Carney names Quebecer, former UN ambassador as chief of staff
TORONTO — Prime Minister Mark Carney has named Canada's former ambassador to the United Nations as his chief of staff.
Carney announced on Sunday that Marc-André Blanchard would begin his post in July, taking over from Marco Mendicino, the former Liberal cabinet minister who had been doing the job on an interim basis.
'Marc-André has a long and distinguished career as one of Canada's most accomplished builders, legal experts, executives, public servants, and diplomats serving as Canada's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations,' Carney wrote on X.
Blanchard currently serves as an executive at CDPQ Global, a Quebec-based investment firm responsible for managing pension funds and insurance plans.
The prominent Quebec lawyer served as Canada's ambassador to the United Nations from 2016 until 2020.
In 2017, Blanchard was named as a member of the government's council struck on the new North American Free Trade Agreement, which was renegotiated by Canada, the U.S., and Mexico, during Trump's first term in office.
In his post on X, Carney confirmed that Mendicino would remain his interim chief of staff into 'early summer.'
He said Mendicino would be in the job as the Liberal government prepared to introduce its first legislation of the new session of Parliament and host G7 leaders when they meet in Alberta later this month, including U.S. President Donald Trump.
Carney has named growing Canada's economy in the face of the president's trade war by knocking down interprovincial trade barriers and fast-tracking approvals for new energy and infrastructure projects as his top priorities.
His government is also set to table a bill addressing Canada-U.S. border security, which has been another irritant of Trump's.
Carney announced Blanchard as his chief of staff as he was set to meet with energy leaders in Calgary on Sunday and then travel to Saskatoon, where he will spend Monday meeting with the premiers for a First Ministers' Meeting.
From Nova Scotia's 'Wind West' to Alberta's pipeline dream, here are the national projects premiers are pitching Carney
Chief of staff is the highest-ranking official in the Prime Minister's Office and is responsible for shepherding the government's agenda.
In terms of other changes, former Liberal justice minister David Lametti will become Carney's principal secretary, according to a government source familiar with the matter, speaking on the condition of background.
Tom Pitfield, a former Trudeau operative who worked on past Liberal election campaigns, had been in the role on an interim basis.
Lametti and Carney have known each other for decades, with the pair attending and playing hockey together at the University of Oxford.
Since winning the April 28 federal election, Carney has been working to staff up his office. So far, the first twelve chiefs of staff have been named for various ministers.
He won the election on a mandate of standing up to Trump's trade war and growing the Canadian economy, promising to deliver on an ambitious agenda and get the government to move at a pace not seen in the past.
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