November 28: CLF "Lessons Learned" from the Municipal Election

Program begins 9AM EST - 5:30pm

Agenda & Speakers – pics and bios to be announced shortly

SVP & Senior Partner, National Public Affairs Practice Lead, FleishmanHillard

Experienced senior executive with a demonstrated history of working in the public affairs and communications industry. Strong business development professional skilled in Government Relations, Corporate Social Responsibility, Grassroots Organizing, and Crisis Communications.

Political

1990 OPCYA President, Co-Founder CLF

1990 Mike Harris Youth Leadership Chair

1992 PCPO (9th VP)

1994 - onwards PCPO (1st VP)

Treasurer of the PCPO

Have been involved with both the Etobicoke-Lakeshore federal and provincial boards since youth – currently President of the provincial Etobicoke-Lakeshore riding Association.

Throughout the years have served as campaign chair, campaign advisor, fundraiser for many campaigns at the municipal, provincial and federal levels as well as leadership campaigns.

Leith R.A. Coghlin has been affiliated with the Conservative Leadership Foundation since 1998. Over the course of thirty years of political campaigns, Leith has occupied many key positions and contributed to winning efforts in dozens of municipal, provincial, and national campaigns and elections. Leith remains involved with the Conservative Leadership Foundation for these simple reasons: training Conservatives makes them capable. Capable Conservatives win elections. Since 2015, Leith has lead EnPointe Public Affairs: a lobbying and public policy firm he founded, focused primarily in Ontario but with national and international clientele. EnPointe has built a reputation for its surgical approach in navigating government to accelerate legislative, regulatory, and policy changes. EnPointe is well-known for its work in the agricultural, conservation, energy, environmental, land-use development and planning, law enforcement and public safety, and regulatory sectors among others in the province. Leith has also become a trusted troubleshooter for major national institutional investment and pension funds in their development portfolios and navigating public-private partnerships and major infrastructure projects. Leith has periodically assisted in significant crisis management situations involving public institutions that resulted in intensive audit and investigative reviews helping to transform them out of effective insolvency into stable, compliant, performing entities. Leith has also served as a board director and board chair of a consumer-anchored regulator in Ontario. Educated at Huron University and the Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, Leith further acquired several qualifications in thirteen years of service as an armoured officer in the Canadian Armed Forces. He also served as a staffer to several senior elected officials as a young adult. Leith is a qualified funeral director as well. Originally from Galt (Cambridge), Ontario, Leith has lived in several locales in Ontario. He has resided in Elgin County since founding EnPointe in 2015. He is married and a father to four children. Outside of work, Leith is a supporter of the arts, and enjoys cooking, jazz, travel, Scotch, wine, and needling Toronto Maple Leafs fans.

In the last municipal election in Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown was targeted for defeat by Premier Ford’s top political advisor. John was brought in to manage the re-election campaign. On election night Mayor Brown’s margin of victory went from just under 4,000 to under 29,000 or garnering 44% to over 59%.

John has coordinated “third party” campaigns in more than one election. One of Canada’s most authoritative on the subject based on personal experience.

John has also run as a candidate for Hamilton council, garnering over 2,000 votes but placing third.

In a previous municipal election in Barrie John did the polling and was also hands on in a day to day capacity as a political consultant in a challenger race against the incumbent mayor. Turnout dropped from 38% in the previous election to 30% in a four-way race. John’s candidate had a dramatic come from behind win with 51.6% of the vote on election night.

In a previous municipal election in Windsor John was brought in to manage the campaign of a respected surgeon with no political experience and no political connections, less than three weeks before election day. Running against a popular incumbent mayor with no signs, no literature, no mailings, no public debates, no canvass, no volunteers or TV ads the virtual campaign John ran doubled the vote share form 8% to 18%. On election night the candidate credited John with taking him from one of three challengers to placing a solid second, garnering the third highest number of votes in the county.

Aside from municipal politics John has been active and effective in Party politics, nomination races, provincial, federal and leadership campaigns for over forty-eight years.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The RCMI - The Royal Canadian Military Institute, 426 University Avenue, Toronto, Canada

Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

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