright, here’s where we’re going and lets get busy and go there.’ ”
Mr. MacDougall’s promotion to the role of director of communications last April is also showing signs that a new tone may be sprouting in the PMO.
On May 9, Mr. MacDougall attended an executive committee meeting of the Parliamentary Press Gallery and in a reportedly amicable conversation discussed the Hill media’s concerns about access to power.
“Andrew MacDougall requested a meeting with the gallery executive. He said it was something he wanted to do when he took the job. It was a very cordial meeting and views on both sides were expressed,” said Parliamentary Press Gallery president Chris Rands, a producer for CBC TV in an email to The Hill Times.
The press gallery executive discussed the issue of Cabinet “ins” and “outs”—which had been a chance for reporters to question Cabinet Ministers at a microphone as they entered and exited Cabinet meetings before the practice was shut down in 2006—and discussed the issues reporters faced in dealing with departmental communications officials. Press gallery executive members also talked to Mr. MacDougall about the tendency of communications staff in ministerial offices to refuse to communicate by telephone and to send emails instead, among other issues.
Mr. MacDougall told the press gallery executive committee that he’s in favour of making experts available to reporters on more complex government announcements and said he hopes to have more media outlets travel with the Prime Minister on international trips. Mr. MacDougall said he would be willing, under embargo, to brief media outlets about the itinerary for the Prime Minister’s trips so they can make informed decisions about whether they wish to accompany him.
Le Devoir reporter Hélène Buzzetti asked about the perceived decline in the number of questions allotted to press gallery reporters during foreign leader visits. Mr. MacDougall said they “push” for two Canadian and two foreign media questions.
“We’ll find ways to make it better and make it work,” Mr. MacDougall is quoted as saying in the meeting minutes. “It’s not going to be everything to your liking. It’s not going to be everything to my liking. But that’s the way it works.”
Mr. Rands said he recalls having one on one meetings with the last two PMO communications directions, Angelo Persichilli and Dimitri Soudas, but said he doesn’t recall such a meeting with the whole executive.
“The gallery executive looks forward to further meeting with MacDougall and remains optimistic that relations between the Prime Minister’s Office and the gallery will continue to improve. MacDougall’s candour and sense of humour are always helpful when discussing the issues of the day,” said Mr. Rands.
Halifax Chronicle Herald Parliamentary bureau chief and press gallery executive member Paul McLeod said the system of government communications is “awful right now” but said he thinks there’s been a realization that “things have gone a little bit too far and they need to make ministers more accessible.”
“He certainly has shown more of an interest in communicating with journalists and changing things for the better than I’ve seen recently, so I think that can only be a good thing. And at the same time, maybe even more encouraging, is that he was blunt about the things that aren’t going to change. He made no bones about it that the Prime Minister still is not going to be doing many interviews around Ottawa…he was honest that some things are not going to change, but maybe that’s a good sign that other things will,” said Mr. McLeod.
There has been a steady “devolution” of Mr. Harper’s PMO’s strict and highly centralized control over government communications since the party came to power in 2006 with Sandra Buckler at the PMO communications helm, starting with Mr. Giorno’s decision while chief of staff “to allow ministers’ offices more leeway” by once again making them responsible for their own communications, said the senior Conservative source.
“I think each of them [PMO communications directors] have their different styles. I know when Kory [Teneycke] was there he’d certainly meet with bureau chiefs, and Dimitri [Soudas] would talk to different reporters. I mean I think everybody goes about it slightly differently in terms of the process they invoke to make sure they’re relating to their client groups, like the media,” said Mr. Powers.
However, the senior Conservative source said Mr. MacDougall’s less confrontational nature and his approach to the media, “makes media happy, but it’s not necessarily in the government’s best interests. … The tone is better but I think the jury’s still out on whether or not he has the necessary mettle to keep all of the troops in line over the long haul. There’s a difference between being a communications director and being a spokesperson.”
Original Article
Source: hill times
Author: Laura Ryckewaert
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