The Lobby Monitor and the office of Hill Times Publishing will be closed on Mon. Feb. 15 for the Family Day holiday in Ontario. The Lobby Monitor will return to its regular publishing schedule on Feb. 16, sending you the morning brief Tuesday morning.

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

Mental Health organizations are advocating for the federal government to develop a national strategy to support the mental health of Canadians in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is recommending a strategy that addresses “system gaps” and inequalities that can lead to poor mental health, including homelessness, violence and discrimination. Other organizations requesting a national plan to address mental health include the Canadian Grief Alliance (CGA) and the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU).

David Donovan, former chief of staff in the office of Prab Sarkaria, Ontario’s minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction, has joined Sussex Strategy Group as the firm’s director of energy and environment. Donovan is also the former director of policy in the office of then-Ontario Environment minister Rod Phillips. His background in the energy sector includes previously serving as the senior government affairs strategist for Enbridge, a company based in Alberta that operates crude pipelines, and supplies wind and solar energy.

Lena Gahwi, a former volunteer voter contact organizer on the re-election campaign of Ontario NDP MPP Peggy Sattler, joined Crestview Strategy as a consultant. Gahwi said she developed a “grassroots background” through her work on the Sattler campaign, and from co-founding the Western New Democrats club at Western University in London, Ont.

The Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada (BGCC) submitted 14 of the 164 communication reports posted on the federal lobbyists’ registry last week. The organization is collaborating with other charities and non-profits, including United Way Centraide Canada, and YMCA Canada to advocate that the federal government include a $500 million to $700 million COVID-19 relief fund in the 2021 federal budget to support community services organizations, according to Josh Berman, the BGCC’s director of research and public policy, in an email to The Lobby Monitor. The BGCC is represented on the registry by its president and CEO Owen Charters.

In new registrations, U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna started its first file on the federal lobbyists’ registry on Feb. 5 consultant Paul Monlezun of Public Affairs Advisors. The company is interested in speaking to the federal government about the management of its COVID-19 vaccine deliveries in Canada, the registry shows. Canada has ordered two million doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine by the end of March, and another four million by the summer. Monlezun will communicate with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Public Health Agency of Canada, Innovation, Health, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

The Pandemic Mitigation Project started its first file on the registry on Feb. 5 with consultant Daniel Brock of Fasken. The project, started by retired U.S. lawyer J. Triplett MacKintosh, is advocating for the federal government to adopt a treaty that would require signed countries to immediately provide notice of potential pandemic events, and grant access to specialists to assist in identifying, isolating and mitigating the health threats, according to the registry. The project website includes a concept-draft of the treaty, which recommends the treaty could be enforced through penalties for non-compliance such as economic sanctions, travel restrictions or punitive tariffs. Brock will communicate with the PMO, Global Affairs Canada, Health, Justice, the Public Health Agency of Canada, senators and MPs.

Aerobiovac Canada Corporation started its first file on Feb. 8 with consultant Daniel Perry of Summa Strategies. The company is interested in speaking with the federal government about equipment it has developed to provide air sanitization, sterilization and decontamination to facilities where COVID-19 has a higher propensity to exist, the registry shows. Perry will communicate with Health, Public Safety Canada, and Public Services and Procurement Canada.
 

New registry files

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on Feb. 12 at 9:40 a.m. ET

New registrations

Reactivations