The Canadian Association of Broadcasters registered to lobby the federal government on its review of the Copyright Act in July, which was otherwise a sleepy month in telecom and media government relations. Graham McLaughlin and Mark Resnick of McMillan Vantage registered to communicate with “public office holders with respect to the potential impact on the broadcasting sector as a result of changes of the framework for copyright in Canada.” The Copyright Act review kicked off in December, with the House industry committee holding meetings to hear from various groups this spring....
The Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) led the telecom field for lobbying the federal government in March, logging 15 communication reports for the month, according to the federal lobbyists’ registry. Those reports were split between organization president and CEO Jay Thomson and long-time consultant Harris Boyd, as they communicated with a variety of MPs, such as Opposition heritage critic Peter Van Loan, Liberal finance committee chair Wayne Easter and an Innovation Canada policy advisor. Boyd, who has been registered to lobby for CCSA for more than a decade, communicates with the government about CRTC broadcasting distribution regulations, namely “to ensure proposed changes do not increase license fees or financial contributions to Canadian programming or impose new obligations to carry programming...