Carolyn Stewart-Olsen

Carolyn Stewart-Olsen (frequently reported as Carolyn Stewart Olsen) is press secretary to Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, part of the Communications department of the Prime Minister's Office.

Reform, Alliance and DRC work

A former emergency room nurse from New Brunswick, Stewart-Olsen arrived in Ottawa in 1993 as a volunteer in the communications office of the Reform Party of Canada 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. [http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2002/jul/02070801.html]

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. [http://www.freedominion.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7372&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0]

Harper's trusted aide

In the 2002 Canadian Alliance leadership election, 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." ref|gandm20050816

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 [http://www.therecord.com/fed_election2006/fed_election2006_0512038266.html] . "Calgary Sun" writer Licia Corbella calls her "competent and charming" [http://www.ianking.ca/article/288/] .

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." [http://www.adamradwanski.com/blog300605.html] 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." ref|torstar20060221a Reinforcing this perception of media relations, in April of 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. ["Tory MPs told to carry scripted cards". Torstar News Service, April 4, 2008.]

References

* [http://www.sesresearch.com/news/in_the_news/Globe%20and%20Mail%20August%2016%202005.pdf Chief of staff quits Tory leader's team] , Campbell Clark, "The Globe and Mail", August 16, 2005 [pdf file]
* [http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Article&cid=1140475846134&call_pageid=968332188492 Harper fires spokesperson after early PR stumbles] , Susan Delacourt and Sean Gordon, "Toronto Star", February 21, 2006

External links

* [http://direct.srv.gc.ca/cgi-bin/direct500/REcn%3dStewartOlsen%5c%2c%20Carolyn%2cou%3dCOMM-COMM%2cou%3dPMO-CPM%2co%3dGC%2cc%3dCA Carolyn Stewart-Olsen] , Government of Canada directory listing
* [http://theambler.com/jan16-31_03.htm#jenkinson Screw the Messenger] : conservative journalist Kevin Michael Grace describes difficulty working with Stewart-Olsen