More than 60 cyclists en route from Toronto to Quebec City detoured to Parliament Hill last week to catch up with Secretary of State for Sport Adam van Koeverden, the fundraising ride’s co-founder.

“Back in 2018, a group of friends and I founded this little ride called R2NYC,” the former Olympic kayaker and three-term MP for Burlington North–Milton West, Ont., explained on Instagram on Sept. 12.

“We rode our bikes from Toronto to New York City to support an amazing camp called Campfire Circle.”

The ride has since been renamed to R4Campfire Circle in honour of the summer camp in southern Ontario that provides experiences for children impacted by cancer.

“I have been [to Campfire Circle] a couple of times, and it’s a magical place,” said van Koeverden, who joined this year’s group for the Ottawa to Trois-Rivières, Que. portion of the trip—that’s 354 km over two days. 

“Childhood cancer is something that we may not always have control over, but we can make sure the kids have an amazing camp experience at a medically supported camp like Campfire Circle,” he said.

Among those on hand to welcome the cyclists to the Hill were Prime Minister Mark Carney and Danish Ambassador Nikolaj Harris.

“I am also really proud that one of the riders is my good colleague from our Consulate General in Toronto, Keld Juulsgaard, who is one of the founders of this initiative that draws inspiration from the Danish concept Team Rynkeby in 2018,” Harris told Heard on the Hill by email.

Mainly from Ottawa, Muskoka, Ont., and the Greater Toronto Area, the cyclists range in age from 20 to 60 years old, Campfire Circle’s VP of marketing and communications John McAlister told HOH by email on Sept. 13.

He said past rides have followed “a scenic yet gruelling route across Ontario, New York State, and Pennsylvania, finishing at New York City’s Times Square,” but this year they opted to stay in Canada, choosing “an exciting new route to Quebec City” where participants finished at Dufferin Terrace next to the Château Frontenac on Sept. 14.

As of Sept. 12, participants had raised $1.2-million, according to McAllister.

Elections Canada’s report on last election praises high voter turnout, ‘no interference’

High voter turnout, regret over failing voters in northern Quebec, and no incidents of interference are highlights from Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault’s Report on the 45^th General Election tabled in the House on Sept. 15.

The 71-page report noted the agency faced “a range of operational challenges” in the lead up to the April 28 election as it dealt with some new ridings and many boundary changes following the 2022 redistribution, which touched “nearly every electoral district in Canada.”

But the work was worth it as “some 19.8 million Canadians, or 69 per cent of registered electors, would cast a ballot,” wrote Perrault, “marking the highest turnout since the 35^th general election in 1993 and a substantial increase from the 63 per cent turnout in the 44^th general election.” The early voting period turnout was “the highest … in any Canadian election.” 

He was also pleased with the agency’s inaugural “Vote on Campus” program, which boosted the numbers of younger voters who cast a ballot ahead of election day.

That said, the chief electoral officer admitted he “deeply regret[s] that some electors in Nunavik and other northern communities were unable to vote where polling places did not operate as planned,” and vowed to prioritize improving the agency’s “relationships with First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities.”

Perreault also said “no incidents of interference were found to have impacted the administration” of the election, thanks to the agency’s work with “security partners and other stakeholders to monitor and protect the integrity of the election,” noting Elections Canada will keep working on “strengthening the security and resilience of Canada’s electoral system.”

Four new envoys meet GG Simon

Governor General Mary Simon welcomed four new heads of mission at a letters-of-credence ceremony at Rideau Hall on Sept. 15.

The four new ambassadors are Costa Rica’s German Serrano Garcia, Indonesia’s Muhsin Syihab, Mauritania’s Djibril Niang, and the Philippines’ Jose Victor Chan-Gonzaga.

Five former senior Liberals launch Barrack Hill Public Affairs

There’s a new government-relations firm in town.

Named after the promontory upon which Parliament Hill sits, Barrack Hill Public Affairs features five former Liberal cabinet chiefs of staff: Stevie O’Brien, Richard Maksymetz, Jamie Kippen, Kyle Harrietha, and Matt Mitschke.

O’Brien bookended her political career at McMillan Vantage, working there first from 2011 to 2013 before heading to Queen’s Park as chief of staff to Ontario’s natural resources minister from 2014 to 2016. She came to Ottawa in 2016 to work in the office of the public services and procurement minister, later joining the health team before becoming chief of staff to the border security minister in 2018, and finally returning to the procurement minister as chief of staff before leaving the Hill in late 2022. She returned to McMillan in January 2023, before exiting this past July.

Maksymetz served as chief of staff to then-finance minister Bill Morneau until 2018, and subsequently founded Alar Strategy Group where he’d been a principal until recently. He has prior senior staffer experience from working in the offices of British Columbia’s ministers of finance, health, and solicitor general.

Kippen is a former longtime Liberal staffer—both federally and provincially—first arriving on the Hill in 2011 to work for then-interim Liberal leader Bob Rae. By the start of 2016, he’d joined then-prime minister Justin Trudeau’s office as an Ontario adviser. Between 2019 and 2024, Kippen was variously chief of staff to the diversity minister, health minister, and environment minister, with a stint in 2021 at federal party headquarters to work on election readiness.

Harrietha started on the Hill in 2001, working in MP offices until 2007. He subsequently made his way to Fort McMurray, Alta., where he worked for the Cumulative Environmental Management Association for five years starting in 2008, and then for the McMurray Métis Local Council from 2013 until 2016, when Ottawa called him back. Harrietha was the environment minister’s director of parliamentary affairs from 2016 to 2021, and then joined the natural resources minister’s office where he was deputy chief of staff and finally chief of staff from March 2024 until June 2025.

Meanwhile, Mitschke started his political career in the B.C. government in 2013 before arriving in Ottawa in 2015 to serve as chief of staff to the employment minister until 2018, when he moved to the defence minister’s office as senior adviser. Mitschke left the Hill in 2021 for Rubicon Strategy, where he’s been a principal until this past summer.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story said Kyle Harrietha started on the Hill in 2007, when in fact it was 2001. He also left as chief of staff in June 2025, not January. The Hill Times regrets these inaccuracies.

cleadlay@hilltimes.com

The Hill Times