Former Glengarry-Prescott-Russell PC candidate Marilissa Gosselin has been named a senior policy advisor for Francophone Affairs, to work from Premier Doug Ford’s office.
The appointment keeps a promise made by the Ford government in November, as part of the government’s concession that it had gone too far with proposed cuts to French-language services.
Gosselin lost the provincial election in Glengarry-Prescott-Russell by 1,344 votes to Liberal Grant Crack in 2011. That seat also made the news in recent weeks, as recently-elected Glengarry-Prescott-Russell MPP Amanda Simard left the PC caucus even after Ford made rolled back some of his original cuts to Francophone services.
Those cuts included eliminating the French-language services commissioner and the cancellation of promised funding for a French-language university. Immediate backlash and demonstrations happened across the province and to some extent, across the country and the French-language services commissioner was reinstated, but under the umbrella of the Ombudsman’s office. Caroline Mulroney was named Minister of Francophone Affairs and Ford said the government would hire a policy advisor for francophone affairs to work in Ford’s office.
Gosselin and her family live in Eastern Ontario.
