Patrick Muttart is a Managing Director of Mercury Public Affairs and leads the firm’s Canada-United States practice. Working with Mercury’s team in Washington, he provides strategic counsel to governments, companies and associations on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border. He also works with Mercury’s team of experienced international campaigners, providing political and strategic services to clients worldwide.
Prior to joining Mercury, Muttart served as Deputy Chief of Staff to Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and chief strategist for the Conservative Party during the 2006 and 2008 elections. During these two campaigns, the Harper Government won its first mandate from voters and subsequently was re-elected with a greater share of the popular vote and a strengthened mandate in Canada’s House of Commons.
During his time in the Prime Minister’s Office, Muttart provided political and communications advice on a wide range of domestic and international files, including throne speeches, budgets and international events. He was part of a select team of Canadian and American officials who worked on policy and communications for President Obama’s 2009 visit to Canada, his first foreign trip as President.
Canadian Press described Muttart as the political strategist who “left his stamp on the TV ads the Tories ran, the tax cuts they introduced, the slogans they uttered, and on their strategy for defending Canada's Arctic...” The Globe and Mail noted his “brilliance at creating disciplined, well-researched and powerful visual representations of complex political ideas.” And Macleans magazine profiled him as “The Brand Man”.
Muttart’s expertise has been recognized internationally. In Third Time Lucky, Lessons from New Labour’s 2005 Election Campaign, published by London’s Policy Network, Muttart is described as a “diligent student of electoral campaigns in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand”. He has presented to, and collaborated with, members of the International Democratic Union, a global association of conservative parties.
Prior to joining the Prime Minister’s Office, Muttart spent ten years in the private sector as a marketing communications professional for a research-based strategy firm, an all-business news network and a national hotel brand. Long active in grassroots politics, he began his career as a staffer to former Opposition Leader Preston Manning. A native of southwestern Ontario, Muttart is a graduate of the University of Ottawa.