David MacNaughton is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

businessman, diplomat, political advisor and strategy consultant who was the chairman of StrategyCorp, a public affairs consulting firm. MacNaughton served as the

Canadian ambassador to the United States This is a list of ambassadors of Canada to the United States, formally titled as ''Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States of America for Her isMajesty's Government in Canada''. Originally, Canada's top diplomatic represe ...

from 2016 to 2019; he succeeded Gary Doer and presented his diplomatic papers to U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

on March 2, 2016. MacNaughton is currently president of Palantir Technologies Canada, a post for which he resigned his ambassadorship.Freeland, Vance and several federal officials barred from official dealings with ex-ambassador

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

, 16 Sept 2020 MacNaugton is credited by '' Canadian Business'' with "changing the face of public affairs in Canada" through the co-creation of the firm Public Affairs Resource Group (PARG), which in 1987 brought the services of public affairs and the polling firm Decima Research under one roof.

Background

Prior to his appointment, MacNaughton was chairman at StrategyCorp, a Canadian public affairs and communications firm. MacNaughton also served as Canadian and North American president of

Hill and Knowlton Hill+Knowlton Strategies is an American global public relations consulting company, headquartered in New York City, United States, with over 80 offices in more than 40 countries. The company was founded in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1927 by John W. Hill ...

, and president of Public Affairs International, which purchased Decima Research to create Public Affairs Resource Group.

Politics

MacNaughton's public sector experience includes work at both the federal and provincial levels of government. At the federal level, he spent six years as a senior advisor to Don Jamieson, successively Minister for the Government of Canada's Departments of

Transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land (rail and road), water, cable, pipeline, an ...

, Industry and

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership organization and think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and ...

. A longtime

Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...

activist, MacNaughton has been involved federally in numerous election and political campaigns. In Ontario, he co-chaired David Peterson's successful 1987 election campaign, and was a senior advisor to

Dalton McGuinty Dalton James Patrick McGuinty Jr. (born July 19, 1955) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 24th premier of Ontario from 2003 to 2013. He was the first Liberal leader to win two majority governments since Mitchell Hepburn nearl ...

in the 2003 election. Following that election, from October 2003 until May 2005 MacNaughton served as principal secretary to McGuinty. In 2015, MacNaughton served as Ontario co-chair for the federal Liberal campaign that was successful in electing

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

as Prime Minister. In 2020, MacNaughton was found to have violated Canada's ''Conflict of Interest Act'' after offering ''pro bono'' work to several public office holders on behalf of Palantir Technologies Canada, of which he is president.

Opinions

MacNaughton has been an outspoken advocate of government using asset sales in order to invest in new infrastructure. He has also urged government to adopt a program of fundamental change in how it operates in order to more efficiently provide services.

Other activities

MacNaughton has served on the boards of the

North York General Hospital North York General Hospital (NYGH) is a teaching hospital in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Primarily serving the North York district, as well as southern York Region, it offers acute care, ambulatory and long-term services at multiple sites. It is one ...

, the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

, the

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival ...

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

and the

Toronto French School The Toronto French School (TFS), founded in 1962, is an independent, bilingual, co-educational, non-denominational school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Charles III, as King of Canada, is the royal patron of the school. The school rebranded in 2 ...

Personal life

MacNaughton's partner is Leslie Noble, formerly of the public affairs firm StrategyCorp. Noble has worked for the

Ontario Progressive Conservative Party The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (french: Parti progressiste-conservateur de l'Ontario), often shortened to the Ontario PC Party or simply the PCs, colloquially known as the Tories, is a centre-right political party in Ontario, Canada ...

for several elections, notably as co-campaign manager with Tom Long on the " Common Sense Revolution" which won majority governments in 1995 and 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:MacNaughton, David Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian political consultants Ambassadors of Canada to the United States