Hill Climbers
Fisheries Minister Thompson in market for new policy director, with 16 staff currently on board
Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson has reeled in a number of additional staffing hires since Hill Climbers’ last check-in in June, including Kevin McHarg as director of fish management.
McHarg has been working on the federal fisheries file since September 2023. First hired as a senior operations adviser to then-fisheries and oceans minister Diane Lebouthillier, he was promoted to director of operations last year—his most recent role.
McHarg is also a former Ontario regional affairs adviser to then-public services and procurement minister Filomena Tassi, and a past assistant to Quebec Liberal MP Greg Fergus. Beyond politics, McHarg has a background working in hospitality, including serving up dishes on Parliament Hill and as a cook at Casino du Lac-Leamy.
As previously reported, Neil MacIsaac is chief of staff to Thompson, while Andrew Richardson is director of issues management and parliamentary affairs.
Kurtis Layden, whom Hill Climbers noted in June had taken on the role of director of policy to Thompson through to the end of summer, is preparing to make his exit from the office this month. There’s no word yet on who will replace him, but keep reading for further updates.
Morgan McCullough, who was previously noted to be a senior adviser in Thompson’s fisheries office during its early days in June, is now officially director of operations and aquaculture to the minister.
McCullough has returned to the fisheries office, having previously worked there between July 2021 and the end of 2023, beginning as a policy and Pacific regional affairs adviser to then-minister Bernadette Jordan and ending as a senior policy and Ontario regional affairs adviser to then-minister Joyce Murray.
A former assistant to British Columbia Liberal MP Patrick Weiler, McCullough since 2023 has been director of operations to then-citizens’ services minister Terry Beech, and most recently director of operations—focused on aquaculture—to then-innovation, science, and industry minister Anita Anand and briefly for Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, as noted on his LinkedIn profile and borne out by lobbying communications filings. He spent this year’s election running Weiler’s ultimately successful bid for re-election in West Vancouver–Sunshine Coast–Sea to Sky Country, B.C.
Though further policy staff additions are anticipated—given Layden’s upcoming exit—Jackson Coles is currently on board as a policy adviser to Thompson.
Coles has a background in marine biology, and holds both a bachelor of science in marine biology from the University of Oregon, and a master’s of professional science in marine conservation from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. In 2023 and 2024, Coles worked as a research biologist and teaching assistant at Carleton University.
“My research endeavours include projects on biodiversity assessments in seagrass beds, the impacts of environmental stressors on marine organisms, and collaborative efforts to identify threats to Arctic biodiversity,” reads Coles’ LinkedIn profile.
Josh Lindner continues as a senior B.C. regional affairs adviser in the fisheries office, a role he’s filled since the start of 2024, originally under then-minister Lebouthillier. Before then, Lindner spent roughly a year and a half working for Dominic LeBlanc, starting as a B.C. regional adviser to LeBlanc, who was then-infrastructure and intergovernmental affairs minister in 2022, and ending as a policy adviser to LeBlanc as then-public safety, democratic institutions, and intergovernmental affairs minister.
Lindner has overall been working for federal ministers since 2017, and is also a former northern and western regional adviser to then-employment minister Patty Hajdu, and an ex-special assistant for western regional affairs to then-sport and science minister Kirsty Duncan.
Michael Ferguson is in place as senior regional adviser for the Maritimes to Thompson, while Victoria Dempster is a senior adviser for Newfoundland and Labrador.
Not to be confused with the late auditor general of the same name, this Ferguson is a former senior special assistant for Atlantic regional affairs to then-agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay. He previously worked in MacAulay’s office as then-veterans affairs minister, beginning as a special assistant for the Atlantic in 2019; he was promoted to “senior” status in that office in 2022.
Dempster was most recently working as director of operations to the minister for seniors, starting under Thompson last December and continuing until recently under Secretary of State for Seniors Stephanie McLean. A former director of operations to then-labour and seniors minister Seamus O’Regan, Dempster worked as a senior adviser to O’Regan’s portfolio successor, Steven MacKinnon, up until the Dec. 20, 2024, cabinet shuffle that saw Thompson take charge of the file.
After internships in then-prime minister Justin Trudeau’s office over the summers of 2017 and 2018, Dempster spent the fall of 2018 working as a writer in Trudeau’s PMO. She was subsequently hired as an executive assistant to O’Regan, beginning during his time as then-veterans affairs minister and continuing through his turns as then-Indigenous services minister and then-natural resources minister. Dempster is also an ex-Atlantic adviser to then-innovation minister Navdeep Bains, a former special assistant with the ministers’ regional office in Fredericton, and a past policy and Atlantic affairs adviser to LeBlanc as then-infrastructure and intergovernmental affairs minister.
Covering Ontario and the Prairies for Thompson as a regional adviser is Ira Khedkar, who is also press secretary to the minister.
Khedkar has previously worked as an Atlantic affairs and communications adviser to then-energy and natural resources minister Jonathan Wilkinson, and was a 2022 summer intern in Trudeau’s PMO.
Overseeing communications for Thompson is director Emily Heffernan, supported by deputy director of communications Erik Nosaluk.
Heffernan previously ran communications for then-emergency preparedness minister Harjit Sajjan, for whom she first began working in late 2017 as a special assistant for Atlantic regional affairs in Sajjan’s office as then-defence minister. Heffernan was later promoted to senior communications and Atlantic adviser to Sajjan as defence minister, and stayed with the portfolio for a time after Anand took over as defence minister following the 2021 election, with Heffernan becoming a deputy director of communications. She once again was hired to work for Sajjan in 2022—this time as director of operations in his office as then-international development minister. She later switched titles to that of communications director. Heffernan is also an ex-assistant to Liberal MP Wayne Long.
Nosaluk was last director of communications to then-sport and physical activity minister Carla Qualtrough, and previously oversaw communications and issues management for Beech as then-citizens’ services minister. It’s a return to the fisheries file for Nosaluk. He was hired to his first ministerial gig in 2020 as a special assistant for communications to Murray as then-digital government minister, and followed the minister when she was shuffled into the fisheries and oceans portfolio after the 2021 election as a communications co-ordinator and digital media adviser. At fisheries, Nosaluk was later promoted to senior communications adviser to Murray before exiting after the July 2023 cabinet shuffle to join Beech’s then-burgeoning team.
Daniel Jennings is senior parliamentary affairs adviser and issues manager to Thompson. Jennings is another carryover from Lebouthillier’s former fisheries team; first hired there as assistant to the parliamentary secretary in October 2023, he was later promoted to parliamentary affairs adviser and issues manager. Jennings is also a past special assistant for communications and issues management to MacAulay as then-veterans affairs minister, and an ex-assistant to Liberal MP Anita Vandenbeld.
Filling the role of assistant to Thompson’s parliamentary secretary, Liberal MP Ernie Klassen, is Selena McCuaig. She joined then-fisheries minister Lebouthillier’s team last fall as assistant to the minister’s parliamentary secretary (Liberal MP Mike Kelloway, at the time), and is a former constituency assistant to Ontario Liberal MPP Mary-Margaret McMahon.
Vinciane Museru is executive assistant to Thompson and her chief of staff, MacIsaac. She previously did the same for Lebouthillier and her chief of staff as both minister of fisheries and oceans, and earlier as minister of national revenue. Museru is also a former scheduling assistant to then-heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez, and a former executive assistant to then-environment minister Steven Guilbeault.
Finally, Joe Amicone is Thompson’s ministerial driver.
That adds up to 16 staff total—including Layden—so far confirmed on the fisheries team.
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