Vallée, Harper's press secretary for four years, will be following a well-trodden path as Dimitri Soudas had also left the Prime Minister's Office to join the COC in 2011 to become executive director of communications.

He left the COC in November 2013 to become executive director of the Conservative Party. 

Vallée will replace Marc-Andre Plouffe, another former member of the Prime Minister's Office, who stepped down from the COC last November following only a short period in the role. 

"We are excited to add such a talented individual with a stellar reputation to our communications team," said Chris Overholt, chief executive and secretary general of the COC. 

."Carl has global communications experience dealing in high pressure situations which will be of great benefit to our organisation."

Vallée, who is fluent in English and French, is due to join the COC on April 6. 

"Carl's outstanding strategic communications background and speech writing skills will help our team aggressively tell the athletes' stories to Canadians," said Derek Kent, chief marketing officer of the COC, who Vallée will report too. 

"As we head into the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games and the 2016 Rio Olympics, we are very pleased to have someone of his communications caliber join our team."

Prime Minister Stephen Harper (right) has lost several staff to the Canadian Olympic Committee under its President Marcel Aubut (left) ©COC