Veteran political journalist Althia Raj joins the Star

The Toronto Star is continuing its strong focus on federal politics by adding senior Canadian political journalist Althia Raj to the team.

Raj is an Ottawa-based multimedia journalist and a member of the CBC’s At Issue panel. She previously served as HuffPost Canada’s senior editorial manager and its Ottawa bureau chief, from the news site’s inception in 2011 until its closure in March, 2021. She set up the Ottawa bureau and later ran its bilingual newsroom, overseeing its political coverage of Parliament Hill and of the National Assembly in Quebec City.

She will bring her award-winning multimedia focus to the Star’s political coverage. In addition to writing columns and hosting panels, she was host and producer of Follow-Up, a popular bimonthly podcast featuring conversations with Canada’s top political insiders.

“We already have a powerhouse team in Ottawa and are thrilled to have someone with Althia’s strong multimedia storytelling skills and national reputation joining us,” said Jordan Bitove, publisher of the Toronto Star and co-proprieter of Torstar. “Our investment in growing this team demonstrates our commitment to federal politics and our national reach. Our journalism is focused on holding all leaders accountable.”

“I'm absolutely thrilled to join the Star,” said Raj. “I've long admired its stellar journalists for their solid reporting, public service investigations, and of course, thought-provoking columns.

“It's taken me a while to decide what to do next, I wanted to make sure it was the right fit. I've been blown away by the editorial leadership of Wayne Parrish (senior vice president) and editor Anne Marie Owens. I'm inspired by co-owners’ Paul Rivett and Jordan Bitove’s vision for the paper and its digital offerings, and I really cannot wait to see what we will all build together.”

Prior to joining HuffPost, Raj was a national political reporter for Postmedia News and an Ottawa bureau reporter for QMI/Sun Media. She also worked as a network producer for CTV and as an associate producer for the CBC Radio political program "The House."

She was one of the moderators of the 2019 federal election debate. She also organized and moderated a federal NDP leadership debate in 2017 and the Ontario PC leadership debate in 2018.

Raj joins the Star today and will be diving right into the campaign with the team.