Hill Climbers
Who’s who in Emergency Minister Olszewski’s shop
Emergency Management and Community Resilience Minister Eleanor Olszewski has a 13-member team so far in place in her office, including two staffers focused on her additional file as the minister responsible for Prairies Economic Development Canada.
As reported by Hill Climbers at the end of May, Morgan Breitkreuz is chief of staff to the rookie minister.
Dan Lussier has returned to the Hill to pick up the role of director of policy to Olszewski. He’s spent the last roughly four-and-a-half years working for the Enterprise Machine Intelligence & Learning Initiative, which is based in Manitoba and focuses on the agriculture and agri-food sector innovation, starting as a part-time adviser during the pandemic in 2020, and most recently as director of its Canadian agri-food data initiative.
Lussier previously worked on the Hill from August 2017 up until the end of 2019, largely for the federal agriculture minister. First hired as a policy adviser to then-agriculture minister Lawrence MacAulay, Lussier stepped away from that file about a year later to become a policy adviser to then-trade diversification minister Jim Carr, but returned just under a year later to become director of policy to then-agriculture minister Marie-Claude Bibeau. In addition to a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Manitoba, Lussier holds a PhD in engineering science from the University of Oxford, and has worked as a research engineer with the Composites Research Network based at the University of British Columbia. His other past jobs include time spent as a constituency assistant to then-Manitoba MP Dan Vandal, and as field technologies manager for the federal Liberal Party.
Supporting Lussier as deputy director of policy is Tania Amghar, who was previously deputy director of policy to then-emergency preparedness minister and Privy Council president Harjit Sajjan.
Amghar first began working on the emergency preparedness file in 2022 when she was hired as a policy and Quebec regional adviser to then-minister Bill Blair, and before then was a senior Quebec regional affairs adviser to then-defence minister Anita Anand. Amghar originally joined the defence office in 2018 when it was led by Sajjan and she was hired as his executive assistant, but stayed on after Anand took over the portfolio after the 2021 election. She’s also a former special assistant for policy to then-trade minister François-Philippe Champagne, and has interned with the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and with the United States Consulate in Montreal, among other things.
Leading parliamentary affairs work for Olszewski is director Danielle Moriarty.
Moriarty formerly did the same for then-diversity, inclusion, and persons with disabilities minister Kamal Khera, and then-rural economic development minister Gudie Hutchings. A former fundraising co-ordinator for the Liberal Party, Moriarty has also worked as an Ontario regional adviser to Sajjan as then-defence minister, and as assistant to the parliamentary secretary and later parliamentary affairs and issues management adviser to then-rural economic development minister Maryam Monsef.
In place as assistant to Olszewski’s parliamentary secretary—Liberal MP Anthony Housefather—is Cameron Macdonald, who previously served as executive assistant to both then-sport minister Terry Duguid and Duguid’s then-chief of staff, Breitkreuz. (Duguid concurrently served as sport minister and minister for Prairies Economic Development Canada from January to May of this year.)
Macdonald is also a past operations and executive assistant to then-employment minister Randy Boissonnault, and an ex-aide to Boissonnault as the then-MP for Edmonton Centre, Alta.
Jessica LaForge is director of operations to the emergency management and community resilience minister.
LaForge is a former policy and British Columbia regional affairs adviser to Sajjan as then-emergency preparedness minister, with her policy focus having been on the Pacific Economic Development Canada file for which Sajjan was then responsible. LaForge originally began working as a policy adviser to Sajjan in 2022 during his time as then-international development minister, and followed the minister to the emergency preparedness portfolio after he was shuffled in July 2023.
She’s also previously worked for now-Industry Minister Mélanie Joly, first as a scheduling assistant to Joly as then-tourism, official languages, and La Francophonie minister and later as parliamentary affairs adviser to Joly as then-economic development and official languages minister.
Raj Gill is an Ontario regional affairs and operations adviser to Olszewski. Gill previously worked for the federal employment minister; first hired as a legislative assistant and assistant to the parliamentary secretary to then-minister Boissonnault in August 2024, he stayed on after Steven MacKinnon took over the file. Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first cabinet shakeup this past March saw MacKinnon instead made jobs and families minister. According to Gill’s LinkedIn profile, he stayed on as an Ontario regional adviser to MacKinnon through the minister’s time in the role, which came to an end this past May when MacKinnon was named as government House leader.
Gill is an ex-aide to then-Alberta Liberal MP George Chahal, and worked on Chahal’s ultimately unsuccessful re-election bid in Calgary McKnight, Alta., this past spring. Active with the Young Liberals of Canada, Gill also worked on Carney’s 2025 leadership campaign, amongst other past experience.
Focused on Olszewski’s Prairies Economic Development Canada (PrairiesCan) file are Nikki Hipkin as director of regional affairs, and Quinton Graham-Bennett as Prairies and North regional affairs adviser.
Hipkin is a former management consultant with K2 Research and Consulting in Saskatoon, and has been working for federal ministers since March 2021, starting as director of operations to Carr as then-special representative for the Prairies. She’s since done the same for Vandal as then-northern affairs, PrairiesCan, and Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) minister, and—most recently—for Duguid as then-sport and PrairiesCan minister.
Graham-Bennett is another ex-Boissonnault staffer. He first worked as a special assistant for communications and social media to Boissonnault as then-tourism and associate finance minister for roughly a year and a half ending in July 2023 when Boissonnault was shuffled into the employment portfolio. Graham-Bennett was subsequently hired as a constituency assistant to Boissonnault, where he worked until this past March.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Graham-Bennett most recently was busy as a Prairies and North regional communications director for the Liberal Party through this year’s federal election. He’s also previously worked as a public servant with Public Services and Procurement Canada, last as an IT support technician.
Mathis Denis is director of communications to Olszewski. An ex-assistant to Quebec MP Peter Schiefke, Denis was most recently press secretary and senior communications adviser to then-public services and procurement minister and Quebec lieutenant Jean-Yves Duclos. Before then, Denis worked for Boissonnault, starting in June 2023 as an issues manager in Boissonnault’s office as then-tourism and associate finance minister. Boissonnault was shuffled the next month, with Denis originally following as an issues manager before being promoted to press secretary that December.
Reporting to Denis is senior communications adviser and issues manager Evan Brick, who was last busy as an issues manager and communications adviser to Duguid as then-sport and PrairiesCan minister. Brick spent the recent federal election working on ex-staffer Mac Hird’s campaign as the Liberal candidate for Regina–Lewvan, Sask. In 2023 and 2024, Brick worked for Vandal as then-northern affairs, PrairiesCan, and CanNor minister, starting as an operations assistant and ending as issues and appointments manager.
Simi Tiwana is the most recent addition to Olszewski’s team, and takes on the role of executive assistant to both the minister and her chief of staff, Breitkreuz.
Rounding out the 13-member staffing list for the office is ministerial driver Ken Tasker, who, among other roles, is a past driver to then-public services and procurement minister Helena Jaczek.
Given the CVs of his team, it’s worth reminding readers that, along with previously running Duguid’s sport office, Breitkreuz is also a past: regional adviser to Carr as then-special representative for the Prairies, director of operations to Boissonnault as then-tourism and associate finance minister, and deputy chief of staff to Boissonnault as then-employment minister.
Stay tuned to Hill Climbers for more staffing updates.
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