Press gallery elections: No robocalls involved

Every year, the Parliamentary Press Gallery holds elections for its board of directors and officers. There are, roughly, about 330 members of the Canadian Parliamentary Press Gallery. Full-time membership in the gallery is restricted to professional journalists who spend most or all of their time covering the activities of the Government of Canada and do so on the Parliamentary Precinct.

It’s an important organization with a long history that plays a central role in the daily life of Parliament Hill, facilitating press conferences, organizing press pools, and so on. The board of directors supervises the full-time staff of the Gallery, handles complaints about the conduct of reporters on the Hill, and approves membership in the Gallery.

Since I’ve been a member of the Gallery, an election run-off for the executive positions — President, Treasurer and so on — have been rare although there has been a race every year for the director slots.

This year, there was, in fact, a run-off for the position of Secretary. Incumbent Elizabeth Thompson of iPolitics.ca (acclaimed to the position last year) was facing a challenge from Hill Times columnist Tom Korski. In an election free of robocalls or other funny business, gallery members voted yesterday and Thompson was victorious. All the other executive positions were filled by acclamation. They are:

  • President: Chris Rands (CBC News Network) returns for this second year in this position.
  • Vice-President: Paul McLeod (The Chronicle Herald
  • Treasurer: Marie Vastel (Le Devoir)
  • Secretary: Elizabeth Thompson (iPolitics.ca)

The Gallery will hold its annual general meeting next week when members will elect six directors.

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *