Hill Climbers
A dozen staffers accounted for so far on Treasury Board President Ali’s team
Treasury Board President Shafqat Ali has likely had a busy summer amid cabinet-wide efforts to dial back federal spending, and supporting him is a soon-to-be 12-member team, including director of policy Dan Lindenas.
As reported by Hill Climbers in June, Elliott Lockington is chief of staff to Ali.
Ministers reportedly had until Aug. 28 to present to the Treasury Board proposed plans to cut spending in their respective departments by 15 per cent by 2028-29.
Lindenas recently noted his return to the “political side of government” in a LinkedIn post quoting The Godfather: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”
“If our new government is going to effectively address the modern challenges Canadians face, it must ensure that it is flexible, responsive, and open to new ways of doing things,” wrote Lindenas. “It will take leadership from the Treasury Board, and the incredible public servants who work in the [S]ecretariat, to make that happen. I couldn’t be more excited to be part of this team.”
Up until earlier this year, Lindenas spent the last three years, roughly, working as a departmental senior policy adviser at Public Safety Canada. He started in that role in early 2022 upon the end of his mandatory cooling-off period after exiting as director of policy to then-public safety minister Bill Blair. Lindenas previously served as policy director to the Treasury Board president between late 2018 and the end of 2019, starting under Scott Brison and ending under then-president Joyce Murray.
A former legislative assistant to then-Liberal MPs Dan McTeague and John McCallum, Lindenas is also a past aide to then-MP and Indigenous and northern affairs minister Carolyn Bennett, and a former director of parliamentary affairs to then-democratic institutions minister Karina Gould. According to his online profile, Lindenas has been a member of the Canadian Armed Forces since 2013, and is a master corporal with 33 Signals Regiment, a reserve unit.
Currently reporting to Lindenas in Ali’s shop are senior policy advisers Daniel Kucirek and Hosai Zurmati Halim, and policy advisers Farrah-Lilia Kerkadi, Annahat Kochhar, and Elizabeth Wong.
Kucirek has been a cabinet staffer since 2023, and was previously Ontario regional affairs adviser for then-transport ministers Anita Anand and Pablo Rodriguez.
He helped Ali win a seat in the House of Commons for the first time in 2021, having served as Ali’s campaign manager during that race. (Following the recent federal riding redistribution, Ali now represents the new riding of Brampton–Chinguacousy Park, Ont.)
Kucirek previously spent roughly six-and-a-half years working in then-Liberal MP Omar Alghabra’s Mississauga Centre, Ont., constituency office, and was deputy campaign manager for Alghabra’s successful 2019 re-election bid. Kucirek is also a past treasurer with the Mississauga Centre Federal Liberal Riding Association. Prior to joining Rodriguez’s transport office, Kucirek spent just under a year working as a consultant with Dokainish & Company in Toronto.
Zurmati Halim is a carryover from the old Treasury Board teams of then-presidents Ginette Petitpas Taylor and Anand, having first been hired as an issues manager to the latter in November 2023. She later switched titles to that of policy adviser. Zurmati Halim is also a former parliamentary affairs adviser to then-public services and procurement minister Helena Jaczek, and a past constituency assistant to Toronto Liberal MP Salma Zahid. A former law clerk and tutoring instructor, Zurmati Halim’s LinkedIn profile indicates she recently graduated with a master’s degree in anti-corruption, specializing in cyber and artificial intelligence, from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research.
Kerkadi is a former senior adviser to then-sport and Prairies Economic Development Canada minister Terry Duguid. From 2022 up until early this year, Kerkadi worked for then-Liberal minister Randy Boissonault, starting as a special assistant for issues management and assistant to the parliamentary secretary in Boissonnault’s office as then-tourism and associate finance minister, and ending as policy adviser in his office as then-employment minister. In between, she also served as press secretary to Boissonnault during his time helming the tourism file.
Kochhar brings a background in science, and is a former research laboratory manager at the University of Ottawa—a job she started after graduating from the school with a master’s degree in cellular and molecular medicine in 2023. Beyond other past roles as a teaching assistant and research assistant at the university, Kochhar has experience working at Health Canada and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada through the Federal Student Work Experience Program.
Wong was last advising on policy in the federal health minister’s office, starting under then-minister Mark Holland, but she’s also a past policy and operations adviser to then-labour and seniors minister Seamus O’Regan, and a former special assistant for operations and policy to then-fisheries minister Joyce Murray. According to her LinkedIn profile, she spent this year’s federal election running now-Liberal MP John-Paul Danko’s successful campaign in Hamilton West–Ancaster–Dundas, Ont.
Taimur Ali is director of operations to the Treasury Board president (to whom he is not related). Taimur Ali has been running Shafqat Ali’s constituency office since 2021, and Hill Climbers understands that he previously ran a private tutoring business.
Mohammad Kamal is director of communications to Ali as Treasury Board president, and will soon be aided by Matthieu Perrotin, who is set to join the team on Sept. 3 as director of issues management and deputy director of communications.
Kamal is a former senior parliamentary affairs and Quebec regional affairs adviser to Steven MacKinnon as then-employment, workforce development, and labour minister, and as then-labour and seniors minister.
Kamal started with the labour and seniors ministerial team in the spring of 2023 as a strategic communications adviser to then-minister O’Regan, and stayed on after MacKinnon took over the portfolio in July 2024. He’s also previously been a special assistant for digital communications to then-trade minister Mary Ng. As indicated on his LinkedIn profile, in addition to working on Prime Minister Mark Carney’s leadership campaign at the start of this year, Kamal oversaw former Liberal MP Majid Jowhari’s ultimately unsuccessful run for re-election in Richmond Hill South, Ont.
Perrotin was most recently working as an issues adviser in Carney’s office as prime minister, but before then was a senior communications adviser and press secretary to MacKinnon as employment minister. A former assistant to Quebec Liberal Jean-Yves Duclos, Perrotin has been working for ministers since the end of 2022, beginning as a digital communications adviser to then-innovation minister François-Philippe Champagne. He’s since also been press secretary to then-Crown-Indigenous relations minister Gary Anandasangaree.
Until recently, Alliancé Babunga was press secretary to Ali, but Hill Climbers understands she has since exited the role.
Meher Plahay has been hired as a communications adviser in Ali’s ministerial office. Plahay also last worked in Ali’s constituency office as an assistant, and worked on the MP’s successful re-election campaign this spring. She also previously volunteered in the constituency office of then-Markham–Unionville, Ont., Liberal MP Paul Chiang, and for the John Howard Society of York Region, amongst other past experiences.
Finally, Precious Badru stepped into the role of digital communications adviser on Aug. 28. A recent graduate of Concordia University—where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science—Badru previously worked at McDonald’s, most recently as a second assistant manager. While at Concordia, she served as president of the school’s Nigerian Students’ Association.
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