Key Influencer – Mary MacDonald– Acting Deputy Minister of Intergovernmental Relations

Source: Alberta.ca

Needless to say, having a strong intergovernmental relations team in contemporary politics is not simply an asset, but a cornerstone of both domestic and international diplomacy. In November of 2024, Mary MacDonald was asked to served as the Acting Deputy Minister for Executive Council, Intergovernmental Relations.

Her public service experience has spanned the course of more than a decade in Alberta. A lawyer by trade, MacDonald served as the Registrar of the Court of Appeal of Alberta and eventually was appointed as the Assistant Deputy Minister of Resolution and Court Administration Services. She also served in the Ministry of Service Alberta.

MacDonald is no stranger to the intergovernmental relations file. In September 2021, she was appointed as the assistant deputy minister of the file prior to her current secondment as acting deputy minister. She also has plenty of political experience, having served as Anne McLellan’s deputy chief of staff in Ottawa and once ran as a candidate for the Liberal Party of Canada in Edmonton-Centre back in 2011.