Draft:Leslie Church

Leslie Church is a Canadian political staffer and politician who served as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Prime Minister of Canada and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland from 2021 to 2023. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada she was first appointed a Ministerial Chief of Staff following their victory in the 2015 Canadian federal election. During her time in government she was instrumental in the implementation of 2 federal budgets. She was the Liberal candidate for the 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's federal by-election in which she lost to Conservative Party of Canada candidate Don Stewart by less than 600 votes.

Career
Leslie Church was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta where she became politically active as a teenager as a member of the Young Liberals of Canada. She attended the University of Alberta where she graduated in 2001 which an Honours degree in Political Science and international relations. She later attended the London School of Economics where she received a Masters in Political Science and the University of Toronto where she received her LLB in 2006. Upon completion of her studies she worked as a lawyer at Torys LLP and as a head of communications for Google Canada.

In 2015 upon the victory of the Liberal Party of Canada in the 2015 Canadian federal election she left Toronto and moved to Ottawa where she was appointed Chief of Staff to the Minister of Canadian Heritage at the time Mélanie Joly. She went on to serve as Cheif of Staff to the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and as Chief of Staff to the Minister of Public Services and Procurement Canada where she was instrumental in the procurement of masks and other needed equipment during the Covid 19 pandemic.

In 2020 Church moved to the Ministry of Finance where she first served as Director of Policy and later Chief of Staff from 2021 to October 2023. In October 2023 Church resigned her position and moved her family back to Toronto where she began campaigning for the Liberal nomination for the riding of Toronto—St. Paul's after former Cabinet Minister and MP Carolyn Bennett announced she would not stand for re-election in the 45th Canadian federal election.

On January 16th 2024 Bennett resigned her seat in the House of Commons of Canada triggering a by-election in the riding. After a campaign Leslie Church defeated Emma Richardson for the Liberal Nomination during a nomination meeting on April 30th 2024. In the by-election on June 24th Church was defeated by conservative candidate Don Stewart by a margin of less than 600 votes after leading in the count for most of the evening. The result was considered a big upset in a safe Liberal seat and raised questions about the success of the Liberal Party in the next federal election.

In a statement the morning after the by-election Church accepted defeat but announced she would be seeking the Liberal nomination once again for the general election scheduled to be held at the latest in October 2025.

Personal Life
Leslie Church is married with 3 children and resides in Toronto. She moved back to Toronto from Ottawa in advance of the by-election.