Government experience. Industry experience. Political experience.
Illuminatus Consulting is built around a simple advantage: understanding government relations from both sides of the table.
More than two decades seeing how decisions get made.
Matthew Ellis brings experience spanning federal ministerial offices, national industry association leadership and consultant lobbying. His work has involved the political, policy, regulatory and stakeholder dimensions of complex files across federal and provincial jurisdictions.
He began his career in political and legislative roles, including the Opposition Leader’s Office, the Ontario government office of the Hon. James M. Flaherty and the House of Commons office of Andrew Scheer, MP. From 2006 to 2010, he held senior policy and parliamentary affairs roles across four federal ministers’ offices, advising on legislative strategy, parliamentary procedure, media strategy and stakeholder engagement.
Matthew later moved to the private and association side, advising Ornge on political and regulatory matters, working as a consultant lobbyist with Stosic & Associates and serving from 2019 to 2021 as Vice President, Government and Stakeholder Relations for the Convenience Industry Council of Canada.
His work has included heavily regulated sectors and policy areas such as reduced-risk nicotine products, beverage alcohol modernization, pharmaceutical and health policy and cannabis retail frameworks.
Senior counsel without the layers.
Direct access
The person you hire is the person working the file. Matthew leads every engagement from the first conversation through execution.
Multiple perspectives
Advice is shaped by experience inside political offices, government, industry associations and consulting — not a single institutional viewpoint.
Strategy before activity
Meetings, submissions and stakeholder outreach are tactics. The work starts by defining the decision, the obstacle and the path to the outcome.
International experience
Matthew has conducted open-government training seminars in Mongolia for the International Republican Institute.
Education & practice
He holds a Bachelor of Arts, Combined Honours in Political Science and Law from Carleton University, with concentrations in International Relations and International Law, and has working familiarity with Canada’s federal lobbying framework and registration system.
No account managers. No hand-offs.
If you have a difficult government, regulatory or stakeholder file, start with a direct conversation.
Get in touch →