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2 days ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
Edmonton-based journalist Brett McKay is the newest addition to the IJF’s reporting team. Brett will cover Alberta politics from the provincial capital. Brett joins the IJF from the St. Albert Gazette, where he covered rural and municipal issues as a Local Journalism Initiative reporter.
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1 week ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
The Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness (CAEH), a charity that advocates for policies to address the housing and homelessness crisis in Canada, registered a lobbyist in Ontario to request changes to the province’s Bill 242, the Safer Municipalities Act. The bill was tabled in December and would give police greater power to clear encampments of unhoused people.
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1 week ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
Google Canada reported communicating with Sen. Julie Miville-Dechêne last month about the company’s efforts to “combat misinformation and disinformation,” “ensure child safety” and “promote content creation on online platforms, such as YouTube.” Miville-Dechêne, generally, has been supportive of legislation to rein in the power of major tech companies and social media platforms.
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1 week ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
The carmaker reported communicating with Patrick Halley, assistant deputy minister of international trade and finance, in March to discuss international trade agreements and “fairness and access to markets for [the] automotive industry.” The communication took place shortly before Trump’s first round of tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum were set to take effect.
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1 week ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
The Swiss medication giant reported three meetings with federal officials in the past week, two of which were with Health Canada and foreign affairs officials to discuss “policies related to the importation of pharmaceuticals from Canada to the United States.” On Monday, Trump signed a directive to lower drug prices in the U.S. Then on Tuesday, the White House said it had launched a national security investigation to assess the need for tariffs on medications, one of the country’s biggest...
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1 week ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
The firm, formerly known as SNC-Lavalin, registered to lobby the provincial government last week amid the trade chaos caused by U.S. President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff announcements. As trade uncertainty with the U.S. led Premier Doug Ford to his government from entering into contracts with most U.S. suppliers, the engineering firm is looking to promote an entirely Canadian-made approach to nuclear power.
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2 weeks ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
News Media Canada, an association that represents news companies including Postmedia, Torstar and Village Media, reported a communication with Daniel Pye, the director of news remuneration for the CRTC, to discuss the distribution of money under the Online News Act. The act, which received royal assent in June 2023, was intended to force Google and Meta, the two biggest digital advertisers in the market, to compensate news outlets for journalistic content on their sites.
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2 weeks ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
The Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation (WLON) registered a lobbyist in Ontario for a “financial contribution from the Government of Ontario to upgrade its failing water treatment facility, which requires significant enhancements to ensure safe drinking water.” The community has faced intermittent boil water advisories since 1990. The nation is seeking funding from the federal and provincial governments to upgrade its water treatment facility to end boil water advisories but progress has been slow.
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2 weeks ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
Nick Kouvalis, a strategist and adviser who had a hand in the election of Christy Clark as premier of B.C. and both John Tory and Rob Ford as mayors of Toronto, was hired by the Ontario Road Builders’ Association (ORBA) to meet “with members of the Ontario government to discuss transportation projects as well as technical harmonization of standards and specifications for roads.” Kouvalis was named one of Toronto’s most influential people by Toronto Life magazine in 2015.
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2 weeks ago | 
theijf.org | Carly Penrose
Serve Robotics Inc. registered a lobbyist to “promote education and the development of regulation for low-emissions sidewalk delivery robots that endeavour to make delivery safer, more sustainable and economical.” The company started as the robotics division of food delivery app Postmates before splitting off into its own company in 2021. Serve robots are autonomous vehicles that use AI to navigate on sidewalks. They complete thousands of deliveries daily in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
