Trump picks former NC DHHS secretary to be ambassador to Canada
President Donald Trump has nominated the former head of North Carolina’s Department of Health and Human Services to be the country’s new ambassador to Canada.
Dr. Aldona Wos served as ambassador to Estonia during the George W. Bush administration and has most recently been vice chair of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships, a group responsible for recommending individuals to the president for appointments.
In the 2018 election cycle, Wos gave more than $760,000 to Republican candidates and causes, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Kelly Craft, the former ambassador to Canada, is now the UN ambassador. Trump nominated Wos to replace Craft on Tuesday. She must be confirmed by the Senate.
Wos led the state Department of Health and Human Services for about 30 months.
While her boss, former Gov. Pat McCrory, gave her high marks for controlling Medicaid spending, her term was marked by threats from the federal government to sanction the state for food-stamp failures, a temporary shutdown of food benefits to low-income women and infants, and questions about no-bid contracts and the hiring of an executive from her husband’s firm to a high-paying, contract position as her assistant, The News & Observer previously reported.
Wos is married to Republican fundraiser and donor Louis DeJoy, who is leading the fundraising effort for the Republican National Convention in Charlotte this summer.
Congress recently passed a new trade agreement between the U.S., Canada and Mexico to replace the old North America Free Trade Agreement, making good on a promise Trump made in his 2016 campaign.
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This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 5:28 PM.
