Peter Donolo

Peter Donolo (born October 1959) is a political strategist and former Chief of Staff to former Liberal Party of Canada leader Michael Ignatieff. From 1993-99, he was the Director of Communications in the office of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien.

He previously served as communications advisor to Toronto mayor Art Eggleton (1989-91) and as Director of Communications in the Office of the Leader of the Opposition under Chrétien from 1991 to 1993. Donolo was in charge of communications for the Liberal's successful 1993 election campaign, a role he repeated in their re-election in 1997. From 1999 to 2001, he served as Canada's consul general in Milan, Italy. In 2001, he served as Senior Vice-President of Public Affairs at Air Canada.

Donolo is a well-known republican who has commented publicly about ending the monarchy of Canada. In a comment in the October 21, 2002, cover story of Maclean's, he referred to Canada as "behaving like a colonial outpost", and claiming the Queen of Canada is a foreigner. Since 2002, he has been executive vice president and partner in The Strategic Counsel, a Toronto-based public opinion research and communications consulting firm.

He is also a director of the Toronto Board of Trade and the Toronto Italian Chamber of Commerce, and a frequent contributor to The Globe and Mail and other publications.

In 2003, Donolo co-chaired the successful Toronto mayoral campaign of David Miller. In November 2009, he was named chief of staff for Michael Ignatieff by the Liberal party.

He now serves as Senior Vice President, Public Affairs of the Toronto 2015 Pan American Games.

Personal life

He is married to Mary Cruden and they have three children; Annie, Maggie and Michael.