Anne McGrath
On Aug. 22, 2011, Anne McGrath faced one of the hardest days of her life.
New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton had died of cancer — just 16 weeks after leading his party to unprecedented heights in the federal election.
Ms. McGrath was his chief of staff. Now it was her job to mourn his death and remember his legacy.
“It’s been an uphill battle,’’ she said of the cancer. “But he was a determined guy and he was doing his best to fight it.”
During this difficult period, she exhibited a quality rarely found among those who make politics their life: calmness. When you have it, everyone around you knows it and appreciates it. Ms. McGrath, say those who know her, has it.
Now, NDP leader Tom Mulcair is turning to the 57-year-old as national campaign director for the upcoming election.
New Democrats are counting on her poise as the party tries to improve on its 2011 success.
“A campaign director is like a crane, as you’re trying to build a skyscraper,” says Karl Belanger, Mr. Mulcair’s principal secretary.
“You’re building that piece by piece. That crane needs to be very solidly based in order for it not to crumble at the first windstorm. And that’s what she brings: that stable, grounded persona.”
Ms. McGrath was born in England and moved with her family to Canada before she was five. By 1975, they were living in Ottawa where her father was a school principal, her mother was a teacher.
She traces her calmness to a shooting at her high school. Student Robert Poulin killed one person and injured five more before killing himself.
The horror of that day shaped her character. “It taught me to stay calm, to figure out what’s the most important thing to do at any particular moment and to focus on that.”
After studying English literature and education, she became attracted to “edgy politics” that appealed to her desire to fight “injustice and inequality.”
She had a brief flirtation with Communism — “I was young, probably naive, interested in talking about politics” — before finding her home with the NDP.
By 2000, she was working as an executive assistant to Canadian Union of Public Employees’ president Judy Darcy.
“She has a personal style that is energizing and collaborative,” says Ms. Darcy. “She could be tough and kind at the same time.”
Her job with Mr. Layton came after a chance meeting.
“We were very, very close,” she says. “We definitely had the same values. We felt like we had a mission.”
After his death, she became a consultant at an Ottawa government relations firm. But that didn’t last.
Last year, she acknowledged what she always knew about politics: “It’s in my blood.”
As NDP national director and national campaign director, she says she’s ready for what lies ahead.
“My approach to leadership is to assemble the best and the brightest around me. People who I can trust, who know what they are doing. And then I make sure they have the tools and the latitude to be able to operate effectively.”