Time to officially note a changing of the guard.

THIS Magazine is losing our dedicated and brilliant Publisher, Joyce Byrne, who has accepted an undercover lefty assignment in Alberta. Joyce’s tenure at THIS has seen the magazine transform itself in many ways. She oversaw the recent and highly popular redesign of the print magazine, as well as brilliant changes to the website and, of course, the introduction of this very blog, now such a powerhouse in forming and influencing Canadian political thought. Joyce was also one of the ringleaders for that whole Marry An American circus THIS Magazine staged after the US election. Yes, that was our shy and retiring Joyce, proposing to… well, just about everyone, throughout Canadian, American and international media. Aloha, Joyce. You will be terribly missed.

On the other hand, here comes Lisa Whittington Hill, the new Publisher of THIS magazine—and a better choice we couldn’t have made. Lisa is a former arts editor and circulation manager for the magazine. She returns to THIS with tonnes of experience in Canada’s magazine industry. She’s a perfect fit, and we look forward to taking her coffee orders. Welcome Lisa.

And, since this is a political blog, I guess I should break the shocking story that Joyce has, in fact, left THIS to accept a job as Associate Publisher with Alberta Venture magazine, the pulsing heart of western Canadian business interests. Let the paranoid recriminations begin!

Personally, I never trusted that Joyce. There was always something shifty about the way she talked about the petro-chemical industry…