Tory flacks polishing resumes, cold-calling lobby firms
Forget the polls and the attack ads—the surest indication yet that the Conservatives may be hitting the panic button at the prospect of facing a reinvigorated Liberal Party on the hustings comes in today’s edition of the Hill Times, which reports that some ministerial staffers have already begun preparations for life after government. The paper reports that several lobby firms have been fielding calls from (unnamed, of course) Tories “sending out feelers”—not quite asking for a job, but checking out the possibilities for future employment in a post-Harper Ottawa. It could be a bleak landscape for suddenly unemployed Hill climbers, however—not only has the recession taken its toll on public affairs firms, but many will also be hamstrung by the draconian “cooling off” period imposed by the Federal Accountability Act, which would prevent them from actively lobbying government for five years.