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By John Delacourt

May 8, 2025

With a new federal cabinet soon to be announced and a new session of Parliament imminent, Ottawa is currently seized by the sort of cyclical post-election fervour whereby the conversations about who might land where among staffers are at least as animated as the cabinet-casting speculation.

While this transition is not a change of parties, it is a change of leadership and a new Parliament, which generates a certain amount of churn in ministerial and MPs staffing. Many of those staffers will be veterans, but a good number will be new to Ottawa, arriving from local campaign offices and the previous lives of rookie MPs.

Herewith are three modest suggestions for potential staffers, which may be equally useful to newcomers to the Hill and seasoned political and policy professionals who have held senior roles in the past. These are not wardrobe tips, or insider intelligence on which cafeteria has the best burritos. Think of them as introductory guidelines for living in a very particular ecosystem.

1. Do not succumb to the cult of gossip.

Working amid the hurly burly of the Hill makes it possible for people to feel like they know a little about everyone without actually knowing anyone in any substantive, authentic way. This limited perspective has only been exacerbated by the virtual nature of working relationships, the time constraints imposed by the intensity of the work, and the social and professional hazards of gossip. Aside from following the best advice your mother ever gave you (i.e. try to see the good in people, and if someone speaks ill of an absent third party to you, rest assured they’ll trash talk you to someone else). It is probably helpful to do what good journalists do as second nature and ask some pointed follow-up questions when dealing with gossip: 1. Has that been your experience with this person? 2. If not, from whom did you hear it and what has your experience been, actually? It’s amazing how this approach tempers hot takes and received information. The other thing that most journalists are required to do is get as many sources as they can. Admittedly, that’s not always possible, so the follow-up questions above remain the best of all express routes to sound judgment.

2. Avoid the zero-sum school of office politics.

In fact, try to avoid office politics altogether and remain focused on the real kind, though that’s not always easy. An unfortunate thing about the competitive nature of staffer roles is that the number of second chances for people decreases in direct proportion to how competitive the environment becomes. Org charts in political offices are far more fluid and dynamic than most settings in the private sector, which can create great opportunities for rapid advancement and, with an asterisk, skills development (harsh reality: not all these skills for stakeholder relations, policy development or communications are easily transferrable – or translatable to employers off the Hill). However, owing to a number of factors that may play out in individual offices, some people are just set up to fail from the very beginning. I have seen it multiple times that, in a different office, with a different role, a person who failed in one job can be amazing. Great leadership helps make that happen. Unfortunately, it is rare to have anyone in a senior role, in political offices, ask you: Where do you want to be in a year? What do you want to learn? Most chiefs of staff are focused on where their minister will be and how to get them there, with everyone on the org chart as interchangeable agents to make that happen. Great leaders know that the two streams of development — individual and team — flow into the same channel, and they make that channel as deep and inclusive as possible. So, if you’re not asked those questions about your own aspirations, ask to be asked. Just don’t do it during week one — there are restrooms to locate.

3. See your horizon, and pick the right mentors.

This last suggestion/recommendation is more for those who might be starting to look at other options, back in the real world, after their time on the Hill. How do you know when it’s time to leave? There are tell-tale signs, but I’d say the most significant is when you find yourself getting cynical: about the government, the media and most importantly, about the people you work with. There is nothing more toxic and limiting for development. Per the widely-poached quote from UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, character is more important than reputation. When that equation gets reversed, it’s usually because a working culture is more conducive to people building reputation than building character. Within the hothouse culture of the Hill, it is easy to equate the former with the latter, but you do so at your peril.

By way of an illustration, in my first agency job off the Hill, my account team had another former political staffer join us. This was a person who spent most of their time on the Hill in offices where they focused on issues management/communications. Within a week or two, everyone realized this person espoused a certain approach to power defined by an unfailing radar for advancement at both any cost and any expense to those around them. They were practiced at texting eye roll emojis about other team members’ comments and suggestions – only for those in perceived positions of power or influence on the team of course (and pointedly, not to anyone in senior management at the firm). When a partner got wind of this, he called a meeting, explained that he had heard there was a kind of Lord of the Flies culture starting to form, and without naming names stated: “It has to stop. We don’t do this. We pick up the ball for each other when it drops. We’re a team.”

That former staffer ended up leaving the firm and ultimately going back on the Hill. It’s the only place where they could thrive, unfortunately. However, it was not really where they could grow and build truly valuable skills for life after politics.

The VP who called out the behaviour? He was a former political staffer who thrived in his post-politics life, including by mentoring others, among them yours truly. Which raises a final bit of advice: whatever your party, follow the good guys.

Policy Contributing Writer John Delacourt is Senior Vice President of Counsel Public Affairs in Ottawa and a successful novelist.