Beleaguered Ignatieff shakes up inner circle

Tue Oct 27, 10:50 PM

By Joan Bryden, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA – Michael Ignatieff’s office was in turmoil late Tuesday as the Liberal leader shook up his oft-criticized, relatively inexperienced inner circle.

After repeated denials from his official spokesperson, Ignatieff finally issued a news release Tuesday night confirming that he’s bringing in Peter Donolo – a proven political communications whiz – as his new chief of staff.

Donolo, communications director to former prime minister Jean Chretien, replaces Ian Davey, one of Ignatieff’s earliest and most loyal supporters.

Davey will apparently not have an ongoing role in the Opposition leader’s office.

“Ian Davey has my gratitude for his enormous service in building this OLO team and I am grateful for his continuing counsel,” Ignatieff said in the statement.

“I know that we are a stronger Liberal party because of his contribution and leadership.”

Ignatieff’s statement came about an hour after Jill Fairbrother – his communications director and Davey’s partner – denied any changes were in the works.

“Just trying to get a note out to staff. There is no news. No resignation(s). No new chief of staff,” she wrote in an email to The Canadian Press.

It was not clear if Fairbrother would continue in her role. Earlier Tuesday she flatly denied reports that she and Davey had resigned.

The chaotic manner in which Donolo’s appointment was announced led to speculation among insiders that Davey had been resisting the move and fighting to change Ignatieff’s mind.

Insiders suggested other changes could be in the works, including Ignatieff’s principal secretary, Dan Brock.

Earlier Tuesday, the rumour mill had been in hyperdrive, with some Liberals asserting that Ignatieff was going to “clean house.”

The chaos underscored for some Liberals how desperately Ignatieff needs some experienced, politically savvy members in his inner circle.

Fairly or unfairly, Ignatieff’s staff has been widely blamed for the Liberals’ plummeting poll numbers and the leader’s lack of coherent messaging as he stumbles from misstep to misstep.

In the past month, Ignatieff has been forced to backtrack on his threat to force an election at the earliest opportunity. And he’s had to shake up his Quebec team after his provincial lieutenant, Denis Coderre, quit in a huff.

Coderre bitterly blamed Ignatieff’s Toronto-centred inner circle for interfering in his job of recruiting candidates for the next election.

The addition of Donolo to the team won’t help Ignatieff shake the perception that he’s too Toronto-centric.

He hails originally from Montreal but has been living in Toronto for a number of years, as a pollster for The Strategic Counsel. Before joining Chretien’s team in 1992, he was an adviser to then Toronto mayor Art Eggelton.

But Donolo was widely considered one of the most effective communicators on Parliament Hill during his time with Chretien.

He is credited with helping to turn around Chretien’s shaky performance during his stint as opposition leader and with helping him shed the label of “yesterday’s man.”

Among other things, Donolo helped persuade Chretien, then 59, to pose in a blue denim shirt for the 1993 Liberal campaign poster, which Chretien won in a landslide.

Donolo’s humour and forthright, affable manner made him popular among reporters.

In a statement late Tuesday, Donolo said he’s very pleased to be joining the Liberal team.

“The Liberal party is an important and vital institution in our country with an unequalled history and an exciting future. Its leader, Michael Ignatieff, is an outstanding Canadian who I believe would make an excellent prime minister.”

In turfing Davey, Ignatieff has signalled his willingness to break with some of his most loyal supporters.

Davey was one of a handful of Liberals who persuaded Ignatieff, an internationally renowned academic at Harvard, to return to Canada in 2005 to run for political office. He ran Ignatieff’s leadership campaign in 2006.