The provincial staffer who abruptly ended Jill Dunlop’s CBC interview appears to have been fired
Dunlop is currently using temporary press secretary coverage from the attorney general’s office
Ontario’s minister of emergency preparedness and response, Jill Dunlop, caused a stir last week when her handler abruptly ended an interview with CBC’s As It Happens radio show. The hang-up occurred shortly after co-host Nil Köksal mentioned criticism of Dunlop’s communications with Indigenous communities during the ongoing northern Ontario wildfires.
“Let’s just wrap it up now if that’s okay,” an unidentified voice said.
A back-and-forth ensued between the handler and Köksal, who asked to finish the questions she’d prepared for the interview.
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“Why would the minister not want to answer the questions of her constituents?” Köksal asked.
“She has. Thank you for your cooperation. Bye Bye,” the handler said, before disconnecting.
The Trillium now reports that the person overseeing Dunlop’s interview appears to have been let go, with Premier Doug Ford’s director of media relations, Hannah Jensen, informing the outlet that Dunlop will use “temporary press secretary coverage” from the attorney general’s office. The outlet also notes that Dunlop’s press secretary is no longer named within the province’s online employee directory.
Jensen declined to answer questions regarding the staffer, saying her office cannot comment on HR matters.
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Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
