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

Lobbyists are awaiting the release of new ministerial mandate letters, but in the meantime are developing a sense of the federal government’s policy direction through the old mandate letters and other official announcements. Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland announced on Nov. 23 that the fall 2020 economic statement will be released on Nov. 30. Elliot Hughes, a senior government relations and public affairs adviser at Summa Strategies, said he suspects new mandate letters may be issued shortly after the economic statement.

Amreet Kaur, a former press secretary to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, joined McMillan Vantage Policy Group on Nov. 10 as a principal. In her new role, Kaur is strengthening the firm’s communications, digital advocacy, and crisis and issues management offering. Kaur is also a former community relations adviser with the Liberal Caucus Service Bureau, and has communications experience at the provincial level working in the office of Charles Sousa, when he was Ontario’s finance minister (during the government of former Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne).

Jason MacDonald, a former director of communications to former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper, has joined Hill+Knowlton (H+K) Strategies as the firm’s lead of corporate affairs and advisory offering. Before joining the firm, he was the president of Bailey & Bedford, a corporate communications agency that he founded, between November 2019 and November 2020. MacDonald has returned to H+K, having previously served at the firm from 2015-2018 as a senior vice-president of corporate communications.

The organization that submitted the most communication reports between Nov. 16 and Nov. 22 was TC Energy Corporation, thanks to a backlog of reports filed dating back to January. The natural gas company posted 92 communication reports, of which 11 were for communications activity in October. Minister of Environment Jonathan Wilkinson was contacted on Oct. 14. The organization also communicated with Minister of Natural Resources Seamus O’Regan and Minister of Foreign Affairs François-Philippe Champagne on Oct. 30. One advocacy priority for TC Energy is to discuss the Keystone XL pipeline project, according to the registry.

In new registrations, communications satellite service provider Intelsat started its first file on the registry on Nov. 24 with consultant Hunter Doubt of Global Public Affairs. Doubt’s colleague, Philip Cartwright, was added on Nov. 25. The company is interested in speaking with the federal government about policy decisions relating to the C-band spectrum, which is a frequency range between four and eight gigahertz commonly used for satellite communications transmissions. The two consultants will communicate with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Innovation, Global Affairs Canada, Finance, the Privy Council Office, as well as MPs.

Two organizations, HiFidelity Networks and CanArctic Inuit Networks started new files on the

registry to pursue funding from the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF), a $1.75 billion fund intended to support broadband infrastructure projects. HiFidelity started its file on Nov. 23 with consultant Kent Emerson of Valorem Insights, who will communicate with Canadian Heritage, Innovation, Infrastructure, and the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission. CanArctic started its file on Nov. 25 with its CEO, Douglas Cunningham, and will

communicate with the PMO, National Defence, the Canadian Space Agency, Innovation, and Shared Services Canada.

Groupe Morneau, a shipping company based in Quebec, started its first file on Nov. 26 with consultant Marc Desmarais of National Public Relations. The company is interested in speaking with the federal government about the transportation of pharmaceutical products during the COVID-19 pandemic, the registry shows. Desmarais will communicate with the PMO, Health, Innovation, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and with Public Services and Procurement Canada.

New registry files

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on Nov. 27 at 10:00 a.m.

New registrations

Reactivations