Gerald Butts

On February 18, 2019, Butts stepped down as Trudeau's principal secretary stating it was in order to defend himself against allegations made against him in relation to the SNC-Lavalin Affair and to avoid drawing attention away from the work the prime minister is doing. In a statement released on Twitter, Butts denied influencing the Attorney General, noting that he specifically recruited Jody Wilson-Raybould to join the Liberal Party and was an avid supporter during both her candidacy and her tenure as a minister. Butts reiterated these claims in testimony to the House Judiciary Committee on March 6, 2019. At the time of Butts' resignation, Trudeau had responded by thanking him for his service, while acknowledging the integrity, guidance, and devotion that Butts had provided him. In July 2019, Prime Minister Trudeau hired Butts back to play a key role in the Liberal 2019 election campaign.

If the Liberals were to win the 2015 election, Gerald Butts could become one of the most powerful people in Canada.

In 2012, stemming from a two-decade-long friendship, Butts became the senior political adviser to Justin Trudeau and one of the few people with whom Trudeau consulted regularly. During Trudeau's initial time as Liberal party leader. He also assisted on the vast majority of policies on which Trudeau campaigned. He was appointed Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister on November 4, 2015.

On October 16, 2012, Butts left WWF Canada to become the political advisor to Justin Trudeau. His position at WWF Canada was filled by David Miller, a former mayor of Toronto.

On December 13, 2012, Butts was interviewed by Steve Paikin for The Agenda on the topic of "The Best Way to Clean Up the Environment". Butts has published articles in the Boston Book Review, the Literary Review of Canada, and Gravitas. He has also appeared on television programs such as W5 and TSN's Off the Record.

On June 25, 2008, Butts was announced as the president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Canada. He officially took up the position on September 2, 2008, succeeding Mike Russill.

He is married to Jodi (Heimpel) Butts, a lawyer, and they have two children, Aidan Ignatius (born May 6, 2006) and Ava Augusta (born December 1, 2007). They resided in Toronto for 13 years until the family relocated in summer of 2016 to Gerald currently resides at Champlain Park area of Westboro, Ottawa.

Butts advised the campaigns that led to the Ontario Liberal Party's election victories in 2003 and 2007.

In 1999, Butts became a policy director within the Government of Ontario. He was the policy secretary, and later the principal secretary, in the office of the then premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, in Toronto. Prior to the 2007 election, Butts was a McGuinty insider. After the election, he became McGuinty's principal adviser. As one of his biographical notes describes it, Butts "was intimately involved in all of the government’s significant environmental initiatives, from the Greenbelt and Boreal Conservation plan to the coal phase-out and toxic reduction strategy".

Gerald Michael Butts (born July 8, 1971) is a Canadian political consultant who served as the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau from November 4, 2015 until his resignation on February 18, 2019. From 2008 to 2012, he was president and CEO of the World Wildlife Fund Canada, part of a global conservation organization. In 2014, Maclean's magazine declared Butts to be the fourteenth most powerful Canadian. As the former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Butts was praised as the architect behind the entire Liberal Party of Canada platform that led to their victory in October of 2015 and was one of the most senior staffers in the Office of the Prime Minister, along with Katie Telford.