This story has been updated to reflect Mike Mercer’s campaign roles with former Liberal leader, Stephen McNeil.
Mike Mercer, former executive director of the Liberal Party of Nova Scotia, will offer advice to the campaign team of leader Zach Churchill, an insider tells The Macdonald Notebook.
Because of his new day job as a baker, Mercer won’t have a campaign title but will be on call to offer advice to the campaign team.
He is the son of a retired Liberal senator and worked for years at the province’s Liberal party, leaving that post during the turmoil the party faced from the theft of $150,000 in party funds by a now-fired party toiler.
That happened on Mercer’s watch as director of the Liberal party. Mercer was not involved in the theft but did not catch it during his tenure until years after the fact.
When former Liberal premier Stephen McNeil ran two winning election campaigns, he named Mercer on his two winning campaigns. “I was campaign director in 2017 and manager of tour and advance in 2013.”
Meanwhile, Kristan Hines, who was a top McNeil political aide, will also offer election advice to the election campaign team. She works with an agency in Halifax and is married to another agency owner, Chris MacInnis, who served twice as campaign manager for McNeil.
From left, former Liberal Party executive director Mike Mercer, and former party president John Gillis. John Gillis/Facebook
