1. Brian Topp was the runner-up for the federal leadership of the New Democratic Party during its 2012 leadership vote, finishing behind Tom Mulcair.
46 Facts About Brian Topp
1. 2.
Brian Topp has been president of the federal New Democratic Party, and was the Director of Information Services at ACTRA and the Executive Director and CEO of ACTRA Toronto.
3.
Brian Topp served as deputy chief of staff to Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow.
4.
Brian Topp was born in Longueuil, Quebec, and grew up in neighbouring Saint-Lambert on Montreal's south shore.
5.
Brian Topp's mother was a francophone Quebecoise and his father was an anglophone from the Eastern Townships.
6.
In 1993, Brian Topp married Rebecca Elbourne with whom he has two sons.
7.
Brian Topp's wife ran unsuccessfully as an NDP candidate in previous elections, as did his mother-in-law.
8.
Brian Topp is reputedly a fan of board games, particularly the strategic game Civilization.
9.
Brian Topp was portrayed by Judah Katz in the 2013 CBC Television film Jack.
10.
Brian Topp attended elementary school in Saint-Lambert at the francophone Ecole Rabeau and the anglophone St Francis of Assisi School.
11.
Brian Topp attended MacDonald-Cartier High School in the Longueuil borough of Saint-Hubert for his secondary education.
12.
Brian Topp studied social sciences at Champlain Regional College, a CEGEP in the Montreal-area suburb of Saint-Lambert, from 1977 to 1979.
13.
Brian Topp was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper, and was elected to the College Board of Governors where he served on the executive committee.
14.
In 1983 Brian Topp founded Studio Apostrophe, a graphic design and typesetting company which produced Open City Magazine, for which Brian Topp served as editor-in-chief.
15.
Brian Topp has been involved with the NDP at provincial and federal levels for several decades.
16.
Brian Topp joined the NDP in 1980 in order to support Ed Broadbent.
17.
Brian Topp was active with the NDP in Quebec long before their political breakthrough in 2011; Brian Topp first campaigned for the NDP during a 1985 provincial byelection in Montreal.
18.
Brian Topp became active with the federal NDP during the 1988 election campaign, and first went to work in Ottawa in 1990 as an aide to Montreal-area NDP MP Phil Edmonston, whom he had helped become the first elected Quebec MP in NDP history.
19.
Brian Topp then moved west to work with the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party as deputy chief of staff to Premier Roy Romanow from 1993 to 2000.
20.
Brian Topp co-ordinated the war room for the federal NDP during the 1997 and 2004 elections.
21.
Brian Topp was the party's national campaign director in 2006 and 2008.
22.
Brian Topp wrote about this experience in his memoir, How We Almost Gave the Tories the Boot: The Inside Story Behind the Coalition.
23.
Brian Topp served as an adviser to former Toronto Mayor David Miller during his successful election campaign in 2003.
24.
Brian Topp became president of the New Democratic Party in June 2011.
25.
Alongside fellow NDP colleague Anne McGrath and the party leader's wife Olivia Chow, Brian Topp was one of the few individuals who would help Jack Layton write his final letter to Canadians before he died.
26.
On September 12,2011, Brian Topp announced that he was running for the 2012 NDP leadership race.
27.
Brian Topp's name had been circulated as a leading candidate shortly following the death of his friend and colleague, Jack Layton.
28.
Brian Topp indicated that if he won the NDP leadership he would seek a House of Commons seat in his native province of Quebec.
29.
Brian Topp had been criticized by Simon Fraser University professor Doug McArthur of using "a kind of pushy, almost bullying, operation," and noted the similarity to the aggressive tactics that were used by Paul Martin organizers in order to win the leadership of the federal Liberals in 2003.
30.
McArthur suggested that "The strategy of the Brian Topp machine is to run over every candidate before they have a chance to really get going", quoting one of Brian Topp's staffers who stated "let's get this leadership campaign over before it even starts", and pointing to the campaign efforts to discourage Romeo Saganash from running.
31.
Brian Topp has come out in support of a Palestinian state.
32.
On January 10,2012, Brian Topp released a policy document detailing the act he would introduce as prime minister that would reform parliament to reduce the powers of the prime minister, abolish the Senate and bring in Mixed-member proportional representation to the House of Commons.
33.
Brian Topp picked up endorsements from nine other New Democrat MPs, including deputy leader Libby Davies.
34.
Brian Topp received endorsements from former Saskatchewan premiers Roy Romanow and Lorne Calvert, former BCNDP leader Carole James, over a dozen British Columbian MLAs and the United Steelworkers labour union.
35.
Brian Topp was considered to have one of the most polished presentations at the convention.
36.
Brian Topp was brought to Canada's West Coast by Adrian Dix, the provincial leader of the Official Opposition, to manage the 2013 election campaign for the British Columbia New Democratic Party.
37.
Brian Topp admitted that he made certain "errors in strategy" that might have harmed the campaign.
38.
Brian Topp left the firm to work as Alberta Premier Rachel Notley's Chief of Staff, and was replaced by longtime NDP activist Jamey Heath.
39.
Brian Topp served as executive director of ACTRA Toronto until leaving to manage the 2013 provincial NDP election campaign in British Columbia.
40.
Brian Topp is a member of the board of directors for Pinewood Toronto Studios, chair of the board for the Creative Arts Savings and Credit Union, a co-chair of FilmOntario, and a member of the board of directors for ROI Fund.
41.
Brian Topp is the author of How We Almost Gave the Tories the Boot: The Inside Story Behind the Coalition, a memoir about his experiences attempting to broker a coalition between the NDP and the Liberals to take down PM Stephen Harper's Conservative government.
42.
Brian Topp ran the campaign war room for the Alberta New Democratic Party during the 2015 election which propelled the Alberta NDP from only 4 seats in the legislature to a majority of 53 seats, ending 44 years of Progressive Conservative rule and allowing the NDP to form its first ever government in the province's history.
43.
Brian Topp drafted speeches, wrote articles countering Tory claims, and approved campaign events.
44.
Brian Topp subbed for Jim Prentice during practice for the leader's debate.
45.
Brian Topp served as Notley's chief of staff in the new government.
46.
Brian Topp resigned as chief of staff on December 14,2016 to take up a Toronto-based fellowship with Public Policy Forum.