William Stairs was born on September 30, 1956, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is presently the CEO of Delta Media Inc. in Ottawa, Ontario. Prior to coming to Delta, Stairs worked for two decades for the Progressive Conservative party and its successor, the Conservative Party of Canada. From 1992 to 2003 he was a researcher and speech writer for various Progressive Conservative senators in the Senate of Canada, before being appointed as the Communications Director of the PC Party of Canada. When Peter MacKay took on the leadership of the party that year, he hired Stairs as his Communications Director. When the PC party merged with the Canadian Alliance, Stairs moved to the Leader of the Opposition's office as Communications Director for the interim leader, Dr. Grant Hill, during the leadership race that ensued. When Stephen Harper became leader of the new Conservative party, Stairs was appointed manager of regional communications. He later succeeded Geoff Norquay as Communications Director for the Official Opposition, a position he held until just after the Conservatives won the 2006 federal election. Stairs left the Prime Minister's Office to work as chief of staff to the Hon. Vic Toews at the Department of Justice Canada (2006), and the Treasury Board of Canada (2007-2009). He returned to the Prime Minister's Office in 2010 as Director of Issues Management. The following year he went to work for the Hon. Bev Oda, minister of the Canadian International Development Agency. Stairs left the federal government in June of 2011.

Stairs earned a BA in history from Dalhousie University , followed by a certificate in teaching history, an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Canadian history from Université Laval.

Stairs ran for the Progressive Conservative party in the 2000 Federal election in the Timiskaming—Cochrane

Timiskaming—Cochrane

Timiskaming—Cochrane was a federal electoral district in Ontario that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1997 to 2003. It was located in the northeast part of Ontario...

riding,> finishing third to the Liberal party winner.