Team Trudeau: the Toronto rainmakers orchestrating Justin’s rise

When the ridings are redrawn for the 2015 election, Morneau will seek the Liberal nomination for Toronto Centre, shifting Chrystia Freeland to the newly established riding of University-Rosedale. He’s a successful businessman (his company, Morneau-Shepell, is the biggest human resources consulting firm in the country), he’s highly connected, he should be a shoo-in.

The former journalist and author was the Trudeau team’s first big get—a recruit with widespread name recognition and a CV perfectly suited to the party’s preoccupation with rebuilding the middle class. She will undoubtedly play a significant role in a Trudeau cabinet.

When Vaughan announced he was leaving city hall to run for the Liberal nomination in Trinity-Spadina, you could almost hear Team Trudeau salivating. The Libs were eager to re-establish themselves in downtown Toronto, and Vaughan won Olivia Chow’s old seat.

She’s the third point in the Liberal leadership triangle that includes Trudeau and Butts. Her job is to rebuild, revamp and modernize the Big Red Machine by implementing the kind of data-driven fundraising and vote-courting strategy that began with Obama in 2008 and is now the MO of campaign managers everywhere.

He was the mastermind behind Wynne’s decisive majority in June, and also won majority governments for Liberal premiers in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The strategist and pollster is sure to play a central role in Trudeau’s 2015 election campaign, for which he currently serves as an advisor.

(Photographs: Butts courtesy of WWF; Morneau courtesy of Bill Morneau; Freeland by Jason Gordon; Vaughan courtesy of Adam Vaughan; Telford courtesy of Katie Telford; Herle courtesy of Spur Festival Toronto;)