OTTAWA – Former British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell is off to London.
The Harper government formally announced his appointment as the new high commissioner to the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland on Monday.
The Canadian Press first reported Campbell’s new job in June.
Campbell resigned as premier earlier this year after the controversial introduction of the 12 per cent harmonized sales tax.
While a Liberal, he was responsible for reinvigorating the relationship between B.C. and the Conservative government.
His appointment was announced with several others, including a new ambassador for Afghanistan.
Glenn Davidson, the former commander of Maritime Forces Atlantic and ambassador to Syria, is taking over the post in Kabul from William Crosbie.
Crosbie reportedly offered to resign last year after criticisms he made about Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a diplomatic cable were published by the website WikiLeaks.
Crosbie had voiced concerns that his remarks would be damaging to Canada-Afghan relations, but at the time, the prime minister said his job was safe.
Monday’s appointments also included the elevation of Elissa Golberg as Canada’s ambassador to the office of the United Nations in Geneva as well as the United Nations Conference on Disarmament.
Golberg was the first representative of Canada in Kandahar, a position created by the Tories in 2008 to co-ordinate defence, diplomacy and development efforts in the southern part of Afghanistan.
A new ambassador to the United Nations in New York City was also announced. Guillermo Rishchynski, formally the ambassador of Mexico, will now fill that post.
Also appointed to a diplomatic position was Sanjeev Chowdhury, who was part of the team in charge of the G8 and G20 summits last year.
He will now serve as Canada’s consul general in Rio de Janeiro.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version said Golberg was appointed ambassador to the UN.
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