Dimitri Soudas returns to spotlight
Role of ex-aide to Harper sparks speculation
OT TAWA • He has long been one of Stephen Harper’s most fierce and loyal supporters. Dimitri Soudas worked for Mr. Harper in the wilderness years — in opposition — and later, as his director of communications in the Prime Minister’s Office.
He knew the inside story to so much of Mr. Harper’s political agenda.
Mr. Harper personally appointed him executive director of the Conservative party in 2013. But just a few months into the job, Mr. Soudas lost it over concerns that he was helping his fiancée, Conservative MP Eve Adams, win a nomination at a Conservative riding association.
And now, with the defection of Ms. Adams to the Liberals, it appears Mr. Soudas is prepared to use his knowledge of the Conservatives against them.
“Mike, stand down on throwing stones from glass houses,” Mr. Soudas tweeted Monday in response to what he considered a jab at Ms. Adams from Edmonton Tory MP Mike Lake.
“What did you ask me to do again?”
Mr. Soudas did not attend Monday’s news conference in which Ms. Adams announced she was crossing the floor to the Liberals. Instead he posted a brief tweet from his Blackberry: “Fully support @ MPEveAdams’s decision. She is smart, hard working & caring.”
CTV reported that Mr. Soudas would join the Liberals, along with Ms. Adams. But aides in Liberal leader Justin Trudeau’s office quickly tried to dampen rumours. Press aide Kate Purchase took to Twitter.
“To clarify: Soudas will not have a formal role in the LPC [Liberal Party of Canada] but he, like her whole family, is supportive of @MPEveAdams‘s decision and her run,” wrote Ms. Purchase.
Ms. Adams said her family supports her decision but declined to specifically address questions about Mr. Soudas, suggesting such questions were sexist.
Mr. Trudeau said only that he welcomes any family, friends or supporters that Ms. Adams brings with her.
Gerald Butts, Mr. Trudeau’s senior political adviser, also tweeted on the matter. “Conspiracy theories are fun,” he wrote but added that Mr. Soudas’s role with the Liberal party “is to put up lawn signs” for Ms. Adams in the Toronto riding where she hopes to run in the election.