Post Tagged with: "lobbyists"

Telecom Giants Lure Ex-Cabinet Ministers to their Boardrooms

Appeared in the Toronto Star on August 14, 2011 as Telecoms Lure Ex-Ministers in Boardrooms Telecom policies, particularly Internet and wireless issues, have generated enormous public interest over the past year. Politicians have evidently taken note with all political parties expressing concern over Internet data caps, net neutrality, and the […]

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August 16, 2011 Comments are Disabled Columns Archive

CRIA’s Lobby Effort: The Untold Story

On the heels of last week's posting on election financial support for Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda, the Hill Times runs a special op-ed I've written that focuses on an unreported CRIA lobby effort from earlier this year (Hill Times version, homepage version).  According to information released under the Access to Information Act, at 10:01 in the morning of February 6, 2006, at the precise moment that a new Conservative cabinet was being sworn into office at Rideau Hall, David Dyer, a senior consultant with the Capital Hill Group and a registered lobbyist for the Canadian Recording Industry Association, sent an email to Patricia Neri, the Director General of Canadian Heritage's Copyright Policy Branch. 

The email included a suggested outline for a March 2nd event focused on copyright reform.  It envisioned a meeting with the Canadian Heritage Deputy Minister Judith LaRoque, two hours of presentations from speakers sympathetic to CRIA's position, lunch with deputy ministers from Heritage, Industry, and International Trade, and a private meeting with the soon-to-named Minister of Canadian Heritage.

One month later, virtually the identical scenario played itself out in Canadian Heritage's Gatineau offices and in the private dining room of a swank nearby restaurant.

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June 11, 2006 7 comments Columns

Gov’t Caves To Lobbyists on Do-Not-Call Legislation

My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, freely available version) focuses on the latest developments on Canada’s proposed do-not-call list.  Last week, committee members engaged in a sad display of self-congratulation as a two-hour House of Commons debate on the bill became an opportunity for several Members of Parliament […]

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October 24, 2005 5 comments Columns