On The Lobby Monitor’s radar in the first week of 2022…

Federal lobbying commissioner Nancy Bélanger hopes 2022 will be the year the Lobbying Act is formally reviewed. If that happens, the mandated review would take place five years after it was initially expected to. Speaking to The Lobby Monitor in a one-on-one interview, Bélanger said she anticipates a busy 12 months for the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, with the process of educating new MPs about her office, additions to her team, and consultations on the agenda.

One of those consultations, on draft updates to the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct, is currently underway.​​ The draft update proposes rules under the headings of “transparency,” “misinformation,” “gifts,” “hospitality,” “close relationships,” “political work,” and “sense of obligation.” An appendix defines the meaning of certain terms the office would use when applying the rules. Bélanger said the update is intended to make the rules easier to understand. “I'm a lawyer by trade, and when I had to interpret the code as it stands now, I felt like we had to issue quite a few guidance documents to be able to explain the terminology,” she said. “I hope that we are achieving that goal to make it clear and simple where… there'll be less of a guessing game and there will probably be less of a need to issue guidance documents.”

Kevin Den Heijer has joined Enterprise Canada as a consultant in the firm’s health practice. A longtime Liberal staffer, Den Heijer joined Enterprise in November after working under former health minister Patty Hajdu on Canada’s vaccine rollout, illicit substance strategy, and response to the opioids crisis. Prior to working in Hajdu’s office, Den Heijer was an adviser to Bill Blair, who was then the public safety and emergency preparedness minister, on border measures implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In new registrations, the Kitcisakik First Nation started its first file on Jan. 5 with consultant Éric Cardinal of SEIZE03. According to its French-language registry file, the Kitcisakik First Nation is interested in taking steps to negotiate a settlement regarding the recognition of the Pavillon Notre-Dame-de-la-Route residence in Louvicourt, Que., as a residential school. Alternatively, the file says the band will seek to be included in the implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, which calls for the federal government to “work collaboratively with plaintiffs not included in the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement to have disputed legal issues determined expeditiously on an agreed set of facts.” Cardinal plans to communicate with the Privy Council Office, Crown-Indigenous Relations, and Indigenous Services.

Also joining the registry recently is Red Coalition Inc., which started its first file on Nov. 26 with Joel DeBellefeuille, the organization’s founder, chairman, and CEO. Red Coalition, an organization lobbying against racism in Canada, wants to encourage the development of legislation that would prohibit racial profiling by law enforcement, according to its registry file. DeBellefeuille plans to communicate with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Public Safety, the RCMP, and the Canadian Human Rights Commission, as well as with MPs.

Returning to the registry recently is the Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association (CSAAA), which started a new file on Jan. 6 with managing director Jennifer Gadbois. The association was previously represented by Gadbois’s predecessor, Alison de Groot, but that file closed on Oct. 16, 2021. The CSAAA is an industry association and firearm lobby group representing licensed sporting arms business owners in Canada. According to its registry file, the organization is interested in discussing the Canadian Firearms Marking Regulation, and the Firearms Act, as well as other firearms and trade regulations. Gadbois plans to communicate with the PMO, Global Affairs, Public Safety, Rural Economic Development, the RCMP, and the Canada Border Services Agency, as well as with MPs and senators.

New registry files

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on Jan. 7 at 9:05 a.m. ET

New registrations

Reactivations