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

Some members of the Government Relations Institute of Canada (GRIC) are concerned about a possible “compound effect” of stricter reporting requirements if the Lobbying Act were to be changed in accordance with recommendations made by Lobbying Commissioner Nancy Bélanger. GRIC conducted a virtual town hall on March 31, where members discussed the potential impacts of recommended changes to the Act that were released by Bélanger on Feb. 23. The list of recommendations called for the removal of the 20 per-cent rule, and for a requirement that oral communications with public office holders be reported regardless of who initiated them. A change to the lobbying framework that seeks to capture every conversation involving a public office holder could be impractical, according to Jason Kerr, the president of GRIC and senior director of government relations with the Canadian Automobile Association.

Andrew Cash, a former NDP MP and Juno award-winning musician, is the new president of the Canadian Independent Music Association. Cash will advocate  for the passing of Bill C-10, which would be the first major reform to the Broadcasting Act since 1991 if it receives royal assent. Cash said the bill is “potentially a game changer”  because it would  require online broadcasters to fund Canadian cultural content, which could result in an investment of $800 million a year by 2023. That money could be “well invested” in the independent music sector, he said. Prior to his career on the Hill, Cash co-founded the punk band L'Étranger in 1980. He pursued a solo music career after the band broke up in 1986.

The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) contributed nine out of the 142 communication reports posted on the federal lobbyists’ registry last week. The organization, which represents 72,000 academics and other staff members at 125 universities across Canada, communicated with four members of the House’s official languages committee between Feb. 23 and March 29. The organization communicated with Liberal committee chair Emmanuel Dubourg on March 19, and Bloc Québécois vice-chair Mario Beaulieu on March 26. Since February, CAUT has pushed for the federal government to offer financial support to Laurentian University, a bilingual public institution in Sudbury, Ont., that is facing a debt of $10.6 million for the 2021-2021 year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In new registrations, XPhyto Therapeutics, a bioscience company in B.C., started its first file on the federal lobbyists’ registry on April 7 with consultant Summer Senter of Wellington-Dupont Public Affairs. The company is interested in discussing procurement and funding opportunities related to a rapid COVID-19 test it has developed, according to the registry. The testing system, called COVID-ID Lab, was registered with the European Union as a commercial in-vitro diagnostic test on March 18. Senter will communicate with Innovation, Health, the Public Health Agency of Canada, the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and MPs.

SiMPACT Strategy Group is new on the registry as of March 19 with consultant Sabrina Grover of Provoke Public Relations. The company is interested in speaking to the federal government about incorporating “social-value thinking” into Canada’s COVID-19 economic recovery, the registry shows. Social value refers to a holistic approach that considers the wider economic, social and environmental effects of policy decisions. Grover will communicate with Finance, Innovation and Employment.

U.S. pharmaceutical company Moderna Therapeutics strengthened its registry file by adding six consultants from PAA Public Affairs Advisors on April 6. Those include James Anderson, Felix Wong, and Steve Van Groningen. The consultants join colleague Paul Monlezun on the file. Moderna is interested in discussing vaccine deliveries with the federal government, according to the file. The company is set to deliver 855,600 doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate next week and more than 1.2 million during the last week of April. The PAA Public Affairs consultants will communicate with the PMO, Health, Innovation, the National Research Council, Public Services and Procurement Canada, and with MPs.
 

New registry files

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on April 9 at 10:00 a.m. ET

New registrations

Reactivations