Here’s a look back at the news we covered this week:

Brian Gallant, who served as premier of New Brunswick between 2014 and 2018, has joined Navigator’s Toronto office as a senior adviser.

Time in political office has given Gallant an understanding of some of the communications challenges that can be faced when raising public awareness of issues, he said. It is growing more difficult for organizations to break through to new audiences because of how social media can tailor content in accordance with individual preferences, according to Gallant.

At age 32 at the time of his election, Gallant was the second youngest premier in the history of his province. He resigned his post as premier in 2018, and later resigned from his role as the province’s Liberal leader in 2019.

Global Public Affairs (GPA) launched a new practice dedicated to crisis, risk and issues management at its Toronto office. The practice will help clients develop strategies to protect their reputations in the event of a public image problem.

One sector that may be interested in crisis management services could be the cannabis industry, according to Rod Elliot, GPA’s senior vice-president in Toronto. Cannabis businesses may be interested in working with GPA to ensure their compliance with Health Canada regulations, or develop plans to contend with issues such as product recalls, he said.

A study by the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) has found that more than a third of the data used by the food and beverage industry in communications with government haven’t been subject to peer review.

Dr. Monique Potvin Kent and researchers Darrell Vandenbrink and Elise Pauzé from the university’s faculty of medicine examined 202 interactions between Health Canada and food and beverage stakeholders between October 2016 and June 2018.

They divided those interactions into what they considered to be the most common lobbying strategies, one of which was a strategy to “shape the evidence.”

Out of the 75 citations provided by the food and beverage industry in that time frame, 21 could not be found online by the researchers. Another 35 per cent of the 54 remaining citations were not peer reviewed, according to the study.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC) was the most active group on the federal lobbyists’ registry last week with 26 communication reports posted related to the upcoming federal budget.

The organization, which supports local boys and girls clubs through programming such as physical activity and job training, is advocating for more federal investments in youth employment programs, according to the registry.

Discussions about the 2020 budget in general have been rising on the registry since October. Nine communication reports were filed on the registry in October, followed by 21 in November and 57 in December.

In new registrations, Baykar Defence, a military drone company in Turkey, started its first file Feb. 3 with consultant Ken Mackay of Capstone Defence Insights. The company would like to discuss Canada’s policies related to the export of military goods to Turkey, according to the file.

Canada suspended new arms export permits to Turkey in October, as a response to an incursion by the Middle Eastern nation into Syria.

Mackay will communicate with Global Affairs, Innovation, National Defence, and the Privy Council Office.

The Canadian Alliance of British Pensioners started its first file on Feb. 5 with consultant Mary Anne Carter of Earnscliffe Strategy Group. In the U.K., pensions increase year over year to account for inflation. However, when a recipient is living in Canada, the U.K. government puts a freeze on pension increases, so the pension amount never goes up.

The alliance has been lobbying the U.K. government to advocate for an end to a freeze on pension increases in Canada. It registered to ask the Canadian government to join in its advocacy efforts.

Carter will communicate with the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance, Global Affairs, Justice, and Employment and Social Development Canada.

Related to the environment, K&C Silviculture, a forestry service in British Columbia, started its first file on Feb. 3 with consultant Esmahan Razavi of Strategies 360 Canada. 

During the 2019 election campaign, the federal Liberals, who now lead a minority Parliament, committed to planting two billion trees across the country over the next decade. Razavi will communicate with Natural Resources and Environment about that commitment, according to the registry.
 

New registry files posted between 2020-02-10 and 2020-02-14

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on Feb. 14 at 9:00 a.m.
 

Reactivations posted between 2020-02-10 and 2020-02-14