This is from the Globe and Mail.
It seems that the Common Sense revolution is now being revitalized as the Harper revolution. Harper is surrounding himself with a gang of conservative ideologues with lots of experience in managing and massaging the people. They are much more than a 'gang of four'.
'Wicked smart' man going to Ottawa
JANE TABER
From Friday's Globe and Mail
May 23, 2008 at 5:12 AM EDT
An introverted, hard-core Conservative with a strategic mind and a deep religious faith is set to take over as Stephen Harper's top adviser.
Guy Giorno, 43, a Toronto lawyer and former chief of staff to Mike Harris, then the Progressive Conservative premier of Ontario - he once wrote that Mr. Harris "changed Canadians politics, permanently, and for the better" - begins his new job as Mr. Harper's chief of staff on July 1, according to Conservative sources.
Mr. Giorno was handpicked for the position by Ian Brodie, the man he is succeeding, a senior Conservative said. The two worked together on campaign strategy over the past few years. Mr. Brodie, who has been the Prime Minister's chief of staff since the Tories took power in January of 2006, informed his staff of his departure Wednesday morning, the source said.
Mr. Giorno, who grew up in Toronto, went to university in Toronto and still lives there with his wife and their three-year-old son, would not be interviewed. A number of his friends and acquaintances, however, agreed to speak about him, some on the condition of anonymity.
His friends say that Mr. Giorno is intelligent and cerebral but his aggressive style can sometimes rub people the wrong way.
Greg Lyle, the managing director of Innovative Research Group, who knows Mr. Giorno well, characterizes him as "wicked smart." Mr. Lyle said he's a good fit with the Harper Tories: "He's on the same wavelength as Harper and that team. He's got great relationships with a number of the senior ministers. He does get Ontario and certainly Ontario is basically one of two roads to get them to majority. And he has real experience running government."
The downsides, Mr. Lyle said, are that Mr. Giorno doesn't speak French and doesn't have experience in Ottawa.
Although he is not close to the Prime Minister, Mr. Giorno is close to senior Harper ministers, including Environment Minister John Baird and Health Minister Tony Clement. And though he has been characterized as the "author" of the Harris Common Sense Revolution, Mr. Giorno plays down his role in the controversial strategy.
Yesterday, however, the Liberals were quick to emphasize his political relationships.
"If he, in fact, becomes chief of staff, they're running this government and they are the same five-man wrecking crew whose lingering effects we're still feeling in the province of Ontario," Liberal MP David McGuinty said.
Mr. McGuinty, along with his brother, Dalton, the Liberal Premier of Ontario, share a strong animosity for the Harris Conservatives who are now in the Harper cabinet.
Mr. Giorno is also a friend of Secretary of State for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney and senior Harper advisers Patrick Muttart and Mark Cameron.
"He's a very focused guy," a veteran Tory said. "He's a little bit introverted but so, too, is Ian Brodie ... If you think about it, a lot of successful chiefs of staff are ... it's not a job where you want necessarily a hugely gregarious extrovert out there trying to get as much attention as their boss."
In the 2005-2006 federal election campaign, Mr. Giorno worked in the Tory war room as part of the "scripting unit," which provided messaging, lines and drafts for the Prime Minister's remarks.
And like some of Mr. Harper's other top advisers, Mr. Giorno is a practising Catholic with deep convictions. Although his faith was the source of some conflict during his years at Queen's Park - there were articles questioning whether as a Catholic he should bring a "wider sense of social justice" to his job - his friend says that he is professional in his work and private in his faith.
With a report from Bill Curry
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