Here’s a rundown of the news we covered this week:

Karl Baldauf, former chief of staff to Ontario Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy, has joined McMillan Vantage Policy Group as vice president at the firm’s Toronto office. He also has experience with the Ontario business sector, as the former vice-president of policy and government relations with the Ontario Chamber of Commerce. Baldauf told The Lobby Monitor his experience with Ontario’s government and businesses will be useful to McMillan clients who are anticipating the province’s next general election in 2022.

The Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) filed 259 communication reports between January and November 2020, which is greater than the organization’s annual total of reports for any year since 2010. The total number of communication reports for December is not yet known, as organizations have until Jan. 15 to submit reports for activity in the previous month. The FCM is a contender for the most active lobbying organization of 2020, ahead of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (which filed 257 communication reports between January and November), and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce (which filed 237 reports).

Nancy Heppner, who previously served as a minister across four different portfolios in the Saskatchewan government, is now assisting clients as a senior adviser at StrategyCorp. Heppner formerly served as minister of Energy and Resources in her home province under the Saskatchewan Party governments of former premier Brad Wall and current Premier Scott Moe. She also served as minister of Highways and Infrastructure, minister of Central Services, and as minister of the Environment, during Wall’s term in office.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) held a virtual lobbying event in November that extended beyond its two-day schedule, and resulted in 33 communication reports posted between Dec. 22 and Dec. 23 on the federal lobbyists’ registry. Youth ambassadors contacted Minister of Employment Carla Qualtrough on Nov. 3 and Minister of Rural Economic Development Maryam Monsef on Nov. 13 as part of the JDRF’s Kids for a Cure event. Between Dec. 21 and Jan. 3, the JDRF posted more than four times as many reports as the Canadian Federation of Students or Davie Canada Yard, both of which followed in lobbying activity with seven posted reports each.

In registrations, Alberta energy infrastructure company Enbridge increased its representation on the registry with five consultants added on Jan. 7. Consultants including Marc-André Leclerc, Phil Trinh and Luka Stevanovic of Maple Leaf Strategies became active on the file, alongside Enbridge’s president and CEO, Al Monaco, and Ensight consultants Matthew Triemstra and Nivitha Jeyakumar. Enbridge is interested in discussing market access for energy products, and cross-border issues between Canada and the U.S., according to the registry. The Maple Leaf consultants will communicate with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Natural Resources Canada, Environment, Finance, Global Affairs Canada, Innovation, as well as senators and MPs.

Canada Carbon, a graphite company in Ontario, also increased its representation by adding consultant Noémie Bérubé of Ryan Affaires Publiques to its file on Jan. 4. Bérubé joins colleague Valérie Pomerleau on the file. The company is interested in resuming operations at a graphite mine in southern Quebec, and is interested in speaking with the federal government about possible funding support. Bérubé and Pomerleau will communicate with Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions.

Nordstar Capital, a private investment firm, started its first file with consultant Andrew Balfour of Rubicon Strategy on Dec. 1, 2020, which was posted on the registry on Jan. 7, 2021. Nordstar acquired the Torstar Corporation media conglomerate on Aug. 5, 2020. The firm is interested in speaking with the federal government about a possible expansion of the digital subscription tax credit, which is a non-refundable tax credit for amounts paid by individuals to Canadian journalism organizations for qualifying subscription expenses after 2019 and before 2025. Balfour will communicate with the PMO, Canadian Heritage, Finance, Innovation, and with MPs.

New registry files

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on Jan. 8, 2021 at 9:10 a.m.

New registrations

Reactivations