Hill Climbers
New Agriculture Minister MacDonald settles his senior staff team
New Agriculture and Agri-Food Minister Heath MacDonald has made progress in solidifying his office, and has settled his senior staff team, a roster which includes Hilary Peirce as director of policy.
As reported by Hill Climbers last month, Guy Gallant is in place as chief of staff to MacDonald, having previously run the offices of then-agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay and Ginette Petitpas Taylor through her turns as then-minister for official languages, veterans affairs, and briefly as Treasury Board president.
A number of Gallant’s ex-colleagues from Petitpas Taylor’s shop have been picked up by MacDonald.
Peirce, though, is a carryover from MacAulay’s old team as agriculture minister. She returned to the Hill after roughly a year away in August 2024 to oversee policy work in MacAulay’s office.
A former assistant to then-Saskatchewan Liberal MP Ralph Goodale, Peirce was hired to tackle communications in Goodale’s office as then-public safety and emergency preparedness minister in early 2016. After the 2019 election—which saw Goodale lose his House seat—Peirce was hired as a policy adviser to then-agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. At the start of the subsequent, 44th Parliament, Peirce joined then-Treasury Board president Mona Fortier’s team, initially as a senior policy adviser. About a year later, in late 2022, she was promoted to director of labour relations—her last role before stepping away from the political trenches for a year.
Serena Smith has been hired as a senior adviser to MacDonald. She comes from Petitpas Taylor’s former team, having most recently been a senior legal adviser to Petitpas Taylor as then-Treasury Board president.
A former associate with Prince Edward Island law firm Cox & Palmer, Smith was first hired as a senior policy adviser to Petitpas Taylor as then-veterans affairs minister in May 2024. Petitpas Taylor, who is no longer in cabinet but continues to represent Moncton–Riverview–Dieppe, N.B., in the House, was shuffled from veterans affairs to Treasury Board this past December.
Bradley Henstock is continuing as director of parliamentary affairs to the agriculture minister.
Henstock is a former New Brunswick Liberal staffer—including a little more than two years spent as a communications officer in then-premier Brian Gallant’s office. He went on to briefly work as a constituency assistant to then-N.B. Liberal MP Matt DeCourcey at the end of the 42nd Parliament, before landing a job as a special assistant for issues management and social media to MacAulay as then-veterans affairs minister in the spring of 2020.
Henstock was promoted to lead parliamentary affairs work for MacAulay in February 2023, and carried the title with him when he followed MacAulay to the agriculture portfolio in the wake of that summer’s cabinet shuffle.
Mikaela Harrison has been hired as director of operations to MacDonald.
Harrison was previously director of communications to Petitpas Taylor as both veterans affairs minister and more recently as Treasury Board president, having worked for the now-former minister since the fall of 2023.
Since landing her first cabinet job in the spring of 2019, Harrison has also been a senior communications adviser to then-infrastructure and intergovernmental affairs minister Dominic LeBlanc, press secretary to then-families minister Ahmed Hussen, legislative assistant to LeBlanc as then-intergovernmental affairs minister and Privy Council president, and a special assistant in LeBlanc’s offices as then-Privy Council president (when he held that solo portfolio) and as then-intergovernmental affairs, northern affairs, and internal trade minister.
Finally, rounding out the list of staff so far confirmed in MacDonald’s office is director of communications Annie Cullinan, having previously done the same for MacAulay as then-agriculture minister since 2023.
Cullinan has been working for the Liberal government since the fall of 2018, starting as a special assistant in then-border security minister Bill Blair’s office. Cullinan followed Blair to the public safety portfolio following the 2019 election, becoming an Atlantic regional adviser. She briefly left to work as press secretary and issues manager to then-special representative for the Prairies Jim Carr for a good chunk of 2021. After that year’s federal election, she was brought back to serve as press secretary to Blair as then-emergency preparedness minister, and was promoted to communications director in September 2022.
Jumping over to Northern and Arctic Affairs Minister Rebecca Chartrand’s burgeoning office, Kyle Allen is officially in place as director of communications.
Allen recently did the same for now-Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree during his brief run overseeing the northern affairs file.
Anandasanagaree, who was named Crown-Indigenous relations minister in July 2023, became Crown-Indigenous relations and northern affairs minister with then-prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Dec. 20, 2024, shuffle. In March, he was given the added role of justice minister and attorney general. Anandasangaree carried all three titles through to May 13 when he was named to his current role.
Allen was previously director of communications, parliamentary affairs, and issues management to then-northern affairs minister Dan Vandal. Allen started out as Vandal’s press secretary in January 2022, and was promoted to his triple-barreled title in September 2023. Prior to joining Vandal’s team, Allen was a special assistant for communications with the Liberal research bureau.
As previously reported, Kathy Kettler is chief of staff to Chartrand, who is also the minister responsible for the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency.
Stay tuned for more updates on Chartrand’s team, and beyond.
The Hill Times
