Lobbying – Page 10

July 15, 2021February 10, 2023

Toronto Region Board Of Trade Supports Vaccine Passports, While Receiving And Encouraging Subsidies

The Toronto Region Board of Trade, TRBoT, a group that isn’t accountable to the public, and holds no public office, is openly calling for Ontario to adopt vaccine passports. The idea is that people who refuse should be denied access to what they call “non essential” services. Jan De Silva, President and CEO of the group, pushes hard for it. More on her later.

In fact, if a group wanted to kill off businesses, it’s hard to think of a better way to do this.

TORONTO – The Toronto Region Board of Trade is calling on the Ontario government to introduce a vaccine passport system for non-essential business activity.

Jan De Silva, CEO of the board, says vaccine passports are the only way to safely reopen larger events like business conferences and will help revive tourism.

“Now that we’ve got sufficient vaccine, it’s a way to start resuming a more normal form of day-to-day living.” She said it’s a personal decision to get vaccinated, but accessing major events and indoor dining requires moral responsibility.

The board of trade says it is having discussions with the Ontario premier’s office about introducing a vaccine passport system.

This should alarm people. A board representing large business interests is meeting with Doug Ford’s office to discuss limiting people’s right to free association and free movement, unless they agree to have their privacy limited and take experimental “vaccines” for a virus that likely doesn’t exist.

Remember when trade associations used to call for less government restrictions and regulations? Now, the TRBoT is doing exactly the opposite of that. And far from calling on independence, this group openly promotes the idea of its members scooping up government benefits.

The TRBoT is partially funded by the City of Toronto, the Province of Ontario and the Ministry of Energy. This means that taxpayers are helping keep this operation afloat. Beyond that, there are also dozens of private sponsors who stand to benefit from the policies proposed. Rather than demanding economic freedom, there are demands for corporate welfare.

The Toronto Board of Trade is also pushing agenda of the mass testing people at work. For businesses with less than 150 employees, enough test sticks can be included to get everyone twice a week for 4 weeks, or 8 times each overall. Of course, it’s really taxpayers footing the bill for this, although that point is minimized. What exactly happens to the personal information afterwards anyway?

Granted these tests don’t work anyway, but whatever.

In their FAQ section, the Board of Trade provides links to what kind of government support is available. It’s interesting that this group, which claims to be pro-business, isn’t demanding Ford and Tory end their martial law. Instead, they push a pattern of dependence on their members.

In June, there was an update to the list of government (taxpayer) handouts available. However, there still isn’t any urgency in just letting businesses operate normally.

Jan de Silva is the President and CEO of the TRBoT. However, her other connections lend doubt as to what her motivations are. She’s a Director at Intact Financial Corporation, a large insurance company. She’s a member of APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation), and ABLAC (Asia Business Leaders Council). She’s also a Director at Piment Investments Limited, a firm supporting business expansion in Asia. Also, she’s a non-Executive Director at Blue Umbrella Limited, which sells compliance technology, and is based in Hong Kong. Furthermore, de Silva has chaired the Canada-China Business Council in Beijing. Her profile screams pro-business (in Asia), but she calls on restricting businesses and commerce in Canada, unless certain conditions are met.

De Silva isn’t kidding about lobbying all levels of Government. In fact, the TRBoT has been registered since 2007, and she is personally listed now. What is referred to as “Digital Adaptation – to seek funding for delivery of programs helping small to medium size businesses digitally transform their end-to end operations”, likely is a euphemism that included vaccine passports.

The TRBoT also supports an interesting combination of policies that include: (a) climate change nonsense to kill jobs; (b) “globalized” trade to continue offshoring local industries; and (c) increased immigration to compete for whatever jobs are left.

This is pretty much what Conservative Inc. calls for.

Also, for an organization that claims to be for businesses and a market economy, they don’t seem to mind getting taxpayer subsidies to keep their operations going. This includes receiving CEWS, the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. (See new link).

The TRBoT also supports “smart cities“, which means an almost completely digitally-run community. While this may sound convenient, there may be privacy issues to sort out. The April 14, 2021 webcast included as speakers:

1) Craig Clydesdale, Founder & CEO, Utilities Without Borders
2) Craig McLellan, CEO, ThinkOn
3) Raphael Wong, Director- Strategic Initiatives, ThoughtWire
4) Hugh O’Reilly, Executive Director, Innovate Cities

At least we’ll still have jobs when this is over, right?

Now, there is justification in the fear that jobs are disappearing permanently. TRBoT supports the Scale Up Initiative. It’s goal is to put more of the economy online, and to cut costs. Of course “cutting costs” generally means laying off employees. Keep in mind, TRBoT receives public money, which means taxpayers are subsidizing the costs of chopping the job pool available.

How do you feel about this, residents of Toronto and Ontario? Your tax money is helping fund an organization that encourages OTHER businesses to get subsidies, while pushing for vaccine passports? Yay, for capitalism.

(1) https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/video/ontario-needs-a-vaccine-passport-mandate-by-this-fall-toronto-region-board-of-trade-ceo~2241660
(2) https://www.680news.com/2021/07/13/toronto-board-of-trade-vaccine-passports/
(3) https://www.bot.com/AboutUs/WhoWeAre/Sponsors.aspx
(4) https://supportbusiness.bot.com/screening-kits/
(5) https://supportbusiness.bot.com/faqs/
(6) https://supportbusiness.bot.com/2021/06/07/covid-19-government-and-international-response-june-4-2021/
(7) https://www.bot.com/AboutUs/Governance/AnnualReports.aspx
(8) TRBOT Annual Report 2020 FINAL
(9) TRBOT-Annual-Report-2021
(10) https://www.linkedin.com/in/alaina-tennison/
(11) https://archive.is/SUeuH
(12) https://www.linkedin.com/in/janetdesilva/
(13) https://archive.is/Mbh5s
(14) https://supportbusinessdev.bot.com/webinars/rap-webcast-series-3-smart-cities-solutions-to-upgrade-and-drive-your-business-forward/
(15) https://wtctoronto.com/scale-up/
(16) https://wtctoronto.com/rap/
(17) https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/app/secure/ocl/lrs/do/vwRg?cno=15291&regId=911677
(18) https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/hacc/cews/srch/pub/bscSrch
(19) https://apps.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/habs/cews/srch/pub/dsplyBscSrch?request_locale=en

July 14, 2021October 10, 2021

Bit Of History: In 2014 Doug Ford Used Toronto City Councillor Role To Help Clients Of Deco Labels

Being in politics is tricky when one also has certain business interests. And the Ford Family owns an outfit called Deco Labels, which mass produces a variety of stickers and packaging.

Doug Ford, while a City Councillor in Toronto, illegally put the interests of 2 of his clients: (a) Apollo Health & Beauty Care; and Moore Canada, Inc., d.b.a. R.R. Donnelley and Sons, over his professional obligations. That is what Valerie Jepson, the Integrity Commissioner of the time, concluded.

Rebel News did an interesting video back in March about Doug Ford, Deco, and potential conflicts of interest, but the problem is much older than this.

Years back, Ford compromised his position on Toronto City Council to aid his business interests with Deco. Now, there are legitimate questions as to whether he’s compromising his position as Ontario Premier.

Deco Labels was founded in 1962 by Doug Ford Sr.

The complaint against Doug Ford was filed in 2014. By the time the investigation concluded, he was no longer on the City Council. Here is the short version of it.

Between May and July 2014, three members of the public filed complaints alleging that then Councillor Doug Ford contravened various provisions of the Code of Conduct for Members of Council (the “Code of Conduct” or the “Code”). All of the complaints raised concerns about the now former Councillor’s activities with City officials in relation to two companies: Apollo Health and Beauty Care, Inc. (“Apollo”), and Moore Canada, Inc., d.b.a. R.R. Donnelley and Sons (“Donnelley”). Both companies are clients of the Councillor’s family’s printing company, Deco Labels and Tags Ltd., Deco Adhesive Products (1985) Ltd., and/or Doug Ford Holdings Inc. (“Deco”).

The issues in the complaints related to the same set of circumstances and were therefore investigated jointly and are reported in a single report.

The complaints alleged that Councillor Ford contravened Article VIII (Use of Improper Influence) of the Code of Conduct. One of the three complaints alleged that Councillor Ford contravened Article V (Confidential Information), Article XI (Business Relations) and Article XIII (Conduct Respecting Lobbyists). All articles of the Code of Conduct were considered in the investigation.

After an investigation, the Integrity Commissioner concluded that former Councillor Doug Ford contravened Article VIII (Use of Improper Influence) when he arranged meetings and made inquiries with City staff on behalf of Apollo and Donnelley, clients of Deco. The Commissioner also concluded that Councillor Doug Ford contravened Article IV (Gifts and Benefits) of the Code of Conduct for accepting a gift from Apollo.

Councillor Doug Ford is no longer a member of City Council. Therefore, the Commissioner makes no recommendation as to penalty or remedial action.

The full report is available, and it lays out the story in even greater detail.

It’s interesting that the Toronto media was willing to cover Ford’s actions back then, but now he seems to get a pass. Perhaps the media subsidies played a role.

As a bit of an aside, it seems that Ford didn’t always respect Medical Officers of Health as “experts”. Janet Leiper, the Integrity Commissioner in 2012, recommended a reprimand for Ford’s comments. He publicly asked why an MOH still had a job for opinions held over an exercise promotion initiative. However, Ford said “sorry”, and that was enough. And the MOH Ford insulted? David McKeown now is part of the Ontario Science Table.

Things aren’t always what they seem.

(1) https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/accountability-officers/integrity-commissioner/reports/reports/investigation-reports-to-council/
(2) https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2016/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-99041.pdf
(3) Doug Ford Dec 2016 Deco Background File-99041
(4) https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2016/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-99042.pdf
(5) Doug Ford Dec 2016 Deco Report File-99042
(6) http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2016.CC23.8
(7) https://archive.is/t5iD9
(8) https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-56217.pdf
(9) https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2013/cc/bgrd/backgroundfile-56219.pdf
(10) https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2012/hl/bgrd/backgroundfile-46483.pdf
(11) https://decolabels.com/
(12) https://decolabels.com/about-us/history/
(13) https://torontosun.com/2016/12/08/doug-ford-violated-city-councils-code-of-conduct

July 4, 2021December 23, 2022

Some Thoughts On Why Ontario Is Still Closed, While Other Provinces Are Fully Open

Why is Ontario still completely shut down? Why is there more freedom pretty much everywhere else in North America? Perhaps these bits of information will shine some light on that problem.

In an earlier piece, it was shown that Sarah Letersky and Patrick Harris lobbied the Ontario Government on behalf of AstraZeneca. They were recently at it again, lobbying on behalf of Janssen in June, 2021.

Letersky helped install Ford into power in June 2018, and remained in that Government for a period afterwards. Now, she lobbies that same Government. Quite the conflict of interest.

And as repeated ad nauseum, these “vaccines” are not approved by Health Canada, but instead, have interim authorization under an emergency order. Not at all the same thing. In fact, it’s only legal to distribute because of the emergency declaration.

Describe your lobbying goal(s) in detail. What are you attempting to influence or accomplish as a result of your communications with Ontario public office holders?
.
Employment Standards Act: removal of pharmacist exemptions in ESA for improved labour standards. Insurance Act: prohibit restrictive preferred provider networks to protect patient choice in providers. Ontario Drug Benefit Act: sustainable pharmacy funding. Drug Interchangeability & Dispensing Fee Act: advocacy on dispensing fees. Pharmacy Act: scope of practice for pharmacists. Narcotic Safety and Awareness Act: to obtain data from the Narcotic Monitoring System. Health Sector Payment Transparency Act: fair reporting protocols. Drug and Pharmacies Regulation Act: redefinition of where pharmacists can practice. Laboratory and Specimen Collection Centre Licensing Act: for point-of-care and other forms of diagnostic test including for COVID19, and to order/receive lab test results for medication monitoring. Smoke Free Ontario Act: for pharmacy dispensing of medical cannabis. Cannabis Act: for pharmacy dispensing of medical cannabis. Public Hospitals Act: to enable full scope of pharmacist/technician practice. Long Term Care Homes Act: alignment of pharmacy funding with required services to be performed under the act. Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act: for the provision of government-supplied PPE for all front-line pharmacy professionals.

The Ontario Pharmacists Association, much like the Ontario Chamber of Commerce, is subsidized by taxpayers in order to keep its operations going. The OPA has also been involved with Bill 160 and Bill 132, helping to erode transparency among pharmaceutical companies.

Describe your lobbying goal(s) in detail. What are you attempting to influence or accomplish as a result of your communications with Ontario public office holders?
.
Seeking legislation, regulation, and policies related to Ontario’s economic competitiveness and prosperity of our membership and their communities. Issues around COVID-19 and advocacy on the impact on Ontario businesses across the province, particularly on supports for business & vaccine & rapid test distribution. Issues surrounding cannabis and advocating for the industry’s growth across the province. Issues surrounding a competitive tax and regulatory environment including pursuing a simplified tax system and improve transparency in regulation. Issues around regional economic development – removal of inter-provincial trade barriers. Issues regarding modernizing energy and infrastructure (specifically broadband infrastructure investment). Issues concerning health care sustainability such as direct and indirect support for research and development as well as the path to economic recovery with regard to COVID-19. Issues relating to a skilled workforce such addressing the skills mismatch, reinventing employment and training services, and ensuring the apprenticeship system becomes more flexible. Issues related economic competitiveness with Ontario’s agri-food sector, leveraging Ontario’s innovation advantage and collaborate with the private sector to fully leverage Ontario’s competitive advantages. Issues related to fiscal position of the province. Issues related to supporting Ontario’s competitive advantage including agri-food, immigration tourism, and lowing electricity rates through investment in sustainable energy infrastructure.

Now, this could just be poor wording, but the Ontario Chamber of Commerce doesn’t actually say that they want the Province reopened. They seem to be pushing for support for businesses forced to be closed.

Of course, it doesn’t help that Rocco Rossi is the head of the Chamber of Commerce. He is a former Head of the Liberal Party of Canada, a former Mayoral Candidate in Toronto, and ran as Candidate for the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party. Rossi is a great example of politics being too close with lobbyists.

The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses supposedly stands up for the rights of independents, as the name implies. However, it seems to do little beyond parroting official Government tallies.

Unfortunately, Dan Kelly, who runs the CFIB, is more content to virtue signal about taking his own experimental injections, and doing it to his MINOR children.

Walmart is once again lobbying Ford’s Government. Their stated goal: “Lobbying for regulation changes to allow pharmacists to have expanded scope of practice.” Of course, their business interests have grown considerably as of late, since they are considered essential, while so many are not.

See this earlier work on lobbying by big businesses, and how airline lobbying may have impacted inter-Provincial border closures.

Another area that has picked up is the delivery and rideshare industry. One such company is Facedrive, which uses lobbyists tied to the Ontario and Federal Conservative Parties. See Prabhu and Dunlop.

Just a thought, but Facedrive may be contributing to why “conservative” politicians remain so pro-lockdown. It’s good for their bottom line.

Loop Insights Inc. is described as “a Vancouver-based Internet of Things (“IoT”) technology company that delivers transformative artificial intelligence (“AI”) automated marketing, contact tracing, and contactless solutions to the brick and mortar space.” It should come as no surprise that the people lobbying also have lengthy political ties.

So, why is Ontario mostly still shut down? Wild idea, but maybe there are certain people who have financial incentives to keep it that way.

June 26, 2021December 6, 2021

Canadian Immunization Research Network, Which Evaluates Vaccines, Is Funded By Big Pharma

The Canadian Immunization Research Network is a group that receives substantial funding from drug companies, as well as Canadian taxpayers. Part of their mandate is evaluating vaccine effectiveness. Now, here’s where things start to get interesting.

Our Focus
CIRN’s goals remain consistent with that of PCIRN, however, the network will not be limited to influenza research alone. Rather, CIRN will cover a broader scope of research pertaining to all areas of vaccine, immunization, and infectious diseases. The network will strive to achieve the following goals:
.
(1) Continue to perform vaccine research to inform health policy in Canada.
(2) Maintain an active research network capable of immediate response to infectious disease threats in Canada.
(3) Further develop collaborations between Canadian vaccine experts.
(4) Train the next generation of pandemic vaccine researchers.
(5) Perform applied public health research and vaccine evaluations of high priority for Canadian health decision makers.

In their “focus section“, the CIRN mentions that evaulating vaccines of high priority for Canadian decision makers is something they do. So, are these the people who ensured these experimental “vaccines” got interim authorization.

Also, considering that Pfizer/BioNtech is one of the products that got the emergency authorization, isn’t this a conflict of interest? After all, Pfizer is one of the major donors.

According to their financial statements, almost $24 million of the $59 million that the CIRN has received since 2009 has come from industry sources. Considering that Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi are listed as partners, the bulk of it probably was from them.

Pfizer has been lobbying Ottawa for years to get its products distributed here. One of its officials, Steven Hogue, worked in the Prime Minister’s Office back when Jean Chretien was in charge.

GlaxoSmithKline is another one that’s busy in Ottawa. Lobbyists for the company have ties to both the Liberal and Conservative Parties of Canada. In fact, Amber Ruddy, the Secretary of the National Council of the CPC, used to be a GSK lobbyist. Sanofi is involved in this as well.

This should be red flag for people. Pharmaceutical companies, involved in lobbying Ottawa and trying to sell products, are also financing the “independent” group that evaluates their effectiveness.

CIRN conducts a variety of research studies throughout the year, and many of these studies are multi-year projects. Often there are opportunities for members of the public to participate in studies in their local area; the Research Studies descriptions provide an overview of the study and indicate whether the study is active and recruiting.
.
Each research study funded by the CIRN Network will address one or more of the 5 following research area priorities:
.
(1) Rapid evaluation of candidate vaccines for safety and immunogenicity in persons of all ages;
(2) Population based methods to evaluate vaccine effectiveness and safety following release for general use;
(3) Vaccine hesitancy and evaluation of strategies to address hesitancy;
(4) Vaccine coverage, including isolated communities and cohorts of concern; and
(5) Adverse events following immunization.

CIRN funds research into a variety of subtopics, including vaccine hesitancy. This refers to the normal reluctance to put strange medications into one’s body. They are also involved in trying to convince pregnant women to take it. Research has also been done into proper messaging for Public Health Officials, as in, what lines or scripts are most effective. Another was using the internet to explain to why large portions of the public may be reluctant to take this.

Considering the amount of money CIRN gets from drug companies, there is an obvious dual loyalty presented here.

It’s not a stretch to call these “vaccine hesitancy” projects a form of marketing. Pfizer, GSK and Sanofi are studying their target markets, to see what techniques work.

CIRN has also received a number of grants from PHAC and the CIHR. Some of that is listed below.

June 24, 2021June 24, 2021

A Guide For Spotting Controlled Opposition Among “Lockdown Critics” (My Take)

There are a few ways the press can do this. “Journalists” can quite openly support government restrictions, and take their subsidies. They can provide the faintest opposition to it. They cover stories while leaving out important details. None of this helps the public.

This problem exists in political spheres as well. Politicians can generally be lumped into 1 of 2 categories:

[1] Pro-Vaccine, Pro-Lockdown/Restriction
[2] Pro-Vaccine, Anti-Lockdown/Restriction

See how this works? Even the lockdown resisters support poisoning the public with God knows what.

DISCLAIMER: People who are unaware of certain things should not be lumped into this. If a person is genuinely oblivious, then they should be given the chance to get informed. The following distinction typically applies to politicians, media and other public figures.

There are the points that it’s acceptable to oppose, and to publicly come out against. Typically, they will only oppose the coercion element, but support the overall plan. Granted, they are still ahead of the subsidized media, and most politicians

ACCEPTABLE TOPICS TO OBJECT TO:
-Vaccine passports should be opposed
-Vaccines must be voluntary
-Forced PCR testing must be prevented
-Modelling projections don’t justify what’s happening
-Business closures are unjustified
-Media isn’t reporting what’s really happening
-Travel bans/restrictions are unjustified
-Mask mandates accomplish little

UNACCEPTABLE TOPICS TO OBJECT TO:
-Companies like Pfizer and their sketchy history
-The vaccines are experimental
-The vaccines have “interim authorization” not approval
-The vaccines have another 1 to 2 years of testing
-There are no longitudinal studies on the effects of such vaccines
-Governments handing out money to “increase vaccine confidence”
-Manufacturers are indemnified against lawsuits or legal action
-PCR testing is completely fraudulent when used in this way
-Modelling is a bogus pseudo-science
-This “virus” has never been isolated, possibly doesn’t exist
-Virus patents owned by Gates, Rothschild
-Media in Canada is being heavily subsidized
-Media in Canada is paid to not report the full truth
-“Fact Checker” groups in Canada are heavily subsidized
-Masks cause long term health problems, and this is done deliberately
-Biological tracking has been in the works for a long time
-Larger social agenda at play here, Great Reset
-People like Gates, Bell, Rockefeller are eugenicists
-These scenarios have been going on for years (Dark Winter, Atlantic Storm, Theresa Tam’s film, Clade X, Event 201….)
-Politicians are lobbied for their stance. (See below)

It gets a bit trickier when a public figure will wade a little bit into the unacceptable topics. That said, this should distinguish between the people pretty accurately.

Of course, there is another type to watch out for. There are people who tell the truth, but conduct themselves in such a way as to deliberately appear crazy. This is extremely off putting to the normies.

Jordan Peterson became famous for rejecting authoritarianism and compelled speech for gender pronouns. That said, he asks people to “suspend judgement another 6 months”, and supports mass vaccinating the public.

Maxime Bernier made a name for himself opposing lockdown measures. However, he still supports vaccinating Canadians, and claims to have recommended to his own father to get it. To be fair, Derek Sloan may very well be controlled as well, given his fairly tame objections.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis became a bit of a folk hero in Canada for his recent stances, particularly coming out against vaccine passports. That said, he still supports mass vaccinating his people his an experimental, unapproved concoction, with the manufacturers indemnified. See this earlier piece.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, much like DeSantis made headlines by banning vaccine passports. That being said, he still supports injecting people in his own state, on a major scale.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is held in high regard for not imposing any lockdown measures in her state. That said, she is completely on board with the vaccination agenda.

Do you get it now? All of these supposed “freedom fighters” still want to inject everyone with the experimental poison. These people are not on our side.

One would think that this admission from John Bell (AstraZeneca Chief) would lead to immediate demands to pull the drug, and open criminal investigations. Strangely, it hasn’t.

(1) Unifor, Media, In Bed With Gov’t, $595M
(2) Government Subsidizes Media To Ensure Positive Coverage
(3) Postmedia Subsidies/Connections, Lack Of Real Journalism
(4) Nordstar; Torstar; Metroland Media; Subsidies & Monopoly
(5) Aberdeen Publishing Takes Handouts, Ignores Real Issues
(6) More Periodicals Taking Grants, Parroting Gov’t Narrative
(7) Tri-City News, LMP Pulls Bonnie Henry Article; Pandemic Bucks
(8) Subsidized Fact-Check Outlets Run By Political Operatives
(9) Groups Funded By Tax Dollars To Combat “Misinformation”
(10) PHAC Supporting #ScienceUpFirst Counter Intel Effort
(11) Even More Subsidies Canadian Outlets Are Dependent On
(12) Media, Banks, Credit Unions Getting CEWS
(13) John Tory’s Sister Board Member At Bell; CEWS; Subsidies
(14) Advertising And Marketing In Promoting “Pandemic” Narrative
(15) NSERC/SSHRC/CIHR Grants In “Confidence”; Mandatory Vaxx

June 18, 2021December 28, 2022

President Of CPC National Council, Robert Batherson, Starts Up Own Lobbying Firm

We come to Robert Batherson, the President of the National Council of the CPC. This is yet another example of the revolving door between politics and lobbying.

First elected to National Council in 2016, Robert Batherson has been an active Conservative for more than 25 years. He served as the president of two Nova Scotia electoral district associations and was a member of the National Policy Committee in 2012-2013. Rob has been as active at the provincial level, serving as president of the PC Party of Nova Scotia from 2009 to 2012 and co-chairing the 2006 PC Party of Nova Scotia Leadership Convention.

As Executive Vice President, Public Relations, for one of the largest communications agencies in Atlantic Canada, Rob provides counsel and support to senior leaders in a wide range of sectors. He is an active community volunteer with extensive board governance experience, having chaired both the Halifax Chamber of Commerce and Neptune Theatre Foundation, where he became one of only eight people in the theatre’s 58-year history to be named honourary director in recognition of his service.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Public Relations degree and certificate of proficiency in French from Mount Saint Vincent University.

After a stint in Federal politics, Batherson got involved with Nova Scotia politics. He then spent over a decade at the PR firm “Colour”, which was essentially lobbying and marketing. He’s now back with the Federal Conservative Party, and is the President of the National Council.

In short, Batherson is one of the people who actually run the party, even if very few outside of that circle know who he is. But here’s where things take an ugly turn:

On May 16, 2021, the MacDonald Notebook reported that Batherson was starting up his own PR firm, Harbourview Public Affairs. The Halifax Chamber of Commerce also shared the announcement.

It’s unclear which clients Batherson will be taking on as the Owner of Habourview Public Affairs. Nonetheless, this seems to be a serious conflict of interest. If the CPC had any integrity, they would strip him of his Party role.

Just a hunch, but it’s likely that pharmaceutical companies will be approaching him, given his new found position as the man behind Erin O’Toole

A Few Names To Keep In Mind
Erin O’Toole: ex-Facebook lobbyist, CPC Leader
Amber Ruddy: CURRENT pharma lobbyist, CPC National Council Secretary
Robert Batherson: CURRENT lobbyist, CPC National Council President
Melissa Lantsman: ex-pharma lobbyist, CPC Candidate for Thornhill

(1) https://www.conservative.ca/
(2) https://www.conservative.ca/team/national-council/
(3) https://www.conservative.ca/team-member/robert-batherson/
(4) https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-batherson-he-him-7601a6a3/
(5) https://archive.is/8dm97
(6) https://www.themacdonaldnotebook.ca/2021/05/16/rob-batherson-incorporates-his-own-pr-company-harbourview-public-affairs/
(7) http://business.halifaxchamber.com/members/member/harbourview-public-affairs-179707
(8) https://secure.llscanada.org/site/TR/MWOY/Atlantic?px=1198385&pg=personal&fr_id=1101
(9) https://www.conservative.ca/team-member/amber-ruddy/

Category: Lobbying

Toronto Region Board Of Trade Supports Vaccine Passports, While Receiving And Encouraging Subsidies

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Canadian Immunization Research Network, Which Evaluates Vaccines, Is Funded By Big Pharma

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A Guide For Spotting Controlled Opposition Among “Lockdown Critics” (My Take)

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President Of CPC National Council, Robert Batherson, Starts Up Own Lobbying Firm

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