Hill Climbers
Foreign Affairs Minister Anand names policy director, and more
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is slowly finalizing the staff roster of her new ministerial office, which is led by veteran chief of staff Taras Zalusky.
Zalusky has been running ministerial offices since the Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin government years, and most recently led the national defence minister’s team, starting in early 2023 under then-minister Anand and continuing after Bill Blair took over the file later that year.
A former chief of staff to then-human resources and skills development minister Jane Stewart, then-fisheries and oceans minister Geoff Regan, and to then-international co-operation minister Aileen Carroll, Zalusky spent time working in the Liberal research bureau after Stephen Harper’s Conservatives formed government in 2006.
Zalusky went on to spend almost six years as CEO and executive director of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress.
He returned to the Hill to work for the now-former Trudeau government in early 2016, beginning as director of policy, procurement, and parliamentary affairs to then-public services and procurement minister Judy Foote—a role he continued in after Carla Qualtrough took over the portfolio in 2017. Zalusky went on to run Qualtrough’s office as then-minister of employment, workforce development, and disability inclusion after the 2019 election, staying there through to early 2023 when he left to run Anand’s office for the first time.
Jasmine Gill started on the job as director of policy to Anand on July 15.
Gill spent the last almost two years working as a senior policy adviser in then-prime minister Justin Trudeau’s office. She previously spent more than six years cumulatively overall working for the TorStar Corporation, first as legal counsel between 2013 and the beginning of 2017, and again from 2020 to 2023, ending as vice president of legal and policy. Gill is also a former director of policy and programs with the Century Initiative, a past executive director of World Literacy Canada, and a former associate counsel with the publisher Harlequin.
Also so far confirmed as tackling policy in Anand’s office are senior policy adviser Matthew Trnkus, and policy and operations adviser Aram Shoujounian.
A former field organizer for the federal Liberal Party, Trnkus got his start on the Hill as a committees adviser to then-chief government whip Mark Holland’s office in the spring of 2021. Continuing through now-House leader Steven MacKinnon’s time in the whip’s chair, Trnkus left the office as a senior parliamentary affairs adviser at the end of 2022 to become a senior adviser for parliamentary affairs to then-foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly. In 2023, Trnkus switched roles within Joly’s office, becoming a senior policy adviser focused on the Americas, Western Balkans, the Commonwealth, the environment, and global health.
Shoujounian is another former member of Joly’s team as foreign affairs minister. In his case, he worked his way up from a 2021 internship in Joly’s office as the MP from Ahunstic-Cartierville, Que., which turned into a full-time job as a parliamentary assistant to the MP. In September 2023, Shoujounian landed a job as a policy co-ordinator in Joly’s office as foreign affairs minister. He was promoted to policy adviser last fall, and has been given the added title of operations adviser by Anand. According to his LinkedIn profile, Shoujounian continues to be focused on policy related to Europe, NATO, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and the G7 and G20.
Zachariah Downey has been named director of parliamentary affairs to Anand as foreign affairs minister.
Downey has been working for Anand since the fall of 2023, beginning as a parliamentary affairs adviser in her office as then-Treasury Board president. As indicated on his LinkedIn profile—and confirmed in federal lobbying reports—Downey stuck with Anand through her time as transport and internal trade minister, getting promoted to director of parliamentary affairs and internal trade in the process. Downey is also a past assistant to then-Ontario Liberal MP Valerie Bradford, and spent the summer of 2021 as a communications intern with Colleges and Universities Canada.
Overseeing communications for Anand is director James Fitz-Morris.
A former Parliamentary Press Gallery member as both the Ottawa bureau chief for CJAD and a senior reporter for the CBC, Fitz-Morris has been working for the Liberal government since early 2016 when he was hired as director of communications to then-small business and tourism minister Bardish Chagger.
He went on to lead communications and issues management for Carolyn Bennett as then-Indigenous and northern affairs minister and then-Crown-Indigenous relations minister, later taking on the title of senior adviser in the latter office. In April 2020, Fitz-Morris joined Anand’s then-extremely busy office as public services and procurement minister—which led COVID vaccine procurement efforts—as director of communications. Fitz-Morris stuck with the office when Filomena Tassi was named public services minister after the 2021 election, and continued through both Helena Jaczek’s and Liberal MP Jean-Yves Duclos’ turns in the role, ending as deputy chief of staff and director of parliamentary affairs to Duclos. Last fall, Fitz-Morrius exited to become director of communications to Joly as then-foreign affairs minister.
Working closely with Fitz-Morris is press secretary Myah Tomasi.
Tomasi was most recently director of communications to then-democratic institutions and Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario minister Ruby Sahota, but before then, Tomasi was press secretary to Anand as then-Treasury Board president. Tomasi started with the Treasury Board office in early 2022 as a special assistant for communications to then-president Mona Fortier, and stayed on after Anand took over the portfolio in July 2023. Tomasi has been president of the Young Liberals of Canada’s Ontario section since 2022, and is also a former assistant to then-Liberal MP Wilson Miao.
Keep reading Hill Climbers for further staffing updates.
Update on Defence Minister McGuinty’s team
National Defence Minister David McGuinty has also made some staffing progress since naming Cory Pike as his chief of staff at the beginning of June.
Andrew Green, who was previously director of communications to then-defence minister Bill Blair, is staying on as director of operations to McGuinty.
A former assistant to now-Liberal MP Michael Coteau both on Parliament Hill and previously during Coteau’s time as a member of Ontario’s provincial parliament, Green started his first ministerial gig in October 2022 when he was hired as an Ontario regional affairs and communications adviser to Blair as then-Privy Council president and emergency preparedness minister. Green followed Blair to the defence portfolio following the July 2023 cabinet shuffle, becoming a senior Ontario regional adviser. Green was promoted to director of communications to Blair last fall.
Taking the reins as director of communications to the defence minister is Alice Hansen, who previously did the same for McGuinty during his time as public safety minister between December 2024 and May of this year.
Hansen has been working for the federal government since the summer of 2020, beginning as a special assistant for communications to then-trade minister Mary Ng. Ng subsequently promoted Hansen to press secretary, then senior communications adviser, and finally director of communications by the fall of 2022. Hansen has since also led communications for then-employment minister Randy Boissonnault. She’s also a past assistant to Ontario Liberal MP Chris Bittle, and a former public policy co-ordinator with the Alzheimer Society of Canada, among other past jobs.
Laurent de Casanove is press secretary and senior communications adviser to McGuinty, sticking with the role he held prior to the election under then-minister Blair. De Casanove spent this year’s election hitting the pavement as the Liberal candidate for Pierre-Boucher–Les Patriotes–Verchères, Que.—a seat ultimately held by Bloc incumbent Xavier Barsalou-Duval.
A former political and protocol assistant with the Argentinian Embassy in Ottawa, de Casanove—who hails from the island nation of Mauritius—was hired as an issues adviser to then-heritage minister Pablo Rodriguez in March 2022. About a year and a half later, he became press secretary to then-diversity, inclusion, and persons with disabilities minister Kamal Khera, and he’s since done the same for Anand as then-transport and internal trade minister. De Casanove’s CV also includes a six-month internship in 2018-19 in then-Senate speaker George Furey’s office, among other things.
Conor Lewis is a senior policy adviser to the defence minister.
Lewis is a former assistant to Toronto Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz, and has been working in cabinet offices since 2022 when he was hired as assistant to the parliamentary secretary to then-public safety minister Marco Mendicino. Lewis went on to work as a parliamentary affairs adviser to then-public safety, intergovernmental affairs, and democratic institutions minister Dominic LeBlanc, and was promoted to director of parliamentary affairs after McGuinty stepped in as public safety minister earlier this year.
Also so far confirmed in McGuinty’s shop are Quinn Rinke as West and North regional adviser, and Jean-Michel Tweed as assistant to the minister’s parliamentary secretary, Liberal MP Sherry Romanado.
Rinke is a past constituency assistant to British Columbia Liberal MP Hedy Fry and a past Hill assistant to then-B.C. MP Harjit Sajjan. At the beginning of last year, Rinke joined Sajjan’s office as then-emergency preparedness minister and Privy Council president where he served as assistant to the minister’s parliamentary secretary—a role then-filled by Romanado. Rinke was later promoted to Atlantic adviser in Sajjan’s ministerial office, and joined McGuinty’s now-former public safety team earlier this year as an operations and parliamentary affairs adviser. He’s also previously worked part-time as a constituency assistant to B.C. Liberal MP Terry Beech, a voting officer with Elections BC, and an enumerator with Statistics Canada, among other things.
Tweed is a former assistant to then-Ontario Liberal MP Francis Drouin and a former assistant to the parliamentary secretary to then-rural economic development minister Gudie Hutchings. According to his LinkedIn profile, he recently briefly filled a similar role in the burgeoning office of Secretary of State for Rural Development Buckley Belanger.
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