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

A coalition of health care associations including the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions (CFNU), Canadian Medical Association, HealthCareCAN, and the Canadian Psychological Association have called for a health workforce strategy after more than a year on the pandemic’s frontlines. CFNU president Linda Silas said she hoped the coalition would show the government there was widespread support for better health workforce planning and data across the sector.

Matt Conley has joined StrategyCorp’s government relations and management consultant practice in Ottawa. Conley’s CV includes experience as a case management senior advisor in then-immigration minister Ahmed Hussen’s office from 2017 to 2019. “My mother moved to Canada from El Salvador in the ‘80s, so it’s something personal to my family,” Matt Conley told The Lobby Monitor when asked about his work at Immigration. “When you’re working in the federal government, immigration is a file where you get to have that personal touch to people, you have an impact on someone’s daily life, because you’re setting the policies that impact how people come to the country.”

Advocacy groups for the tourism and small business sectors are urging the government to reconsider the winding down of subsidy programs many businesses have relied on during the pandemic. The Tourism Industry Association of Canada’s president and CEO Beth Potter said the gradual phasing out of the federal government’s Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS) and the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) made sense for some industries, but tourism and travel could not afford a reduction in government support. Jasmin Guénette, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’s vice-president of national affairs, called for the subsidies to remain at their current levels until the economy, including international borders, had completely reopened.

Karen Shepherd, Canada’s first federal lobbying commissioner, has been named the City of Ottawa’s new integrity commissioner. Shepherd, who served as the inaugural head of the federal Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying from 2008 to 2017, will replace Robert Marleau as the city’s integrity commissioner on Sept. 1. The City of Ottawa press release listed the management of a stronger Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct, and the creation of a Canada-wide forum for lobbying regulators as her achievements while she was federal lobbying commissioner.

Climate Action Network Canada (CAN-Rac Canada) contributed 16 of the 203 communication reports filed last week. The network’s representatives virtually reached out to federal officials in June for its annual lobby days, with priorities that included encouraging the passing of Bill C-12, the Canadian Net-Zero Emissions Accountability Act. CAN-Rac Canada is represented on the federal lobbyists’ registry by its executive director Catherine Abreu. The network communicated with Conservative MP Brad Redekopp, a member of the House environment committee, on June 8, and with Adam Vaughan, the parliamentary secretary to Families Minister Ahmed Hussen, on June 16. From the Senate, the network communicated with five ISG senators, including Bev Busson, Yuen Pau Woo and Stan Kutcher.

In new registrations, Chinook Pathways Inc. started its first file on July 3 with Tim Barber of Bluesky Strategy Group. A partnership between Pembina Pipeline Corp. and Western Indigenous Pipeline Group, the organization was formed to pursue equity ownership in the government-owned Trans Mountain company once a $12.6-billion expansion of the crude oil pipeline between Edmonton and Burnaby, B.C., is completed in late 2022. Barber will communicate with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Innovation, Environment and Climate Change, Finance, and Indigenous Services, as well as members of Parliament.

In mining registrations, mineral exploration company NexGen Energy Ltd is new on the registry with a file created on July 1 with Andrea van Vugt of Wellington Advocacy Inc. According to its file, NexGen will discuss the “responsible development” of the Rook I project, a proposed underground mine and mill development the company described as the largest development-stage uranium project in Canada. Van Vugt will communicate with the PMO, the Privy Council Office (PCO), Environment and Climate Change, Natural Resources, and the CNSC. 

Returning to the registry recently is Geoscience BC, with consultants Daniel Bernier and Adam Johnson of Earnscliffe Strategy Group becoming active on the file on July 1. Geoscience BC is seeking federal funding to support research regarding clean energy and natural resources, the registry shows.The Earnscliffe consultants will communicate with the PMO, Natural Resources, Innovation, Finance, Environment, and with MPs.

New registry files

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on July 16 at 9:00 a.m. ET

New registrations

Reactivations