ISED PS Lametti hot property for April lobbying

The parliamentary secretary to the innovation minister was a popular target for lobbyists last month, as representatives from major telecom and Internet companies sought him out, according to the latest statistics from the office of the lobbying commissioner. BCE Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google Canada, Shaw Communications Inc., Telus Corp. and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) all reported communications with David Lametti in April in the federal lobbyists’ registry. Lametti — a former law professor at McGill University — was named to the role in January. He was also contacted in April by the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC) and a pair of consultants representing ole, a music, TV and film rights management company. Ole’s representatives, Casey Chisick of Cassels Brock and Blackwell LLP and Sean Casey of Global Public Affairs, are both registered to lobby about the “upcoming Parliamentary review of an Act to Amend the Copyright Act, with respect to provisions related to the music industry.” Bell logged the most communications reports for April in the lobbyists’ registry, with 13 reports filed. In addition to Lametti, the company also said it communicated with a variety of MPs, Sen. Grant Mitchell, senior Innovation Canada and Heritage Canada officials, such as deputy ministers John Knubley and Graham Flack, as well as policy officials at Infrastructure Canada. Bell declined to comment on those meetings Tuesday. Close behind Bell in April was Netflix Inc., which filed 12 reports between the registration of its CEO Reed Hastings and consultants Greg MacEachern and Leonard St-Aubin. These communications included Heritage Minister Mélanie Joly and her senior department staff, a Prime Minister’s Office policy advisor, and Liberal MP Seamus O’Regan. Google Canada logged 11 communication reports last month, including four separate reports for contact with Joly, a report for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his staff, ISED officials including senior assistant deputy minister Corinne Charette, and Infrastructure and Public Safety reps, including parliamentary secretary Mark Holland. Shaw reached out to the PMO’s deputy director of policy, Justin To, Lametti and his Heritage counterpart Sean Casey, as well as the NDP’s heritage critic Pierre Nantel among its 10 communications, while Telus filed eight reports that included the Department of National Defence’s chief of staff, the Global Affairs director of operations, and assorted ISED and Infrastructure officials. Xplornet Communications Inc. also filed eight communications reports in April, contacting MPs and ISED officials, and the CWTA reached out to MPs Wayne Easter and Bill Casey alongside the Heritage and ISED parliamentary secretaries in its four reports. The Association Quebecoise de l’industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la video (ADISQ) communicated with Joly, while Amazon.com Inc. reported contact with Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains for their singular report in April. Overall, telecommunications was the subject of 52 communications last month, down 16.1 per cent from March, while broadcasting came up in 39 reports, which is a 2.6-per-cent increase from the previous month. Among the new registrations of note was that of the Western James Bay Telecom Network, which registered to lobby on April 29 with consultant Morry Brown. The fibre optic network serves the northeastern region of Ontario that houses the communities of Moosonee, Fort Albany, Kashechewan and Attawapiskat, according to its website. It registered to lobby ISED about the Connect to Innovate program and has filed an application to the $500-million funding envelope to “assist in deploying Fibre To The Home in the First Nation communities” it serves. SSi Micro Ltd. also registered to lobby on April 14 with consultant Titch Dharamsi of Pinnacle Public Affairs, who is on the books to talk to ISED about wireless policy and “Internet access to rural and remote communities policy.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

ISED PS Lametti hot property for April lobbying

Broadcast | May 23, 2017

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ISED PS Lametti hot property for April lobbying

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