Couchiching Annual Conference

Marc Lortie

Keynote Address

Marc Lortie has been diplomat, ambassador, Prime ministerial spokesperson, and trusted advisor to various prime ministers on federal-provincial issues, Latin American and European affairs. He joined the Department of External Affairs in 1971. He later served abroad in Tunisia (1973-75) and Washington (1979-83). He was seconded to the Prime Minister’s Office in 1985 where he was in charge of relations with the international media until 1987 when he was named Press Secretary.

In 1989, he returned to the diplomatic service and served in Paris as Minister-Counsellor for Political Affairs and as Personal Representative of the Prime Minister for La Francophonie. He was named Canadian Ambassador to Chile in 1993 and served in that position until 1997 when he was nominated Fellow at the Centre for International Affairs at Harvard University. Marc returned to Ottawa in September 1998 when he was appointed Sherpa for the third Summit of the Americas and in 2001, he was appointed Assistant Deputy Minister for the Americas. He was Ambassador of Canada to Spain from 2004 to 2007 and Ambassador of Canada in France from 2007 to 2012.