General

From Langevin to Pennslyvania Avenue

Privy Council Clerk Lynch to be our next ambassador to DC?

Hope you weren’t looking forward to cherry blossom season in Washington, Ambassador Wilson, because the PM’s right-hand mandarin may be headed down south to take your job. This week’s Hill Times reports that Privy Council Clerk Kevin Lynch is “locked for the job,” according to a tantalizingly anonymous “Hill insider.” The former Finance deputy minister has DC experience—he repped Canada during his tenure at the International Monetary Fund—and although the rumour has been officially denied by a PCO official, you know what they say about official denials. Wilson’s term doesn’t officially expire for another couple of years, but he’s been seen as a Former Ambassador Walking since that whole NAFTA memo leak unpleasantness exploded during the Democratic primaries last spring. Of course, this wouldn’t be Ottawa without a competing theory: the same story notes that “another name” being “talked about” is that of Liberal turned Conservative Industry Minister David Emerson. Diplomatic speculators, start your engines!

The Hill Times

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