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

The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying (OCL) has launched a third and final round of consultations on an update to the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct. The update includes some improvements over its predecessor, says Government Relations Institute of Canada president Jason Kerr, but serious concerns continue over its enforceability and potential restrictive effects on the industry. Citizen advocacy organization Democracy Watch, meanwhile, argues that the proposed code weakens ethics rules by adding provisions to reduce the cooling-off periods in which lobbyists cannot lobby politicians for whom they have previously campaigned during an election. 

An annual report released by the OCL this week, meanwhile, shows there were a record number of active registrations and lobbyists on the federal registry during the last fiscal year, though there were fewer communication reports compared to the previous year. The office’s 2021-22 annual report, tabled on June 14, shows that 8,069 individual lobbyists registered at least once throughout the last fiscal year, compared to 8,005 in 2020-21. Of those, 6,731 were still active as of March 2022. The report also showed that 3,376 organizations and corporations were named in registrations during 2021-22, compared to 3,269 in 2020-21.

A return to in-person lobby days after more than two years of virtual events contributed to record communications on the federal lobbyists’ registry in May, while the environment featured as the most popular topic for lobbying for a fourth straight month. At the time of publication, 3,059 communication reports were posted to the federal lobbyists’ registry for May 2022. That figure is the highest number of May reports posted to the registry since at least 2009, which is the earliest records are available for that month online.

In more recent reports, Genome Canada submitted 16 of the 313 communications posted to the registry last week. The organization, which invests in and co-ordinates genomics research, innovation, and data in Canada, is represented on the registry by president and CEO Robert Annan. Genome Canada communicated with Michael Brewster, director of nature and biodiversity policy to Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault, on May 26, and Miles Hopper and Yash Nanda, advisers to Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, on May 19. The organization also communicated with two members of the House science committee: Bloc Québécois MP (and committee vice-chair) Maxime Blanchette-Joncas on May 12, and Conservative MP Marilyn Gladu on May 19.

In new registrations, Spirit Healthcare Group started its first file on June 2, hiring independent consultant Will Adams to represent it in discussions with seven government institutions, including the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Health, Crown-Indigenous Relations, Indigenous Services, and with MPs. The Winnipeg-based company provides pharmacy services, medical supplies, and health care products in Manitoba, Northern Ontario, and Nunavut. According to its file, Spirit is interested in discussing “greater co-operation between government and Indigenous-owned companies, particularly in the healthcare sector.”

Also new to the registry is Indigenous newswire, job board, and tender service NationTalk, which started its first file on June 2 with consultant Larry Di Ianni of Larry Di Ianni Consulting. The company joined the registry to seek funding for its community voices program, according to its registry file. That program will “establish an online communications network for all Métis, Inuit and First Nations organizations in Canada,” the file states, with plans to arrange discussions about the breadth and scope of the program to government officials. Di Ianni plans to communicate with Indigenous Services.

The Canadian Beekeepers Federation has hired Prospectus Associates consultants Virginia Clarke and Martin-Pierre Pelletier, both of whom registered on June 13, to represent it in discussions with 14 government institutions, including the PMO, Global Affairs, Agriculture, Health, and Environment, as well as with MPs and senators. The federation is seeking the reopening of the Canada-U.S. border, according to its registry file, as well as the removal of a ban on the importation of packaged honeybees (that is, full colonies) from the U.S. At present, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency permits the import of healthy queen bees from the U.S., but package imports are banned from the country due to fears of the possible spread of pests and disease.

New registry files

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on June 17 at 9:21 a.m. ET

New registrations

Reactivations