Eddie Goldenberg

Edward (Eddie) Goldenberg, CM is a Canadian lawyer and writer who served as a senior political advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien. Described as Chrétien's "Machiavelli,"[1] from 1993 until 2003 he was chief policy advisor to the Prime Minister,[2] becoming chief of staff in 2003.[3] Along with Jean Pelletier and Aline Chrétien, he was considered Chrétien's most influential political guide.[4] Goldenberg's 2006 memoir, The Way It Works, focused on his time in government.[5]

Eddie Goldenberg CM
9th Chief of Staff to the Prime Minister
In office 2003
Prime Minister	Jean Chrétien
Preceded by	Percy Downe
Succeeded by	Tim Murphy
Personal details
Born	1948 (age 72–73) Montreal, Quebec
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	McGill University
Profession	Lawyer

Career

Goldenberg first worked for politician Jean Chrétien in 1972 with a summer internship after completing his first year at McGill University Faculty of Law.[1] From 1980 to 1982 he supported Chrétien as Special Constitutional Advisor to the Minister of Justice and was one of the authors of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.[3]

In 1990, Goldenberg was "co-ordinating the 10 policy groups that have been organized to brief Chrétien on various issues and to write speeches."[6] He worked with Paul Martin, Terrie O’Leary and Chaviva Hosek "on finalizing the text of the famous Red Book, officially titled Creating Opportunity: The Liberal Plan for Canada."[7]

From 1993 until 2003 he was[2] Chrétien's aide[8] and chief policy advisor.[9] He was involved with the government when the Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1998 and then signed in 2002, and later wrote on the matter.[10] He became the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff in 2003.[3]

After Chretien left office, Goldberg became a partner at the Ottawa office of law firm Stikeman Elliott LLP and subsequently a senior partner at Bennett Jones LLP, leading the firm's government affairs and public policy practice.[11][2][3] He was a supporter of Bob Rae's bid to become Liberal leader in 2006.[12] In 2019, he was still working with Jean Chretien on diplomatic matters with China.[13]

Goldenberg's The Way It Works book

Goldenberg is the author of The Way It Works, a book about his experiences working with Chrétien.[1] It focuses especially on 1993 until 2003 during Goldenberg's time as Senior Policy Advisor to Chrétien.[14] Goldenberg's 2006 memoir, The Way It Works, was called by Maclean's "a bluntly realistic endorsement of the Savoie-Simpson thesis with none of the handwringing."[5] The memoir also covers Goldenberg's recollections of the writing process for 'the Red Book, which set the Liberal platform for the 1993 federal election.[15] In 2006, it was a finalist for the Shaughnessy Cohen Award for Political Writing.[16]

Publishing history

• Author of The Way It Works[1] (September 18, 2007, ISBN 9780771035623)[16]

Archives

There is an Edward S. Goldenberg fonds at Library and Archives Canada.[17]

References

1. "Chrétien's Machiavelli". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
2. Canada still has a strong hand in NAFTA negotiations, Globe and Mail
3. Eddie Goldenberg, Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics
4. Allan Fotheringham, "Aline, the power player," Maclean's, December 11, 2000, vol. 113, issue 50, p. 68.
5. The PM as dictator, Literary Review of Canada
6. A Cool Hand at the Helm, Maclean's
7. Godfrey, J. (2009), "From defeat to victory?", Paediatrics & Child Health, NCBI, 14 (10): 656–657, doi:10.1093/pch/14.10.656, PMC 2807804, PMID 21119809
8. A new guy and the Nervous Nellies, CBC
9. The players behind the scenes, The Globe and Mail
10. "Liberals knew Kyoto a long shot", The Star
11. "Bennett Jones taps horsey set to land Dodge". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
12. "Let the real work begin". National Post. Retrieved 2015-11-08.
13. Chrétien proposes cancelling Meng's extradition case to unfreeze relations with China, The Globe and Mail
14. The Way It Works: Inside Ottawa, GoodReads
15. The Liberal Red Book: The Economist's Perspective, Global Economics by Patrick Grady
16. The Way It Works, Penguin Random House
17. "Edward S. Goldenberg fonds, Library and Archives Canada". Retrieved 2020-09-18.

External links

• Bennett Jones LLP biography