James E. (Jamie) Carroll

James E. (Jamie) Carroll, (09 August 1979), is a Canadian political strategist and public affairs consultant based in Ottawa, Canada. After successive positions in the offices of MLAs, MPs, cabinet ministers and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, Carroll was one of the principal architects of the Stéphane Dion 2006 Liberal Leadership Convention and then National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada. After a dispute with rival leadership organizers, Carroll left his role and entered the private sector as a consultant. He has subsequently worked for Hill & Knowlton Canada and is currently a principal with Tactix in Ottawa.

Carroll is also involved with a number of political and community organizations including CADSI, the CDA Institute and the Naval Association of Canada. He has been recognized by the Hill Times as one of Canada's Top 100 Lobbyists and in 2012 received Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.

Early life
Jamie Carroll was born and raised in Truro, Nova Scotia to Gordon Carroll and Norma-Jean (Arseneau) Carroll. He has two younger sisters, Melanie (Cooke) and Ashley (Manuel). He attended local public schools including Cobequid Education Centre (CEC) for high school. Carroll then attended the University of King's College in Halifax, NS where he completed the Foundation Year Programme and then received a Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Political Science in 2000.

Carroll developed a quick mind and fast lip: both often ideal and deadly in political life. He has a very dry sense of humour and often use all three traits to his advantage, sometimes diffusing difficult situations, other times choosing to inflame them.

Political career
Carroll took his first role on a political campaign at the age of 14, volunteering for the local Liberal MLA candidate in the Nova Scotia riding of Truro-Bible Hill, Eleanor Norrie in the Nova Scotia general election, 1993. He was bitten by the political bug and participated in subsequent provincial elections in 1998, 1999 and 2003 serving in a variety of local and provincial campaign roles.



In 2000, after finish his undergraduate degree, Carroll joined the campaign team of former (and future) Liberal Member of Parliament Geoff Regan who was trying to retake his seat in Halifax West that he had won in 1993 but lost in 1997.

After the successful campaign, Carroll went to Ottawa with Regan as a staffer. He worked with a number of Liberals MPs and Cabinet Ministers including John McCallum, Don Boudria, Jacques Saada and then-Leadership candidate, later Prime Minister Paul Martin.

After a year in the Prime Minister's Office and then the Liberal War Room during the 2004 Canadian federal election campaign, Carroll moved to the office of Environment Minister Stephane Dion as senior political advisor. Soon after being sworn in, Dion took on the Presidency of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) and Canada agreed to host the 2005 meeting of the group in Montreal. Carroll worked closely with Dion on this project, traveling internationally extensively to meet with Conference participants ahead of the meeting.

Following the 2005/6 election campaign that lead to the Liberals losing power and Paul Martin resigning as leader of the Party, Dion decided to enter the race to replace Martin. Carroll was one of the first to commit to organizing for Dion and ran the day to day operations on his campaign for its duration. With the rest of the campaign team, he devised the successful strategy that allowed Dion to climb the ballot and win one of the most dramatic conventions in Canadian political history.

After Dion's election Carroll first served as his Chief of Staff in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition and then became National Director of the Liberal Party of Canada - the Party's top staff position. Carroll was often a source of controversy in this role and ultimately left under a cloud of criticism from Dion's eventual successor - Michael Ignatieff - and his supporters.

Professional Career
Having left professional politics, Carroll became and lobbyist and consultant, first in Toronto and then Ottawa. He started his post-political life with Hill & Knowlton Canada in Toronto in 2008, servicing clients such as Shell Canada, Xstrata and the Toronto Board of Trade. In January 2009 Carroll moved with Ken Boeessenkool to begin a new Public Affairs practice at GCI Canada a subsidiary of H&K in Ottawa. Here Carroll grew his expertise with clients in the oil & gas and pipeline industries as well as becoming a sought-after advisor on issues of defence procurement.

In 2011 Jamie left GCI to join TACTIX Government Relations and Public Affairs, a privately held consulting firm in Ottawa. Here Carroll heads the firm's defence procurement practice and advises a range of clients on how to strategically navigate Canada's complicated procurement environment. He also serves as a senior strategic advisor to a number of other high-profile clients and the firms chief media strategist.

Additionally Jamie is a member of the Rideau Club of Canada, the Naval Association of Canada, the Government Committee of the Board of the Canadian Association of Defence and Security Industries and the Board of Directors of the Conference of Defence Associations Institute.

In 2012 Carroll received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal for his work on defence policy in Canada.

Carroll is also often a media commentator either in print (see Further Reading below), [online ] and in other media on subjects of national or political significance.

Personal Life


Jamie is married to Megan (nee Meltzer) Carroll and they have one son, Benjamin. Both Jamie's wife and son are Jewish and Jamie has gotten very involved with the Jewish community both locally in Ottawa as well as nationally.