Carney’s deputy chief of staff departs to seek B.C. Liberal nomination

Conservative analyst Regan Watts says Mark Carney ‘continues to outclass’ Pierre Poilievre, pulling a fifth MP out of the Conservative caucus.

One of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s deputy chiefs of staff says he’s stepping away from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to seek the nomination for a vacant federal seat in his home province of British Columbia.

Braeden Caley announced the news on social media late Sunday.

“There is never a perfect time to leave work you love, and never an easy way to articulate why one would decide to do so,” he wrote on X.

Caley said he intends to return to B.C. with the goal of becoming the Liberal candidate in the riding of North Vancouver-Capilano, a seat left vacant after MP Jonathan Wilkinson stepped down to become Canada’s ambassador to the European Union earlier this year.

“In 2025 and 2026, it has been an honour to serve Prime Minister Carney and our country as Canada has answered one of our toughest challenges in generations,” Caley went on to say in his post.

“…and as this new government has met this hinge moment with the most ambitious plan to build that Canadians have embarked on in more than half a century.”

Caley thanked Carney for his leadership, saying “you asked an anxious and doubting country to believe in itself more strongly than ever, and then quietly showed us how.”

“Not with divisive politics or slogans, but with the solutions and steadiness of someone who has always believed that especially in a crisis, ‘a plan beats no plan.’ While leaving your office, I am not leaving the standard you set,” he wrote.

“The country rarely sees the hours you keep as a team: the weekends surrendered, the dinners gone cold, the families and friends who wait up, the calls you answer and messages you handle long after the lights of Parliament Hill go dark each night. I saw your incredible devotion to this democracy up close, and I will never forget it.”

Move follows another PMO exit

Caley’s departure follows another high-profile exit from the PMO, as Carney announced last week that Tom Pitfield, his principal secretary, would be appointed to the Senate.

Pitfield is a longtime Liberal advisor and currently Carney’s chief political strategist.

“That means the PMO needs a shake-up,” Scott Reid, former communications director to former prime minister Paul Martin, told CTV News following Pitfield’s Senate appointment.

“Tom was one of the two people that headed the shop, along with the chief of staff. There’ll be some changes, rumours of other changes in the PMO. So, you’re going to have some summer projects there, lots and lots of political intrigue around this in Ottawa.”

Carney’s chief of staff, Marc-André Blanchard, as well as the Clerk of the Privy Council Michael Sabia, remain in their roles, however the departure of Pitfield and Caley signal that a PMO shakeup may be imminent.

Caley said that as he considers “a new way to contribute” to Carney’s government, he believes there’s work to be done in B.C.

“I’m inspired that this is a country that keeps arriving at places that many have doubted we could ever reach,” he wrote. “British Columbia has always been at the very heart of that journey.”

With files from CTV News’ Annie Bergeron-Oliver and Rachel Aiello