{"id":10269,"date":"2020-12-02T07:48:48","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T12:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/boardofgovernors\/?p=10269"},"modified":"2025-08-25T14:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:58:11","slug":"governor-spotlight-jane-taber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/2020\/governor-spotlight-jane-taber\/","title":{"rendered":"Governor Spotlight: Jane Taber"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Governor Spotlight: Jane Taber\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
\"Jane
Jane Taber<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A veteran journalist and established communicator, Jane Taber joined the Carleton Board of Governors in 2019 as a community-at-large member. A proud graduate of Carleton\u2019s School of Journalism, Jane spent the bulk of her career as a political reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. Now, in addition to lending her voice to the Board of her alma mater, Jane serves as Vice President of Public Affairs at the NATIONAL Public Relations\u2019 Toronto office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jane grew up in a household with a keen interest in politics and government, and she credits this upbringing for the political direction of her career. After graduating from Carleton, Jane spent 25 years working on Parliament Hill for a series of Canadian publications, but claims her interest in politics started much earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was really young, as early as eight years old, my parents were really into politics\u2026 and they certainly had strong views, which we would talk about a lot.\u201d Jane explained. \u201cMy generation grew up watching Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau and political conventions that were on TV for the first time. It was very interesting for me to see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a passion for politics and a desire to become a journalist, Jane\u2019s decision to study at Carleton University was a no-brainer. She wanted to be in the nation\u2019s capital, and she sought a diploma from the best School of Journalism in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCarleton was one of the best experiences I ever had \u2013 I just loved campus,\u201d described Jane. \u201cI lived in residence in my first year, Glengarry six\u2026 and a couple of people I met are still my close friends. My husband was at journalism school in my year, so I met him on campus as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a student, Jane wasted no time in getting involved in politics, and joined Flora MacDonald\u2019s campaign as she competed for leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Jane was excited to see a woman vie for the leadership role, but was discouraged by the challenges MacDonald faced as a woman in politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe double standard was so evident,\u201d said Jane. \u201cMacDonald had a lot of support going into the leadership, but when it came to people going into the polling booths and putting an X beside a woman\u2019s name \u2013 they just couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Flora MacDonald, Jane never joined a campaign again \u2013 but her interest in federal politics was set in stone.  Following graduation, she worked on Parliament Hill with The Ottawa Citizen, The National Post and The Globe and Mail, and covered every Prime Minister from Brian Mulroney to Stephen Harper. Here, she witnessed historical Canadian moments from her front-row seat.  Looking back, Jane holds the politicians she covered in high regard, and challenges the common trope of the \u2018power-hungry-public-servant.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would say that 99.9% of the elected politicians I met along the way are there for public service,\u201d stated Jane. \u201cThey were there because they wanted to do something for the community, and for the country.  I do think that sometimes politicians get a bad rap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before leaving journalism in 2016, Jane\u2019s career veered back to the roots she planted in the Flora MacDonald campaign, as her final assignment at The Globe and Mail was covering Queen\u2019s Park as a columnist, writing the \u201cWomen In Politics\u201d column.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have seen more and more women get elected, but I have to tell you, there is still a double standard with women in politics, elected officials, and women in business. They just are not seen in those roles as much,\u201d said Jane. \u201cI was intrigued by their toughness, their wisdom, experiences and what really drove them to get into politics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, some 40-years removed from obtaining her Carleton degree, Jane is proud to serve on the university\u2019s Board of Governors. To each meeting, Jane not only brings a suitcase full of Carleton pride, but an abundance of wisdom from her successful career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it is all about communications,\u201d stated Jane. \u201cI think there are so many people who are reluctant to speak to the media \u2013 they are fearful, and I am hopeful that changes. Journalists are there to inform their audience, educate and tell a good story. It\u2019s not about humiliating people or \u2018gotcha journalism.\u2019 It is about storytelling, and as a board member, that is where I can help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jane was elected to the Board of Governors for a three-year term in 2019, and currently serves on the Advancement and University Relations Committee, and as a Board representative on Senate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to view the 2020-2021 Board of Governors membership.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A veteran journalist and established communicator, Jane Taber joined the Carleton Board of Governors in 2019 as a community-at-large member. A proud graduate of Carleton\u2019s School of Journalism, Jane spent the bulk of her career as a political reporter and columnist on Parliament Hill. Now, in addition to lending her voice to the Board of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":9575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10269"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10269\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13755,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10269\/revisions\/13755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/boardofgovernors\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}