Toronto’s 50 Most Influential: #11, Katie Telford
Our annual ranking of the people whose smarts, connections and clout are changing the city as we know it
Katie Telford
PMO
11 If Gerald Butts was Trudeau’s big-picture guy, Telford led the ground campaign, putting lofty ideas into action. She marshalled thousands of volunteers and candidates, and implemented a focus on data—collecting and analyzing copious statistics on doors knocked, supporters identified, signs ordered, calls placed, volunteers gained, and more—to gauge success and identify weaknesses. In the campaign’s final stretch, it was Telford who pushed to send Trudeau into long-shot ridings—like Parkdale-High Park and Beaches-East York, among others—that turned red. In Trudeau’s prime time victory speech, he thanked her by name, establishing her as one of the faces of the new Liberal regime.
Family Business:
Politics runs in the family. She’s the daughter of civil servants and got her first job as a page at Queen’s Park at age 12.
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