Former federal agriculture minister Bob Speller has found a comfortable perch in corporate Canada but he is not ruling out an attempt to return to the political process that kicked him out just six months ago.
Speller, 48, who was minister for eight months before being defeated in the federal election, has been hired as president of the Ottawa printing company St. Joseph’s Print Solutions.
It was once the government-owned Queen’s Printer and still does significant printing work for the federal government. Speller said he has 600 employees and was recruited for the job.
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“They picked me out of the blue,” he said.
“Maybe they saw some of the work I’d done on mad cow and in running one of the largest government departments in Ottawa.”
But he said he did not make a long-term commitment to St. Joseph’s that would have closed off an opportunity to run in the next or future elections.
“It is an open option,” Speller said. “I was in the House for 16 years and that is a long time. But it’s frustrating sitting outside and not even being able to lobby on the agricultural issues (because of parliamentary conflict-of-interest rules and a mandatory cooling off period for former ministers.) There’s lots going on and I’d like to be part of the debate but as far as running, I haven’t decided.”
He said his new job keeps him in Ottawa four days a week, time away from the southern Ontario riding he represented from 1988 to 2004 and where he would have to be re-elected.
Speller won a traditional Conservative seat for the Liberals in 1988 during the free trade election and then lost it to the Conservatives last June, his first campaign as a cabinet minister.
St. Joseph’s is Canada’s third largest printing firm.
Speller said he has no background in the printing or corporate sector, having spent much of his pre-parliamentary life as a political aide in Toronto and on Parliament Hill. He said his years in politics taught him management skills.
When announcing the appointment, the company said Speller was being hired to “help grow St. Joseph’s Print Solutions into the most successful public-private sector print and document service provider in the country. With his extensive government experience, he will build on the excellent relationships that exist between St. Joseph Corp. and its customers.”
