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

Max Stern is a new consultant at Crestview Strategy within the firm’s strategic communications practice. A “significant portion” of his recent duties has involved helping clients craft messages related to their COVID-19 pandemic response, according to Stern. Consumers are interested in supporting companies that are doing their part to help during the pandemic, and how a company communicates its activities can have an impact on how people view its brand, he said. Stern previously worked at National Public Relations, most recently as a corporate affairs consultant.

Crisis communications services are in high demand amid the COVID-19 outbreak, and video messaging is emerging as a trend, according to Karen White, the associate vice-president at National Public Relations, and also the global crisis lead for Avenir Global. Speaking about the pandemic and its impacts on an organization can be a difficult subject, and many are choosing to communicate through video recordings over written statements because of the greater ability to convey emotion, she said. As an example, White cited Arne Sorenson, the president and CEO of Marriott International, who released a video on March 19 on the company’s Twitter account where he talked about the financial toll COVID-19 is having on the hotel chain.

Lobbyists should be prepared to reinvent their advocacy proposals almost daily to keep up with the pace of decision-makers who are responding to the COVID-19 crisis, according to Ginny Roth, the national practice lead for government relations at Crestview Strategy. The pandemic has forced governments to make decisions very quickly, and there are updates about the pandemic and its impacts every day. An advocacy proposal that isn’t palatable to the government one day may become appealing tomorrow, she said.

The David Suzuki Foundation was the most active group on the federal lobbyists’ registry based on communication reports posted between March 23 and March 29. The foundation filed 25 communication reports in that time frame, representing contact with government officials in February and March. Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson was contacted by the foundation on Feb. 3, and twice more on March 23 to discuss subjects including climate, the environment, infrastructure and the budget, according to the registry.

In new registrations, biotechnology company Microbix Biosystems started its first file on the federal lobbyists’ registry with consultant Jennifer Stewart of Syntax Strategic on April 1. The company is interested in talking to the federal government about the recently passed Bill C-13, the COVID-19 Emergency Response Act, although the file doesn’t elaborate on specific concerns. Stewart will communicate with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) Health, Finance, Innovation, the National Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Also on April 1, a new file was started by the Mechanical Contractors Association of Ontario (MCAO) with consultant Matthew Henley of Wellington Dupont. The association represents about 350 mechanical contractors in its province. The association’s file indicates it would like to speak to the federal government about the impact Bill C-13 may have on industries, with the subject matters including taxation and finance, small business, and employment and training. Henley will communicate with the PMO, Finance, Employment and Social Development Canada, the Business Development Bank of Canada, as well as MPs.

Mobile app company Viral Me started its first file on March 30 with consultant Arthur Potts of Municipal Affairs Consulting. The company is seeking a federal grant to develop an app that would track people’s movements, register proximity interactions, and notify individuals who have come into contact with a person who has tested positive for COVID-19, according to its registry file. Potts will communicate with Health, Innovation, and with MPs.
 

New registry files
 

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on April 3 at 9:00 a.m.

New registrations

Reactivations

Here’s a rundown of the news we covered this week:

Lobbying related to the federal budget should be put aside for the moment while the federal government’s attention is on the COVID-19 crisis, recommends Elliott Hughes, a senior adviser at Summa Strategies and former staffer to Finance Minister Bill Morneau. Hughes, who was previously a senior policy adviser and deputy director of tax in Morneau’s office, suggested lobbyists should consider how to reframe budgetary asks to fit with the current situation. This could include suggestions of public and private partnerships to support health care and the economy, he said.

The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) was the most active lobby group in February, owing to an advocacy day on Parliament Hill where discussions on pharmacare took centre stage. The CLC filed 149 communication reports from the event, documenting conversations with Minister of Health Patty Hajdu and Minister of Labour Filomena Tassi. This activity contributed to health landing as the top subject matter discussed on the Hill that month. A total of 630 health-related communication reports were filed in February, compared to 181 in January.

Businesses and organizations should consider staying silent about COVID-19 unless they have something relevant to say on the subject, according to Perry Tsergas, the president of Spark Advocacy during a webinar on March 23. Many organizations are sending out messages related to the pandemic, and as a result, most are being lost in the shuffle, he argued. To make messages more appealing to its intended audience, Tsergas recommended that they contain helpful or important information, or have content that acknowledges the current situation in a way that makes people smile. During the webinar, Kayla FitzPatrick, director of digital strategy at Spark Advocacy, shared a statistic from Bell Canada that home internet usage has increased by 60 per cent during the day since the start of the pandemic. This means Canadians are a “captive audience” for messaging, according to FitzPatrick.

More than 1,600 communication reports were posted to the federal lobbyists’ registry between March 16 and March 22. The most targeted designated public office holder was Aneil Jaswal,  senior policy adviser to Finance Minister Bill Morneau, who appeared in 21 reports posted in that time frame. Jaswal was contacted by organizations such as  the Canadian Cancer Society (on Feb. 19), the Canadian National Railway Company (Feb. 17 and Feb. 19), and Maple Leaf Foods (Feb. 26).

In new registrations, Protect-YU, a security and technology company based in Quebec, started its first file on March 23 with consultant Pierre Harvey of Harvey International. The company has developed a bracelet that can track a person’s location in real time, which it proposes could be used to monitor individuals whose movements are restricted because they are infected, at risk or in quarantine due to COVID-19. The bracelets can also monitor basic vitals, such as body temperature and heart rate. Harvey will communicate with Public Safety Canada.

Chartwell Retirement Residences, which has more than 180 locations in Canada for seniors, started its first file on March 23 with consultants Leslie Noble, Konner Fung-Kee-Fung and Conal Slobodin of StrategyCorp. The company would like to confer with the federal government about possible changes to employment insurance, in order to support its staff members whose employment status has been affected by COVID-19. The StrategyCorp consultants will communicate with the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), Health, Finance, and Employment and Social Development Canada.

Mastronardi Produce Limited is new on the registry with a file started on March 16 with consultants Daniel Brock and Lindsay Aagaard of Fasken. On March 17, the produce company added John Baird to the file. Baird, a senior business adviser at Bennett Jones LLP, is also a former Conservative cabinet minister during the time of former prime minister Stephen Harper. Baird’s cabinet positions include leading the departments of Foreign Affairs and Transport. Mastronardi would like the federal government to declare temporary foreign workers employed in greenhouses as “essential,” to ensure no service interruptions as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. The consultants will communicate with the PMO and Immigration.

New registry files

Based on a search of the federal lobbyists' registry on March 27, at 9:00 a.m.

New registrations

Reactivations