Here’s the news we covered this week:

Sparks Street was lined with zero-emission vehicles on Sept. 27 as manufacturers aimed to get the attention of parliamentarians making their way between federal buildings. The Lobby Monitor spoke with company reps who were participating in Accelerate’s ZEV showcase to learn more about the federal government’s successes in moving the industry forward, and areas for improvement. “We went from basically very little activity in the supply chain on batteries, to almost a full supply chain – from the mining side to the recycling, including battery cells and cathode material,” said Moe Kabbara, vice-president of the Transition Accelerator.

The Lobby Monitor interviewed Zita Astravas as she jumped into the private sector with a new role as vice-president at Wellington Advocacy’s newly-formed federal practice. Prior to Wellington, Astravas worked for the Ontario and federal Liberals for a number of years. Her jobs included acting as chief of staff to Harjit Sajjan when he was national defence minister. “Sixteen years in politics is a long time,” she said about her decision to leave. “Especially at the federal level, I spent the last number of years as chief of staff and the national security portfolio is a hard life in that regard …. I was looking for a change of pace, change of a career, a new opportunity for me, a new challenge, and I'm really excited,” she said.

Manuel Arango, national director of policy and advocacy at Heart and Stroke, spoke with The Lobby Monitor about his organization’s advocacy efforts meant to convince the federal government to move forward with a proposal to ban the vast majority of flavored vaping products. “Rates of vaping amongst youth in Canada is very high … We know that flavours are the mechanism that entice kids to vape and to continue vaping, so we're really pushing now for the government to move forward and finalize these regulations because they're very important for the health of youth,” said Arango.

With eight reports each, Canadian Canola Growers Association and SNC-Lavalin Inc. submitted the highest number of communication reports during the week of Sept. 18. “We met with Minister MacAulay’s office to stress the importance of introducing legislation to modernize the Canada Grain Act and Canadian Grain Commission,” said Dave Carey, vice-president of government and industry relations at CCGA. A total of 131 communication reports were submitted to the federal lobbyists’ registry that week.

In this week’s registrations, Pinterest Inc., an image-sharing and social media platform, has joined the federal lobbyists’ registry for the first time. The company is represented by Vince Amodeo of Global Public Affairs. Amodeo will meet with government officials to “share the Pinterest story,” and to “better understand the scope of Bill C-18 (the Online News Act).”

Also joining the registry for the first time is First Capital Realty Inc. which hired five StrategyCorp consultants – John Matheson, Marco Bianchi, Frédérik Larouche, Danya Vered and Aidan Grove-White. The consultants' files all state that the company is interested in discussing the removal of GST payable on the construction of new rental housing that was announced earlier in the month by the federal government. They specifically want to talk about the definition of “construction” as it relates to the plan.

In new registrations, RE:Sound Music Licensing Company hired Abigail Pender of Global Public Affairs. The consultant is looking to engage government officials on the Copyright Act “with respect to powers provided to the authorities of collectives,” states Pender’s file. The organization held a press conference on Parliament Hill on Sept. 26 to “discuss the urgent action needed to update Canada’s Copyright Act to meet the realities of the 21st century,” states a press release issued that same day.

New Registry

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on Sept. 29 at 9:06 a.m. ET.

New Registration

Reactivation