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Draft:Leslie Church

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Leslie Church is a Canadian political staffer and politician who served as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada she was first appointed a Ministerial Chief of Staff following their victory in the 2015 Canadian federal election. During her time in government she was instrumental in the implementation of 2 federal budgets. She was the Liberal candidate for the 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's federal by-election in which she lost to Conservative Party of Canada candidate Don Stewart by less than 600 votes.

Career

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Leslie Church was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta where she became politically active as a teenager as a member of the Young Liberals of Canada. She attended the University of Alberta where she graduated in 2001 which an Honours degree in Political Science and international relations. She later attended the London School of Economics where she received a Masters in Political Science and the University of Toronto where she received her LLB in 2006. Upon completion of her studies she worked as a lawyer at Torys LLP and as a head of communications for Google Canada.

In 2015 upon the victory of the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election she left Toronto and moved to Ottawa where she was appointed Chief of Staff to the Minister of Canadian Heritage at the time Mélanie Joly. She went on to serve as Cheif of Staff to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada where she was instrumental in the procurement of masks and other needed equipment during the Covid 19 pandemic.

In 2020 Church moved to the Ministry of Finance where she first served as Director of Policy and later Chief of Staff from 2021 to October 2023. In October 2023 Church resigned her position and moved her family back to Toronto where she began campaigning for the Liberal nomination for the riding of Toronto—St. Paul's after former Cabinet Minister and MP Carolyn Bennett announced she would not stand for re-election in the 45th Canadian federal election.

On January 16th 2024 Bennett resigned her seat in the House of Commons of Canada triggering a by-election in the riding. After a campaign Leslie Church defeated Emma Richardson for the Liberal Nomination during a nomination meeting on April 30th 2024. In the by-election on June 24th Church was defeated by conservative candidate Don Stewart by a margin of less than 600 votes after leading in the count for most of the evening. The result was considered a big upset in a safe Liberal seat and raised questions about the success of the Liberal Party in the next federal election.

In a statement the morning after the by-election Church accepted defeat but announced she would be seeking the Liberal nomination once again for the general election scheduled to be held at the latest in October 2025.

Personal Life

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Leslie Church is married with 3 children and resides in Toronto. She moved back to Toronto from Ottawa in advance of the by-election.

Electoral record

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Canadian federal by-election, June 24, 2024: Toronto—St. Paul's
Resignation of Carolyn Bennett
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Don Stewart 15,565 42.11 +16.81
Liberal Leslie Church 14,932 40.40 -8.82
New Democratic Amrit Parhar 4,073 11.02 -5.81
Green Christian Cullis 1,057 2.86 -3.13
People's Dennis Wilson 238 0.64 -2.02
Independent Jonathan Schachter 97 0.26
Independent Mário Stocco 82 0.22
Marxist–Leninist Meñico Turcotte 59 0.16
Rhinoceros Sean Carson 51 0.14
Independent Thibaud Mony 51 0.14
Independent Glen MacDonald 42 0.11
Independent Mélodie Anderson 39 0.11
Independent Demetrios Karavas 37 0.10
No Affiliation Stephen Davis 36 0.10
Independent Jordan Wong 31 0.08
Marijuana Danny Légaré 30 0.08
Independent Alex Banks 27 0.07
Centrist Ali Mohiuddin 26 0.07
Independent Jaël Champagne Gareau 23 0.06
Independent Michael Bednarski 18 0.05
Independent John Dale 18 0.05
Independent Pierre Larochelle 17 0.05
Independent Joshua Bram Hieu Pham 17 0.05
Independent Marie-Hélène LeBel 16 0.04
Independent Guillaume Paradis 16 0.04
Independent Daniel Andrew Graham 13 0.04
Independent Pierre Granger 13 0.04
Independent Julie St-Amand 13 0.04
Independent Loren Hicks 12 0.03
Independent Matéo Martin 12 0.03
Independent Blake Hamilton 11 0.03
Independent Line Bélanger 10 0.02
Independent Charles Currie 10 0.03
Independent Cory Deville 10 0.03
Independent Alexandra Engering 10 0.03
Independent Daniel Stuckless 10 0.03
Independent Erle Stanley Bowman 9 0.02
Independent Anthony Hamel 9 0.02
Independent Pascal St-Amand 9 0.02
Independent Sébastien CoRhino 8 0.02
Independent Mark Dejewski 8 0.02
Independent Daniel Gagnon 8 0.02
Independent Agnieszka Marszalek 8 0.02
Independent Olivier Renaud 8 0.02
Independent Patrick Strzalkowski 8 0.02
Independent Donald Gagnon 7 0.02
Independent Benjamin Teichman 7 0.02
Independent MarthaLee Aykroyd 6 0.02
Independent Myriam Beaulieu 6 0.02
Independent Kubera Desai 6 0.02
Independent Donovan Eckstrom 6 0.02
Independent Kevin Krisa 6 0.02
Independent Lorant Polya 6 0.02
Independent Roger Sherwood 6 0.02
Independent Elliot Wand 6 0.02
Independent Michal Wieczorek 6 0.02
Independent Maxime Boivin 5 0.01
Independent Martin Acetaria Caesar Jubinville 5 0.01
Independent Jean-Denis Parent Boudreault 4 0.01
Independent Léthycia-Félix Corriveau 4 0.01
Independent Ysack Dupont 4 0.01
Independent Dji-Pé Frazer 4 0.01
Independent Zornitsa Halacheva 4 0.01
Independent Alain Lamontagne 4 0.01
Independent Renée Lemieux 4 0.01
Independent Danimal Preston 4 0.01
Independent Spencer Rocchi 4 0.01
Independent Yogo Shimada 4 0.01
Independent Darcy Vanderwater 4 0.01
Independent Mylène Bonneau 3 0.01
Independent Guillaume Gagnier-Michel 3 0.01
Independent Kerri Hildebrandt 3 0.01
Independent Krzysztof Krzywinski 3 0.01
Independent Connie Lukawski 3 0.01
Independent Wallace Richard Rowat 3 0.01
Independent Gavin Vanderwater 3 0.01
Independent Alain Bourgault 2 0.01
No Affiliation Manon Marie Lili Desbiens 2 0.01
Independent Gerrit Dogger 2 0.01
Independent Samuel Ducharme 2 0.01
Independent Yusuf Kadir Nasihi 2 0.01
Independent Winston Neutel 2 0.01
Independent Jacques Saintonge 2 0.01
Independent Felix-Antoine Hamel 0 0.00
Total valid votes 36,962
Total rejected ballots
Turnout 43.52 -21.96
Eligible voters 84,934
Conservative gain from Liberal Swing +12.76

References

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Canada, Élections. “Election Night Results - Electoral Districts.” Elections.ca, 2024, enr.elections.ca/ElectoralDistricts.aspx?ed=2237&lang=e. Accessed 6 July 2024.

“Carolyn Bennett, Longtime Liberal MP and Cabinet Minister, Stepping down | Globalnews.ca.” Global News, globalnews.ca/news/10165969/carolyn-bennett-steps-down-toronto-st-pauls-mp/. Accessed 6 July 2024.

Kennedy, Brendan. “Toronto-St. Paul’s Voters Head to the Polls Monday in a Byelection Being Seen as a Test for Trudeau’s Liberals.” Toronto Star, 24 June 2024, www.thestar.com/politics/federal/toronto-st-paul-s-voters-head-to-the-polls-monday-in-a-byelection-being-seen/article_b70a4040-316e-11ef-8a05-1bd9d8898e7a.html. Accessed 6 July 2024.

“Leslie Church - Google Search.” Www.google.com, www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=leslie+church&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8. Accessed 6 July 2024.

“Leslie Church Expected to Easily Win Liberal Nomination in Toronto-St. Paul’s on Wednesday: Sources.” Www.ipolitics.ca, www.ipolitics.ca/news/leslie-church-expected-to-easily-win-liberal-nomination-in-toronto-st-pauls-on-tuesday-sources. Accessed 6 July 2024.

“Prime Minister Announces the Appointment of the Honourable Carolyn Bennett as Canada’s next Ambassador to Denmark.” Prime Minister of Canada, 17 Jan. 2024, www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-releases/2024/01/17/prime-minister-justin-trudeau-announces-appointment-honourable-carolyn-bennett. Accessed 6 July 2024.