[4] In the 2002 Canadian Alliance leadership election, she became press secretary to Harper in his successful challenge to Day, planting a strong reciprocal loyalty between the two that would strengthen through the 2004 leadership race of its successor the Conservative Party of Canada, and Stewart-Olsen's frequent contact with Harper in their work; a 2005 Globe and Mail report said that Stewart-Olsen and executive assistant Ray Novak, "mid-level staffers," were "seen as having his ear, much more so than many higher-ranking staff in the [Opposition leader's] office of about 100."

[1] As Harper's press secretary, Stewart-Olsen survived several periods of significant turnover in Harper's communication staff; in opposition in 2005, amid one such transition, media reports stated that Stewart-Olsen was widely tipped to succeed Geoff Norquay as communications director, but she remained in her position as press secretary.

On the 2005-06 campaign trail, a reporter for The Record who had been physically restrained from asking a question by a member of Harper's RCMP security detail found Stewart-Olsen "diminutive and soft-spoken;" she defused the situation and arranged a short interview.

"[7] In February 2006, after the departure of Harper's communications director William Stairs, the Toronto Star described Stewart-Olsen going to the "unusual lengths of holding down reporters' hands when they've tried to ask questions or shouting at journalists who don't abide by her rules for press dealings.

The card provided instructions as to questions a Member of Parliament was expected to ask of a reporter, prior to seeking permission from the Prime Minister's Office to speak to the journalist.