Editing Gerald Butts (section)

{{short description|Canadian political consultant (born 1971)|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Gerald Butts
| image               = Gerald Butts at the 2023 US-Canada Summit (52807447138) (cropped).jpg
| image_size          = 
| caption             = Butts in 2023
| birth_name          = Gerald Michael Butts<ref name="mcgee">{{cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/news-archives/2007/summer/alumnotes/|title=Alumnotes|publisher=[[McGill University]]| url-status=live| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607185304/http://www.mcgill.ca/news-archives/2007/summer/alumnotes/| archivedate=June 7, 2017}}</ref>
| birth_date          = {{birth date and age|mf=yes|1971|7|8}}
| birth_place         = [[Glace Bay]], [[Nova Scotia]], Canada
| residence           = [[Westboro, Ottawa|Westboro, Ottawa, Ontario]], Canada
| alma_mater          = {{ublist|[[McGill University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])|[[York University]]}}
| office              = [[Principal Secretary (Canada)|Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada]]
| term_start          = November 4, 2015
| term_end            = February 18, 2019
| predecessor         = [[Ray Novak]]
| primeminister       = [[Justin Trudeau]]
| successor           = ''Vacant''
| office1             = President and Chief Executive Officer of the [[WWF-Canada|World Wildlife Fund Canada]]
| term_start1         = September 1, 2008
| term_end1           = October 31, 2012
| office2             = Principal Secretary to the [[Premier of Ontario]]
| term_start2         = 2003
| term_end2           = August 30, 2008
| predecessor1        = Michael Russill
| successor1          = [[David Miller (Canadian politician)|David Miller]]
| premier2            = [[Dalton McGuinty]]
| spouse              = Jodi (Heimpel) Butts<ref name="mcgee" />
| children            = 2
| website             = 
| occupation          = Activist, consultant
}}
'''Gerald Michael Butts''' (born July 8, 1971) is a Canadian executive and former policy advisor to governments and political leaders. He is vice chairman and senior advisor at [[Eurasia Group]] and a Board Member of the [[World Wide Fund for Nature|World Wildlife Fund]]. He served as the [[Principal Secretary (Canada)|Principal Secretary]] to Prime Minister [[Justin Trudeau]] from November 4, 2015 until his resignation on February 18, 2019.<ref name=Parliament>{{cite web |title= Leadership of the Prime Minister's Office |url= https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/primeMinisters/PMOLeadership |website= Official website of the Parliament of Canada |access-date= Jan 12, 2016 |archive-date= December 6, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201206071329/https://lop.parl.ca/sites/ParlInfo/default/en_CA/People/primeMinisters/PMOLeadership |url-status= dead }}</ref><ref name=Globe>{{cite news |title= Inside Trudeau's inner circle |url= https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/inside-trudeaus-inner-circle/article28079401/ |newspaper= The Globe and Mail |location= Toronto |date= Jan 8, 2016 |access-date= Jan 12, 2016}}</ref><ref name=Tasker>{{cite news |last1=Tasker |first1=John Paul |date= February 18, 2019 |title=Gerald Butts resigns as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's principal secretary |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/gerald-butts-resigns-pmo-1.5023675 |work=CBC News |language=en |accessdate=February 18, 2019}}</ref> From 2008 to 2012, he was [[President (corporate title)|president]] and [[CEO]] of the [[WWF-Canada|World Wildlife Fund Canada]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/5-things-to-know-about-trudeau-confidant-gerald-butts-1.2619851| title=5 things to know about Trudeau confidant Gerald Butts| date=October 20, 2015| accessdate=June 7, 2017| first=Josh| last=Dehaas| publisher=[[CTV News]]}}</ref> part of a global conservation organization. In 2014, ''[[Maclean's]]'' magazine declared Butts to be the fourteenth most powerful Canadian.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.macleans.ca/news/canada/the-macleans-power-list-the-50-most-important-people-in-canada/#pow14|title=The Maclean's Power List: The 50 most important people in Canada|date=2014-11-22|language=en-US|access-date=2016-09-27}}</ref> As the former Principal Secretary to Prime Minister [[Justin Trudeau]], Butts was praised as the architect behind the [[Liberal Party of Canada]] platform that led to its victory in October 2015 and was one of the most senior staffers in the Office of the Prime Minister.

Born in [[Glace Bay|Glace Bay, Nova Scotia]], with three older brothers and one older sister,<ref name="ottcitzen">{{cite web|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/the-man-behind-the-curtain-why-gerald-butts-is-trudeaus-most-trusted-adviser|title=Trudeau's most trusted adviser? A Cape Bretoner named Gerry Butts - Ottawa Citizen|author=Lee Berthiaume, Ottawa Citizen More Lee Berthiaume, Ottawa Citizen|work=Ottawa Citizen}}</ref> he is the son of Charles William "Charlie" Butts, a coal miner<ref name="ottgbjt">{{cite news|url=https://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/a-tale-of-two-friends-gerry-butts-and-justin-trudeau| title=A tale of two friends: Gerry Butts and Justin Trudeau| first=Lee| last=Berthiaume| date=May 13, 2014 |publisher=[[Ottawa Citizen]]|url-status=live| archivedate=June 7, 2017| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607190152/http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/a-tale-of-two-friends-gerry-butts-and-justin-trudeau}}</ref> who was 56 years old when Butts was born and retired when Butts was 6 years old, and Rita Monica (Yorke) Butts, a nurse<ref name="ottgbjt" /> and a first-generation Canadian daughter of a [[Ukrainian Canadian|Ukrainian]] father and a [[Polish Canadian|Polish]] mother.<ref>{{cite web|title=Glace Bay native key adviser in Trudeau's inner circle|url=http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/Local/2013-04-21/article-3224424/Glace-Bay-native-key-adviser-in-Trudeaus-inner-circle/1|newspaper=[[Cape Breton Post]]|date=April 21, 2013|accessdate=September 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181001220630/http://www.capebretonpost.com/News/Local/2013-04-21/article-3224424/Glace-Bay-native-key-adviser-in-Trudeaus-inner-circle/1|archive-date=October 1, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="martinpatriquin">{{cite web|url=http://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/how-gerald-butts-plans-to-make-justin-trudeau-the-next-prime-minister/| title=Meet the man who made his friend the next prime minister| first=Martin|last=Patriquin|magazine=[[Maclean's]]|date=September 25, 2015|accessdate=September 30, 2017}}</ref> He attended Bridgeport School (now closed) and then St. Michael's High School (now closed).

He received a [[Bachelor of Arts|B.A.]] and [[Master of Arts|M.A.]] in English literature from [[McGill University]] in [[Montreal]], [[Quebec]]. It was at McGill that he was introduced to [[Justin Trudeau]] by a mutual friend.<ref name="ottcitzen" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/cape-breton-man-key-player-in-trudeau-victory-1.2621226|title=Cape Breton man key player in Trudeau victory|work=CTV News|date=21 October 2015 }}</ref> There, he was also elected president of the [[Canadian University Society for Intercollegiate Debate]] and won the national debating championships two years in a row.<ref name="ottcitzen" /> He briefly attended [[York University]] to pursue a Ph.D.<ref name="martinpatriquin"/>