Ben Chin was Christy Clark’s executive director of communications and issues management.John Lehmann/The Globe and Mail
Ben Chin, a former senior political aide with Liberal governments in B.C. and Ontario, is joining Finance Minister Bill Morneau's office as a senior adviser.
Mr. Chin will report directly to Mr. Morneau's chief of staff, Richard Maksymetz. The position is expected to include providing the Minister with strategic advice on how to manage hot political files.
Mr. Chin's previous position was as executive director of communications and issues management for former B.C. premier Christy Clark, who resigned as Liberal leader in July after her party lost power following the May provincial election.
Mr. Morneau faces a host of challenging policy decisions that will carry significant political consequences for the first-term Liberal government.
His office is preparing to release a revised set of proposals for small-business taxation rules in response to widespread criticism of an initial package of changes that he released in July. One Liberal MP said this week that the controversy has grown to the point that the Liberals would be at risk of losing seats if an election were held now.
Mr. Morneau is also working on a fall fiscal update that will set the stage for the 2018 budget. The economy has improved since the 2017 budget and the Finance Minister will need to decide whether to allow projections of smaller-than-expected deficits to materialize or whether to devote any additional fiscal room to new spending.
His hiring of Mr. Chin marks the second significant shakeup in his office in recent weeks.
As The Globe reported last month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's senior policy adviser Justin To is moving to the Finance department to become Mr. Morneau's policy and budget director.
Mr. To will replace Robert Asselin, who is leaving for the private sector.
Mr. Chin, who began his career as a broadcast journalist, joins a long list of senior federal Liberal aides with ties to the Ontario Liberal government. He was a senior communications adviser to premier Dalton McGuinty from 2005 to 2008. He then worked in the private sector before joining Ms. Clark's staff in 2012.
Bill Curry