Jake Enwright was Huawei Canada Vice President & Director of Corporate Affairs, “helping lead the company’s crisis communications…”
In a move that will strike many people as quite odd, the Conservatives have hired Jake Enwright to be their director of issues management.
What could make this a bit strange is that Enwright had previously worked for Huawei:
As noted by iPolitics, “Another staffer heading back to the Hill after a brief hiatus in the private sector: Jake Enwright, who started a new gig this week handling research and issues management for the Conservatives. Since May 2019, he had worked for National Public Affairs, and he also served briefly as vice- president of corporate affairs for Huawei Technologies after leaving the office of then-CPC leader Andrew Scheer in 2018.”
His stint with Huawei came after working for Scheer, raising questions about why O’Toole would make this hire given the controversy Huawei has generated in Canada since China kidnapped two Canadians, and given O’Toole’s anti-Huawei rhetoric.
Interestingly, the National Public Affairs website listing for Jake Enwright now shows a 404 page:
However, I previously screenshotted the page, and this is what it said:
People could be wondering why this page would have been removed?
Either the top CPC brass think there’s no problem hiring someone who recently worked for Huawei, or they do think it’s a problem and decided the best move was to try and hide it?
This is the kind of stuff that further raises doubts about the ‘strategic acumen’ of the CPC, and it makes it appear there is a gap between internal attitudes towards Huawei and the attitude expressed officially.
This is no criticism of Enwright, who I’m sure is a nice person. But it is very telling that the CPC brass thought that nobody would notice this, and that hiring someone who recently worked for Huawei would be good move.
It’s either immense arrogance on their part, a total lack of connection with their voters and the public, or a mix of both.
At a time when O’Toole is already struggling in the polls, many party members are feeling demoralized, and accusations of hypocrisy are politically damaging, people will look at this as not the wisest move.
Spencer Fernando
Photo – Screenshot
