Premier Doug Ford is losing his most experienced political aide.

As first disclosed by the Star on Friday morning, Jenni Byrne, the premier’s principal secretary and a key architect of the Progressive Conservatives’ majority election triumph last June, is leaving his office for a new post at the Ontario Energy Board.

Viewed by many as the most powerful woman at Queen’s Park, Byrne was a mastermind behind former prime minister Stephen Harper’s victorious 2011 campaign.

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She is among the few top Ford advisers with any experience at the highest levels of government.

“Jenni has been an invaluable resource not only to me and the staff in the premier’s office, but indeed to all members of the government … ,” Ford said in a statement announcing her two-year appointment to the OEB that pays $197,000 annually.

“I know Jenni would work with her future colleagues on the board, and the professionals at the OEB, to help bring utility rates under control and make life more affordable for Ontario families and businesses,” the premier said.

“In her capacity in senior positions with the federal government and here in my office, Jenni has consistently worked in service to the public. She understands the challenges facing the province in the natural gas and electricity sectors,” he said.

NDP MPP Peter Tabuns expressed concern about a political appointee to the independent electricity regulator.

“For Doug Ford to give out another ticket on his gravy train to yet another friend and ally is wrong, and the $400,000 price tag for this one is completely outrageous,” said Tabuns (Toronto Danforth) referring to Byrne’s compensation over the two-year term.

“Doug Ford trades in favours and backroom deals, and clearly, he wants to make sure the people who are supposed to be independent from politicians — from police to energy regulators — are loyal to him,” said the New Democrat.

“The OEB is charged with overseeing Ontario’s energy sector and its independence is vital to protecting families from political mismanagement. Stacking the OEB with his buddies and turning our energy decision-making body into a dumping ground for Ford loyalists diminishes its independence, and will have major consequences for Ontario’s energy sector.”

Sources said Byrne and other federal and provincial Conservative political veterans had sparred with Ford’s mercurial chief of staff, Dean French, on matters of both style and substance on policy and strategy.

French, a long-time confidant of the premier, has frustrated cabinet ministers, MPPs and Tory political staffers with his hard-charging manner.

But he is personally and professionally close to the premier. The two men, sporting their tuxedos, were even briefly stuck together in the tiny elevator at the posh Albany Club on Thursday night during the Sir John A. Macdonald dinner.

Byrne, who is so well-regarded by Ford that he spent several days trying to dissuade her from leaving, is also popular with PC political staff.

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“She works really hard and there’s no job that’s beneath her, which is good for younger staffers to see. She’s always willing to canvass and make calls (on campaigns),” said one top Conservative, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters.

Proud of her roots in Fenelon Falls, in the Kawartha Lakes, Byrne’s expertise on the voting patterns in Ontario ridings was instrumental to Ford’s victory over former premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals on June 7.

It is widely expected she will play a major role in Ford’s 2022 re-election campaign.

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering Ontario politics. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie

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