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Friday, November 6, 2009 9:09 PM

More blood on the OLO floor

Jane Taber

Two senior Ignatieff aides are leaving their positions in the Opposition Leader's Office to return to Toronto.

Mark Sakamoto and Alexis Levine, both lawyers who have been part of Michael Ignatieff's inner circle since his 2006 leadership bid, confirmed their decisions in separate e-mails to The Globe and Mail tonight. They were part of the "Toronto gang" around Mr. Ignatieff.

Criticism was leveled against the coterie by Liberal MP Denis Coderre, who dramatically quit as Quebec lieutenant over what he believed was interference by the Toronto-based advisers in a decision about which candidate should run in a Montreal riding.

Mr. Sakamoto and Mr. Levine are also close to Ian Davey, who left last week as chief of staff to Mr. Ignatieff. He was replaced by former Chrétien communications director and pollster Peter Donolo. It is not clear whether Mr. Davey will return to the OLO. It's also uncertain whether Mr. Davey's girlfriend, communications director Jill Fairbrother, will return to her post.

"I won't be returning to Ottawa as my two-month-old baby and lovely wife are in Toronto and I need to focus on them," Mr. Sakamoto said. "Of course, I remain a staunch supporter of Mr. Ignatieff and wish him and the team all the best."

Before coming to Ottawa after Mr. Ignatieff assumed the leadership late last year, Mr. Sakamoto worked for the CBC. He was also the subject of controversy this week when he was seen on a broadcast of The National criticizing the Harper government's response to the H1N1 flu pandemic. The clip was later pulled.

Mr. Levine, meanwhile, is the son of lawyer and powerful literary agent Michael Levine. The younger Mr. Levine has also been a keen supporter of Mr. Ignatieff, working on helping to organize in Toronto and Ontario.

"I am leaving the OLO to go back to law," Mr. Levine wrote. "It was a personal choice. It's the right time to get back to my practice and I've been away longer than I intended. I'm happy to have worked with an exceptional team and am looking forward to helping out in other ways going forward."

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Ottawa Notebook Contributors

Jane Taber, senior political writer

Jane Taber

Jane Taber has been on Parliament Hill since the Mulroney days, first writing for the Ottawa Citizen in 1986. Since then, she's reported for a small television network, WTN, and for the National Post before joining The Globe’s parliamentary bureau in 2002. She is the senior political writer and also co-host of Question Period, which airs Sundays on CTV.

 
John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson

John Ibbitson started at The Globe in 1999 and has been Queen's Park columnist and Ottawa political affairs correspondent. Most recently, he was a correspondent and columnist in Washington, where he wrote Open and Shut: Why America has Barack Obama and Canada has Stephen Harper. He returned to Ottawa as bureau chief in 2009. Before joining The Globe, he worked as a reporter, columnist and Queen’s Park correspondent for Southam papers.

 

Steven Chase

Steven Chase has covered federal politics in Ottawa for The Globe since mid-2001. He's previously worked in the paper's Vancouver and Calgary bureaus. Prior to that, he reported on Alberta politics for the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun, and on national issues for Alberta Report. He's had ink-stained hands for far longer though, having worked as a paperboy for the (now defunct) Montreal Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, the Vancouver Sun and the North Shore News.

 
Deputy Ottawa bureau chief Campbell Clark

Campbell Clark

Campbell Clark has been a political writer in The Globe and Mail’s Ottawa bureau since 2000. Before that he worked for The Montreal Gazette and the National Post. He writes about Canadian politics and foreign policy. He stopped being fascinated by ShamWow commercials after that guy’s nasty incident in Florida, but still wonders if one can really pull a truck with that Mighty Putty stuff.

 

Bill Curry

A member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery since 1999, Bill Curry worked for The Hill Times and the National Post prior to joining The Globe in Feb. 2005. Originally from North Bay, Ont., Bill reports on a wide range of topics on Parliament Hill. He is very protective of the office copy of Marleau & Montpetit.

 

Gloria Galloway

Gloria Galloway has been a journalist for almost 30 years. She worked at the Windsor Star, the Hamilton Spectator, the National Post, the Canadian Press and a number of small newspapers before being hired by The Globe and Mail as deputy national editor in 2001. Gloria returned to reporting two years later and joined the Ottawa bureau in 2004. She has covered every federal election since 1997 and has done several tours in Afghanistan.

 

Daniel Leblanc

Daniel Leblanc studied political science at the University of Ottawa and journalism at Carleton University. He became a full-time reporter in 1998, first at the Ottawa Citizen and then in the Ottawa bureau of The Globe and Mail. While he likes the occasional brown envelope, he is also open to anonymous emails.

 

Stephen Wicary

Stephen Wicary has been with The Globe since 2001, working on the news desk as a copy editor, page designer, production editor and front page editor. During the U.S invasion of Iraq, he pulled a three-month stint as overnight editor of the website. He moved to the parliamentary bureau at the end of 2008 to bolster online political coverage.