Through his company, the high-profile owner of the Ottawa Senators wants to create a pilot immigration program in Ontario.

Capital Sports Holdings Inc. signed John McKenna of Hansell McLaughlin Advisory to gather support for a pilot Immigration Investor Nominee Program in Ontario “that allows passive foreign investors to secure permanent-residency status through significant investment of capital.” In particular, McKenna will be lobbying the PMO, IRCC and ISED.

Capital Sports Holdings owns the Ottawa Senators and is controlled by Eugene Melnyk, who made his money in the pharmaceutical industry before taking over the Senators. He also owns a racecourse and successful horse-breeding farms in the United States.

The company also wants government officials to consider amending Section 87 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations, which currently don’t allow foreign nationals who’ve sunk capital into the country to apply under the country’s immigration system as provincial nominees.

Until 2014, the federal government issued immigrant-investor visas to facilitate the path to Canadian citizenship for wealthy migrants with business interests in the country. Some provinces, such as Quebec and P.E.I., have their own programs in place for any migrants who can guarantee they would invest in the province.

New registrations:

The registry was active last week with 59 new registrations. The WoodGreen Foundation registered three lobbyists from StrategyCorp, as did ServiceNow with Edelman. Five organizations registered two lobbyists.

Global Public Affairs won the week with seven new registrations, from seven different clients. Three of them are symphony orchestras. StrategyCorp had six from three different clients. Hill+Knowlton also had six, but from four different clients. Edelman, Hansell McLaughlin Advisory, Impact Public Affairs and Summa Strategies all registered three lobbyists.

On the personal side, Sean Casey of Global Public Affairs dominated with five registrations (all those orchestras), followed by John McKenna of Hansell McLaughlin Advisory with three. Three lobbyists registered two new clients: Caitlin McClung of StrategyCorp, and Muhammad Ali and Omar Khan of Hill+Knowlton.

For the full list, click here.

Highlights:

In recent Agriculture/trade registrations:

Gay Lea Foods Co-operative registered director Don Dietrich and board members Marie McNabb and Robert Goodwill to lobby about the USMCA and the Dairy Processing Innovation Fund.

Culture/copyright registrations:

Business Coalition for Balance Copyright signed Stacey Smydo of Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP to work on Copyright Act reform. Smydo is an intellectual property lawyer who worked briefly for Liberal MP David Lametti in 2017. The Coalition includes heavy hitters: BCE, Shaw, Rogers, Telus, Cogeco, Quebecor and Google, and existed 10 years ago (with different partners) during the last copyright reform.

Sean Casey of Global Public Affairs was snapped up by a gaggle of arts organizations to increase funding for the Canada Cultural Investment Fund in the next federal budget. The client list includes the Vancouver Symphony, the Canadian Opera Company, the Stratford Festival, the Segal Centre for the Performing Arts and the Montreal Symphony.

Energy/environment/climate registrations:

Plastics Sustainability Coalition signed Charles Bird of Earnscliffe about the new plastics charter and marine garbage. The coalition is made up of companies in the plastics industry and chemistry organizations.

Westmoreland Coal Company registered Lee Funke of Torque Communications to get funding so the company can lessen impacts from the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change.

Woodfibre LNG registered president Davide Keane to also talk about the Pan-Canadian Framework and to speak more generally about the liquefied natural gas industry.

The Professional Surveyors of Canada registered Matthew Larvents of Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP to communicate about C-69, the bill to change the way energy projects are approved.

Health/Cannabis registrations:

Organizations for Health Action (HEAL) registered Sydney Cohen-McFarlane of Impact Public Affairs to communicate about effective, efficient and equitable access to health care.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Canada) Inc. registered Rachael Manion of 3Sixty Public Affairs for a long list of issues, from Common Drug Review to patents to a national pharmacare plan.

Kaleo, whose epinephrine auto-injector was used this summer when Epipens were in short supply, wants to talk to parliamentarians and Health Canada about the post-crisis plans. They registered lobbyist Marc Kealey of Kealey and Associates.

Emblem signed Muhammad Ali and Omar Khan of Hill+Knowlton to lobby for the removal of federal excise taxes on medical cannabis.

Leafly also signed Ali and Khan, but to interact with public office-holders about the recreational cannabis market. Leafly provides customers with information about cannabis dispensaries.

The Jamaican Medical Cannabis Corporation registered Alanna Sokic of Global Public Affairs on the subject of importing medical cannabis from Jamaica.

The Neighbourhood Pharmacy Association of Canada registered Matthew Trapp of Hill+Knowlton about dispensing medical marijuana and other topics related to medical cannabis.

Immigration registrations:

Nell Touissant, an irregular migrant who was denied medical coverage and consequently sued the government, has hired Andrew Dekany to help get her compensation.

Thunder Bay wants immigrants — or at least the Thunder Bay Economic Development Commission does. The commission hired Michelle Mackenzie of Michelle Mackenzie Consulting to work with government to create an immigration-sponsorship program for urban centres in northern Ontario. Last year, the Commission received $117,000 in federal funding.

Education publisher Pearson signed Ben Parson and Sheamus Murphy of Counsel Public Affairs to get contracts for English-language testing for immigrations, students and citizenship applicants.

The WoodGreen Foundation signed three lobbyists from StrategyCorp — Caitlin McClung, Lisa Samson and Brian Teefy — to look for government partners for their newcomer-settlement program. Woodgreen is one of the largest social service agencies in Toronto.

Transportation registrations:

Edmonton-based Flair Airlines signed Kyle Larkin of Impact Public Affairs to talk about rules and regulations for air carriers. Larkin worked for a couple of Liberal MPs between 2014 and 2016.

CarGurus, an online site that uses all sorts of analytics to match users with the best deals for buying new and used cars, signed Kristin Wilton and Joanne Dobson to explain the business to several government departments and agencies.

Of note:

ServiceNow signed Julia Fottinger, David Messer and Darcy Walsh of Edelman to get contracts related to government digital transformation. ServiceNow is a cloud-computing company based in California.

Sidewalk Labs Employees Ltd. signed Caitlin McClung and John Duffy of StrategyCorp about the Toronto waterfront’s “smart neighbourhood” project. Sidewalk Labs is owned by Alphabet, a parent company of Google.

Lululemon signed Joanne Maislin of Joanne Maislin Consulting to lobby Finance Canada and Global Affairs to “remove sourcing constraints” on certain products imported from least-developed countries. Maislin’s LinkedIn profile suggests she supports ethical investing and capacity-building in the global south.

Dokis First Nation registered Dafna Strauss of One Degree GR to talk to CBSA and Canadian Heritage about repatriating human remains across the Canada-U.S. border. Dokis First Nation received $3.3 million from the government last year. Toronto-based Strauss has no government affiliation but has worked with many Indigenous clients.

Communications reports

Six hundred and thirty five communications reports were filed last week, the vast majority for communications in September 2018.

Most active client organizations:

Nature Canada by ED Graham Saul, 40

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers by President Tim McMillan, 26

Canadian Wildlife Federation by CEO Rich Bates, 24

Food and Consumer Products Association of Canada by CEO Michael Graydon, 19

Canadian Cancer Society by President Lynne Hudson, 19

Canadian Chamber of Commerce by CEO Perrin Beatty, 18

Federation of Canadian Municipalities by CEO Brock Carlton, 17

Encana Corp. by President Doug Suttles, 17

Innovative Medicines Canada by President Pamela Fralick, 15

Canola Council of Canada by President Jim Everson, 14

Canadian National Railway Company by President Jean-Jacques Ruest, 14

Most active paid lobbyists:

Jason Clark for three clients, 19

Sheamus Murphy for eight clients, 15

Robert McCreight for one client, 10

Tara Mazurk for two clients, 8

Ben Parsons for two clients, 7

Cathy-Jo Noble for one client, 6

Veronique Landry for two clients, 6

Lisa Kinsella, for one client, 4

Curtis O’Nyon for one client, 4

Most lobbied public office-holders:

Stephen Lucas, Deputy Minister, ECCC, 8

Mikaela McQuade, senior policy adviser, minister’s office, ECCC, 8

Rick Theis, senior policy adviser in the PMO, 7

Erin Flanagan, Policy Director, minister’s office, Natural Resources, 6

Clare Demerse, senior policy adviser, minister’s office, ECCC, 6

Aaron Fowler, Chief Agriculture Negotiator, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 6

Pierre Sabourin, Assistant Deputy Minister, Health Canada, 5

Hilary Travis, policy adviser, minister’s office, ISED, 5

Most lobbied government agencies:

House of Commons, 168

Global Affairs, 53

Environment and Climate Change Canada, 46

ISED, 43

PMO, 33

Senate, 31

Natural Resources Canada, 30

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 29

Most lobbied subjects, based on first two entries per report:

Environment, 77

Budget, 67

Health, 65

International Trade, 65

Industry, 47

Agriculture, 47

Energy, 46

International Development, 40

With files from Kirsten Smith