Here’s the news we covered this week:

Small Business Minister Mary Ng told the House ethics committee on Feb. 10 that she believed she was acting in full compliance with conflict of interest rules when her office provided two media-training contracts to a company co-founded by a friend. The committee, also known as ETHI, is studying the subject matter of Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion’s finding in December 2022 that Ng breached the Conflict of Interest Act, determining that the minister should have recused herself from contracts for media training to public relations agency Pomp & Circumstance in 2019 and 2020. The company was co-founded by Amanda Alvaro, who Dion determined was a friend of Ng within the definition of the Conflict of Interest Act. Both Ng and Alvaro appeared before ETHI on Feb. 10 to answer questions about the circumstances surrounding the contracts.

Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne was the member of cabinet that lobbyists reached out to the most in 2022, while staff in the office of Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault were the most-targeted overall public office holders in communications last year. Champagne was personally named in 283 communication reports in 2022. In terms of staffers, Eamonn McGuinty, a senior policy adviser to Environment Minister Guilbeault, appeared in 297 reports. “At the end of the day, a priority for this government is not just about being innovative, but also being responsible for the environment,” said Daniel Perry, a consultant at Summa Strategies.

The Lobby Monitor collated the parliamentarians and political staffers that lobbyists communicated with the most over 2022, based on a search of the federal lobbyists’ registry on Jan. 27, 2023, at 2:01 p.m. Those lists, which individually cover cabinet ministers, MPs, senators, and staffers, can be found here.

Attendees at a Canadian Media Producers Association (CMPA) conference described 2023 as a critical year for media policy that will determine the shape of the Canadian industry going forward. Discussions at the conference on Feb. 2 centred on Bill C-11, the government’s proposal to update the Broadcasting Act. The bill passed the Senate and was referred back to the House with amendments last week. CMPA president and CEO Reynolds Mastin said the industry still wanted to see changes to C-11 to avoid creating a “two-tier” determination of what constitutes Canadian content. “Our work, our industry’s work, but also our government's work isn't quite done,” he said of the bill.

Alliance Magnesium Inc. posted 23 of the 169 communication reports submitted to the registry last week. The company manufactures magnesium metal ingots at a plant in Danville, Que. from mine tailings. It is represented on the registry by president and CEO François Perras, Maple Leaf Strategies consultant Alik Angaladian, and Alternative Capital Group consultants Hugues Baillargeon, Nicolas Beauchamp, Claude Delage, and Sébastien Deneault. The company communicated with Dominic Cormier, chief of staff to Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, on Jan. 11; William Harvey-Blouin, Quebec regional adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, on Jan. 17; Blake Oliver, senior policy adviser to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, on Jan. 11; and Raphaël Beauchamp, senior policy adviser to Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, on Jan. 19.

In new registrations, Fertility Matters Canada started its first file on Feb. 1. Fertility Matters has hired Philip Baldwin of TACTIX Government Relations and Public Affairs to represent it in discussions with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Privy Council Office, Finance, Women and Gender Equality, Health, and Employment, as well as with MPs and senators. The Moncton, N.B.-based organization supports families who need access to fertility care, and advocates for equal access to fertility treatment across Canada. Those discussions will centre on Fertility Matters’s advocacy for a national fertility strategy.

Also interested in discussing health care is Communities, Alliances and Networks (CAAN), which has hired First Lake Solutions consultants Rob LeForte and Maia Lugar to represent it in discussions with the PMO, Finance, Health, Crown-Indigenous Relations, Indigenous Services, Employment, and Rural Economic Development, as well as with MPs. LeForte and Lugar registered on Feb. 3. CAAN is a national Indigenous organization that provides information and resources on HIV, AIDS, Hepatitis C, sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs), tuberculosis, mental health, and aging. According to its registry file, CAAN is seeking federal funding to support community-led interventions and stigma-reduction efforts related to HIV/AIDS and STBBIs.

Boosting its representation on the registry is the Cement Association of Canada (CAC), which has hired Global Public Affairs consultants Miriam Mathew, Sonia Boskov and Ted Gruetzner. Mathew registered on Feb. 1, followed by Gruetzner on Feb. 6, and Boskov on Feb. 8. According to the CAC’s registry file, the Global consultants will discuss the cement industry’s role in meeting Canada’s climate targets. The CAC is also seeking financial support for decarbonization efforts, and clean technology investments. The consultants are interested in communicating with 24 government institutions, including the PMO, Finance, Natural Resources, Environment, Global Affairs, and Innovation, as well as with MPs and senators.

New registry files

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on Feb. 10 at 12:14 p.m. ET.

New registrations

Reactivations