Spotted in the Capital: new OLO staffers

At an Ottawa coffee shop beneath the Official Opposition offices today, an impromptu gathering of Liberals signaled the changes now underway in the office of the leader.

The sounds of hammers and saws could almost be heard from above as a parade of new staffers starting with Mario Lague showed up for their morning java.

Fresh off the plane from Switzerland, Lague, who was most recently working for the International Union for Conservation of Nature, was lured back to act as Michael Ignatieff's director of communications. In the world of Liberal politics, he most recently held the same post for former prime minister Paul Martin.

Next to arrive was Patricia Sorbara, Ignatieff's new chief operating officer and longtime veteran of the Ontario party (and, it should be noted, second cousin of Ontario Liberal MPP and former finance minister Greg Sorbara). Sorbara was accompanied by Heather Chiasson, the new party liaison in the OLO and longtime staffer at the party's national headquarters.

These new appointments are all the result of decisions by Ignatieff and his new chief of staff, Peter Donolo, who recently replaced Ian Davey.

The spin from Liberals is that this new team that's assembling will be the antithesis of Liberal OLOs of late: no more factionalism, no more paranoia and no more refusal to look outward. Adults are now running the store, or so they say. Only time will tell.