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Husband of the Chief of Staff to PM Justin Trudeau Gives Up His Career To Support Hers
January 5, 2016 - 12:03am
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Katie Telford is only the second woman to be Chief of Staff to a Prime Minister in Canada (the first was Jody White for Kim Campbell's shortlived government).
Liberal strategist and former pundit Rob Silver said Monday he has left the government relations firm he helped create, citing his wife's position as Justin Trudeau's chief of staff.
"Effective Dec. 31, 2015 I am no longer a shareholder or employee of Crestview Strategy," Silver said in an email Monday afternoon.
Silver was a partner in the Toronto- and Ottawa-based public affairs agency that, among other things, lobbies the federal government on behalf of clients.
Silver, a lawyer, is married to Katie Telford, who ran Trudeau's election campaign and was appointed his chief of staff following the Liberals' majority victory on Oct. 19.
"I'm immensely proud of her and want to do everything I possibly can do to make sure she is successful," Silver said in his statement.
"I decided that me remaining an employee or shareholder in a government relations firm that does federal work while my spouse is in her current job is inconsistent with this objective."
Silver, who appeared for many years as a regular strategist on CBC News Network's Power & Politics, recused himself from the program two weeks after the Liberals' victory.
Unemployed for the first time in 18 years, Silver said he will be moving his family to Ottawa in the coming weeks. The couple have a four year-old son named George.
"I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with George and I hear Ottawa is lovely in January," Silver said in the statement.
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/politics/rob-silver-leaves-crestview-citing-...
Why is this deserving of a thread? This kind of thing happens with sensitive appointments constantly in order to preserve a lack of perception of bias.
Is this one more chance to pat Liberals on the back for doing what is done normally by a spouse to protect a key appointment?
I guess so but babble is a ra ra Trudeau venue now and every chance it an opportunity to open a new thread to say how freakin' great Trudeau is. There are any number of threads this extremely minor story could be placed in.
Don't we have at least a dozen saying how great the Liberal party is already?
The point of this thread is NOT about the Liberal Party. It was meant to be a non-partisan discussion. About the barriers women face when running for office or working in government. The life/work balance is a barrier for women, as they are traditionally the primary care giver to their children.
I thought it was interesting that a man is giving up his career (quit two jobs to be exact) to be supportive of his wife's career. You don't hear too many stories about it.
There are not enough women in politics to begin with, both as elected officials and staffers in government. So he is actually going to be a house husband and their child's primary care-giver. It is rare that a man would step aside and let his wife have the career.
Are their any other men who are giving up their careers to be supportive of their wife's career in politics?
So why didn't the OP cover that?
And there is little interesting about it -- a high profile job at this level for either spouse would normally get the sacrifice from the other.
This has nothing to do with what women face in most relationships when it comes to the sacrifices they make. This is exceptional and really not surprising or unprecedented.
Well I thought the title of the thread covered that
"Husband of the Chief of Staff to PM Justin Trudeau Gives Up His Career To Support Hers"
Equal Voice would disagree.
Actually terrytowel, I think the story would have been more worth posting and discussing if he had given up his job to increase his share of domestic work, childrearing, etc. In fact, it's quite clear he did it only to avoid real or apparent conflict of interest. I've seen no quote from him saying he's not on the job market any more. So your thread title is quite misleading.
His company is based in Toronto. And now he is moving to Ottawa.
Unemployed for the first time in 18 years, Silver said he will be moving his family to Ottawa in the coming weeks. The couple have a four year-old son named George.
"I'm looking forward to spending lots of time with George and I hear Ottawa is lovely in January," Silver said in the statement.
"I hear Ottawa is lovely in January."
In other non-news, it was COLD in Toronto yesterday! Wah wah!
*cue for bagkitty to do some Ontario beat-down
Well, he's a lobbyist. When he wants to say "that place is a frigid hell which I detest with the passion of a thousand suns, and I curse the day some bufoon in England decided to make it the capital of this land," he says "I hear Ottawa is lovely in January" and everyone giggles knowingly. I think it was even in the "how to tell when a Canadian is angry" list this year.
Similarly, "I plan to spend more time with my family" means "I am actively looking for work." When a politician says it (as we know from Yes Minister), it means "I am definitely running for office."
I agree Rob Silver has not given up his career, but rather resigned from his current job due to conflict-of-interest. It's still interesting and as thread-worthy as most threads here. I hadn't known Katie Telford's husband was also in the politics-lobbyist nexus.
He has stepped down as an on-air pundit. So you will not be seeing him on TV discussing politics on any channel. He is actually shareholder of government relations firm he helped create. He has resigned from the firm and has stepped away.
In fairness he had said he wanted to avoid any conflict. He was based in Toronto, and will now be moving to Ottawa. Do you know what job he is going to in Ottawa? That is a government town, so he can't really do anything. Had he stayed at both jobs, then he would have been accussed of Liberal corruption.
Newly minted Environment Minister Catherine McKenna husband is a columnist with Macleans magazine, writing about politics. Shouldn't he be giving up that column to avoid conflict with his wife?
Anyone else besides me think they could settle in right quick to being a kept man? Hell yeah.
You need to back that up -- I suspect you are wrong on this. Likely you are misreading what I said.
I am saying that typically many women make the sacrifices and that the higher end positions like this would be the exception so it is not as if there is somethign particularly newsworthy about this. It does not suggest any kind of progress or balancing. This kind of high level position was always the exception and a spouse would do something to make it work if needed.
It has nothing to do with what women in careers usually face as they are often the one to sacrifice.
If you think Equal Voice disagrees with that you will have to document rather than just name-drop.
Given the kind of level Silver is in as well -- there is no big sacrifice compared to what many couples face. So I really don't see the big story here.
A high profile example of a man putting his career second to that of his wife is a good thing for women. Perhaps the feminism forum would have been a better spot for this thread.
There are issues to attack the Liberals over. This isn't one of them.
I don't see any particular attack on the Liberals here. His severing ties with his former company would be pretty much expected, and I'm sure he's going to land on his feet. Personally I've always thought Rob was a nice enough guy, good sense of humour, often gave fairly balanced analyses, and I have no doub't he will enjoy time with George. There's just IMHO not much subject matter for a thread here.
Oh come on! Terrrytwoel you must think we are all really, really, really stupid. This is a non story; look at the title you chose. You're making up the contents of your tale after it was published.
Libs yeah, NDP, boo.! We get it. Yes, you guy are wonderful, and pro women. We New Democrats are scum and hate women. Yeah, yeah. We get it.
Entirely agreed. Let's attack Greens instead. Or oldgoat could convene one of those parties that used to fill up the less important threads. That might be fun.
Sadly, I believe that that degree of cameraderie and community in spite of differences are a thing of the past. We used to have really great party theads though, didn't we. Makes me think of Skdadl .
Did you read the first two response posts?
I agree there is not much to talk about here. Normally that results in no one responding to the topic not a pile on against the person who posted for daring to post something others don't find interesting or significant. Every post in this thread has appeared on the front page of rabble elevating the importance of the thread.
You must be thinking of some other board.
What the heck Pondering, I'm going to take Swallows advice. Here, have a balloon.
Did someone say party time!!??
Probably a typo. I think she meant to say the weed in Ottawa is lovely in January.
That would be two of your drinks, Old Goat?
He is walking away from a six figure income. They are going from a two-income family to a one-income family. That is a financial sacrifice.
Are you their accountant? I call bullshit on you knowing anything much about their various income streams and how they will be affected by a move to the corridors of power in Ottawa.