Carolyn Stewart-Olsen
Encyclopedia
Carolyn Stewart-Olsen (born July 27, 1946) is a Conservative
senator
from New Brunswick
. She was formerly Senior Advisor and Director of Strategic Communication in the Prime Minister's Office
of Canadian prime minister
Stephen Harper
.
, and worked as a nurse for 20 years before becoming a political staffer.
by profession, had a twenty year nursing career including ten years as an emergency room nurse New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec before being appointed Head Nurse for the Ambulatory Care Department at Ottawa’s Grace Hospital in 1986. She later became Nursing Manager for the Emergency, Recovery Room, Ambulatory Care, and CSR departments at Carleton Place Hospital.
under Preston Manning
, newly settling in as a major party in the House of Commons
. She later came on staff as a media officer or press aide until 2000, serving through the creation of its first successor party, the Canadian Alliance
and the leadership of Stockwell Day
, who defeated Manning for the Alliance leadership. In January 2000 she was fired, reportedly by Phil von Finckenstein, who had been brought on by Manning, "but blamed Stockwell Day for her misfortune," according to LifeSite
, a socially conservative
online news service which favoured Day over Manning.
Stewart-Olsen then went to work for Deborah Grey
, the first Reform MP and a Manning loyalist, and in 2001, she was identified as a press aide to the Democratic Representative Caucus
, a group of dissidents including Grey who broke with the party under Day's leadership.
, she became press secretary to Harper in his successful challenge to Day, planting a strong reciprocal loyalty between the two that would strengthen through the 2004 leadership race
of its successor the Conservative Party of Canada
, and Stewart-Olsen's frequent contact with Harper in their work; a 2005 Globe and Mail
report said that Stewart-Olsen and executive assistant Ray Novak, "mid-level staffers," were "seen as having his ear, much more so than many higher-ranking staff in the [Opposition leader's] office of about 100."
As Harper's press secretary, Stewart-Olsen survived several periods of significant turnover in Harper's communication staff; in opposition in 2005, amid one such transition, media reports stated that Stewart-Olsen was widely tipped to succeed Geoff Norquay as communications director, but she remained in her position as press secretary.
When Harper became prime minister after the 2006 federal election
, Stewart-Olsen moved with him into government.
Accounts of Stewart-Olsen vary widely. On the 2005-06 campaign trail, a reporter for The Record
who had been physically restrained from asking a question by a member of Harper's RCMP
security detail found Stewart-Olsen "diminutive and soft-spoken;" she defused the situation and arranged a short interview. Calgary Sun
writer Licia Corbella calls her "competent and charming".
However, a fellow Conservative strategist, speaking anonymously to the Canadian Press
in 2005, said that "Carolyn Stewart Olsen is an issue for a lot of people — her relationship with the leader and her inability to work well with people." Editorialist Adam Radwanski
suggested in his blog
that she may "reinforce all the leader’s worst, most paranoid instincts." In February 2006, after the departure of Harper's communications director William Stairs
, the Toronto Star
described Stewart-Olsen going to the "unusual lengths of holding down reporters' hands when they've tried to ask questions or shouting at journalists who don't abide by her rules for press dealings. The fact that Harper chose to keep Stewart-Olsen and eject Stairs was seen last night as largely a cosmetic answer to the deeper issue of his public-relations problems and Harper's distrust of anything related to the media." Reinforcing this perception of media relations, in April 2008 it was reported that Conservative Members of Parliament were required to carry at all times a wallet-sized, laminated card entitled "When a Reporter Calls". The card provided instructions as to questions a Member of Parliament was expected to ask of a reporter, prior to seeking permission from the Prime Minister's Office to speak to the journalist.
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
senator
Canadian Senate
The Senate of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons, and the monarch . The Senate consists of 105 members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister...
from New Brunswick
New Brunswick
New Brunswick is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the only province in the federation that is constitutionally bilingual . The provincial capital is Fredericton and Saint John is the most populous city. Greater Moncton is the largest Census Metropolitan Area...
. She was formerly Senior Advisor and Director of Strategic Communication in the Prime Minister's Office
Office of the Prime Minister (Canada)
In Canada, the Office of the Prime Minister , located in the Langevin Block, on Parliament Hill, in Ottawa, is one of the most powerful parts of the government. It is made up of the prime minister and his or her top political staff, who are charged with advising the prime minister on decisions,...
of Canadian prime minister
Prime Minister of Canada
The Prime Minister of Canada is the primary minister of the Crown, chairman of the Cabinet, and thus head of government for Canada, charged with advising the Canadian monarch or viceroy on the exercise of the executive powers vested in them by the constitution...
Stephen Harper
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...
.
Early life
Stewart-Olsen was born and raised in Sackville, New BrunswickSackville, New Brunswick
Sackville is a Canadian town in Westmorland County, New Brunswick.Mount Allison University is located in the town...
, and worked as a nurse for 20 years before becoming a political staffer.
Professional career
Stewart-Olsen, a registered nurseRegistered nurse
A registered nurse is a nurse who has graduated from a nursing program at a university or college and has passed a national licensing exam. A registered nurse helps individuals, families, and groups to achieve health and prevent disease...
by profession, had a twenty year nursing career including ten years as an emergency room nurse New Brunswick, Ontario and Quebec before being appointed Head Nurse for the Ambulatory Care Department at Ottawa’s Grace Hospital in 1986. She later became Nursing Manager for the Emergency, Recovery Room, Ambulatory Care, and CSR departments at Carleton Place Hospital.
Reform, Alliance and DRC work
In 1993, Stewart-Olsen became a volunteer in the communications office of the Reform Party of CanadaReform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
under Preston Manning
Preston Manning
Ernest Preston Manning, CC is a Canadian politician. He was the only leader of the Reform Party of Canada, a Canadian federal political party that evolved into the Canadian Alliance...
, newly settling in as a major party in the House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
. She later came on staff as a media officer or press aide until 2000, serving through the creation of its first successor party, the Canadian Alliance
Canadian Alliance
The Canadian Alliance , formally the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance , was a Canadian conservative political party that existed from 2000 to 2003. The party was the successor to the Reform Party of Canada and inherited its position as the Official Opposition in the House of Commons and held...
and the leadership of Stockwell Day
Stockwell Day
Stockwell Burt Day, Jr., PC, MP is a former Canadian politician, and a member of the Conservative Party of Canada. He is a former cabinet minister in Alberta, and a former leader of the Canadian Alliance. Day was MP for the riding of Okanagan—Coquihalla in British Columbia and the president of...
, who defeated Manning for the Alliance leadership. In January 2000 she was fired, reportedly by Phil von Finckenstein, who had been brought on by Manning, "but blamed Stockwell Day for her misfortune," according to LifeSite
Campaign Life Coalition
The Campaign Life Coalition is a Canadian conservative Christian pro-life group. It is based in Toronto, Ontario...
, a socially conservative
Social conservatism
Social Conservatism is primarily a political, and usually morally influenced, ideology that focuses on the preservation of what are seen as traditional values. Social conservatism is a form of authoritarianism often associated with the position that the federal government should have a greater role...
online news service which favoured Day over Manning.
Stewart-Olsen then went to work for Deborah Grey
Deborah Grey
Deborah Cleland Grey, OC, sometimes called Deb Grey is a former Canadian Member of Parliament from Alberta for the Reform Party of Canada, Canadian Alliance and Conservative Party of Canada....
, the first Reform MP and a Manning loyalist, and in 2001, she was identified as a press aide to the Democratic Representative Caucus
Democratic Representative Caucus
The Democratic Representative Caucus was a group of Canadian Members of Parliament who left the Canadian Alliance in 2001 in protest against the leadership of Stockwell Day...
, a group of dissidents including Grey who broke with the party under Day's leadership.
Harper's trusted aide
In the 2002 Canadian Alliance leadership electionCanadian Alliance leadership elections
The Canadian Alliance, a conservative political party in Canada, held two leadership elections to choose the party's leader. The first was held shortly after the party's founding in 2000, and the second was held in 2002...
, she became press secretary to Harper in his successful challenge to Day, planting a strong reciprocal loyalty between the two that would strengthen through the 2004 leadership race
Conservative Party of Canada leadership election, 2004
The 2004 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election took place on March 20, 2004 in Toronto, Ontario, and resulted in the election of Stephen Harper as the first leader of the new Canadian Conservative Party...
of its successor the Conservative Party of Canada
Conservative Party of Canada
The Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
, and Stewart-Olsen's frequent contact with Harper in their work; a 2005 Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
report said that Stewart-Olsen and executive assistant Ray Novak, "mid-level staffers," were "seen as having his ear, much more so than many higher-ranking staff in the [Opposition leader's] office of about 100."
As Harper's press secretary, Stewart-Olsen survived several periods of significant turnover in Harper's communication staff; in opposition in 2005, amid one such transition, media reports stated that Stewart-Olsen was widely tipped to succeed Geoff Norquay as communications director, but she remained in her position as press secretary.
When Harper became prime minister after the 2006 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
, Stewart-Olsen moved with him into government.
Accounts of Stewart-Olsen vary widely. On the 2005-06 campaign trail, a reporter for The Record
The Record (Waterloo Region)
The Waterloo Region Record is the daily newspaper covering Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada, including the cities of Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge, as well as the surrounding area...
who had been physically restrained from asking a question by a member of Harper's RCMP
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police , literally ‘Royal Gendarmerie of Canada’; colloquially known as The Mounties, and internally as ‘The Force’) is the national police force of Canada, and one of the most recognized of its kind in the world. It is unique in the world as a national, federal,...
security detail found Stewart-Olsen "diminutive and soft-spoken;" she defused the situation and arranged a short interview. Calgary Sun
Calgary Sun
The Calgary Sun is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is a division of Sun Media, a Quebecor company.First published in 1980, the tabloid-format daily replaced the long-running broadsheet newspaper, The Albertan soon after it was acquired by the publishers of the Toronto...
writer Licia Corbella calls her "competent and charming".
However, a fellow Conservative strategist, speaking anonymously to the Canadian Press
Canadian Press
Canadian Press Enterprises Inc. is the entity which "will take over the operations of the Canadian Press" according to a November 26, 2010 article in the Toronto Star...
in 2005, said that "Carolyn Stewart Olsen is an issue for a lot of people — her relationship with the leader and her inability to work well with people." Editorialist Adam Radwanski
Adam Radwanski
Adam Radwanski is a Canadian journalist. He is currently The Globe and Mail's Ontario Legislature columnist, based out of Queen's Park, and writes a political blog for that newspaper's website. He was formerly a member of the Globe's Editorial Board...
suggested in his blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
that she may "reinforce all the leader’s worst, most paranoid instincts." In February 2006, after the departure of Harper's communications director William Stairs
William J. Stairs
William Stairs was born on September 30, 1956, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is presently the CEO of Delta Media Inc. in Ottawa, Ontario. Prior to coming to Delta, Stairs worked for two decades for the Progressive Conservative party and its successor, the Conservative Party of Canada...
, the Toronto Star
Toronto Star
The Toronto Star is Canada's highest-circulation newspaper, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its print edition is distributed almost entirely within the province of Ontario...
described Stewart-Olsen going to the "unusual lengths of holding down reporters' hands when they've tried to ask questions or shouting at journalists who don't abide by her rules for press dealings. The fact that Harper chose to keep Stewart-Olsen and eject Stairs was seen last night as largely a cosmetic answer to the deeper issue of his public-relations problems and Harper's distrust of anything related to the media." Reinforcing this perception of media relations, in April 2008 it was reported that Conservative Members of Parliament were required to carry at all times a wallet-sized, laminated card entitled "When a Reporter Calls". The card provided instructions as to questions a Member of Parliament was expected to ask of a reporter, prior to seeking permission from the Prime Minister's Office to speak to the journalist.
Senator Stewart-Olsen
On August 27, 2009, it was announced that Stewart-Olsen would be among nine new individuals appointed to the Senate of Canada. It is widely stated that the Senate seat comes as a reward for seven years of service to Prime Minister Harper as Press Secretary and Director of Strategic Communication.External links
- Carolyn Stewart-Olsen, Government of Canada directory listing
- Screw the Messenger: conservative journalist Kevin Michael GraceKevin Michael GraceKevin Michael Grace is a Canadian journalist and blogger. Grace worked for Alberta Report, its sister publication Report and the Montreal Gazette. He currently writes for Resource Clips.-External links:* *...
describes difficulty working with Stewart-Olsen