Waiting for the new Guy

As we're reporting today in the Star, it's all but official - Ian Brodie is out as chief of staff to the Prime Minister and Guy Giorno, a former chief of staff to Mike Harris, is in. Though there's no news release yet, we heard last night that celebrations were already under way at a pub on Elgin Street in Ottawa.

Many people inside the Ottawa bubble will be looking to see whether Giorno's appointment will usher in any changes in tone or style or substance in the capital. Perhaps the most interested people will be lobbyists, since Giorno has, since leaving Harris's office, become an expert in lobbying law.  Not so long ago, he was issuing criticism of the Harper government for failing to crack down on the lobbying that occurs after work hours - like, say, in pubs on Elgin Street.

"The public is actually probably more interested in what happens at a bar or restaurant at nine at night than what happens in a boardroom at nine in the morning," Giorno was quoted as saying in a Canadian Press report in January.

Here's a lengthy description of Giorno's credentials on the lobbying front.

Giorno, it seems, doesn't do much lobbying himself. Here's what comes up when you search his name in the federal Lobby Register.

Comments

[Wascally wabbit]

Giorno (and certainly Harper) will probably rue the sentiment behind that quote you published - "the public...."
More than the chattering classes (especially in Ontario) will be wondering where Harper thinks he's going when he brings in Harris' Brain...
They remember vividly the consequences of Harris' Common Sense Revolution on Ontario - confrontations, illconsidered cuts resulting in partial failure of core services like Healthcare and Education...etc.
Some who knew Harris suggest his "edge" was that he was just bright enough to know he wasn't bright...and left the real thinking to people like Giorno...
Along with the questions building about Harper's team's ethics, this could be yet another nail in Harper's coffin for ever getting more seats in Ontario.....