MICHAEL BLACKIE has been appointed executive chef, effective March 9, at Ottawa’s National Arts Centre, where he will have culinary responsibility for the NAC’s Le Café and its restaurants and catering departments. Born in Leicestershire, England, and raised in Montreal, Blackie has for the past three months been head chef at the award-winning Perspectives Restaurant, part of the Brookstreet resort in Kanata, Ontario. He has held important posts at the Founders Club and Westin Harbour Castle, both in Toronto; with Mexico’s Pierre Marques resort; and with the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hong Kong.