The Hill’s most popular people

Jan 16, 2024

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By Nick Taylor-Vaisey

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Thanks for reading Ottawa Playbook.

In today's edition:

→ The 10 most lobbied on Parliament Hill.

→ And … the top 10 hired guns.

→ Plus, Canadian thinking on the U.S. campaign.

DRIVING THE DAY

The Peace Tower of Parliament Hill is seen in Ottawa.

Who is the most sought after on Parliament Hill? 2023 lobbyist registrations reveal clues. | Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press

SCHMOOZE CITY — We downloaded the lobbyist registry's official 2023 dataset with tens of thousands of lines marking every meaningful interaction between a lobbyist and a public official last year.

Lobbyists still have time to finish data entry for any late-year tête-à-têtes, but it's a near-complete sample of who offered the most meetings, and who took them.

Here's some of what we've observed.

— You love me, you really love me: The race for most lobbied public official is a dead heat between a pair of major players on major files.

BEN CHIN, a senior adviser at the Prime Minister's Office, was pushing 300 meetings. So was PAUL HALUCHA, a former associate deputy minister of Environment and Climate Change who took up a new job in August as deputy secretary to the Cabinet on clean growth.

Chin, a PMO point of contact for the business community, offered regular facetime to stakeholders including Nukik Corporation, Trigon Pacific Terminals, Rio Tinto Canada, Pembina Pipeline, BHE Canada, the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, and Canadians for Clean Prosperity.

Halucha's most frequent meeting mates included Pathways Alliance, Cenovus Energy, Heidelberg Materials, TransCanada Pipelines, BHP Canada, and the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association.

Both met on a regular basis with the Business Council of Alberta and Pembina Pipeline.

→ The rest of the Top 10 Most Lobbied (so far): HANNAH WILSON, policy adviser to Finance Minister CHRYSTIA FREELAND; Liberal MP FRANCESCO SORBARA; CHRISTOPHE CINQMARS-VIAU, senior policy adviser to Freeland; SIMON KENNEDY, deputy minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development; NINA LOTHIAN, director of climate and energy policy to Environment Minister STEVEN GUILBEAULT; JEFF LABONTÉ, associate deputy minister of Natural Resources; ÉRIC DAGENAIS, ISED's senior assistant deputy minister for spectrum and telecom; and BUD SAMBASIVAM, Freeland's policy director.

— Hustlers of the Hill: For many lobbyists, this isn't a competition for a Most Filings of the Year Award. Quality over quantity gets results, they'll argue: not how many officials they can get into a room, but how many can be persuaded to turn client ideas into policy or law.

Others jam their name into the registry, posting brief, unplanned run-ins with a Cabinet minister at, say, Riviera or the Métropolitain.

Which isn't to say quantity is a bad thing. Just don't assume it's the full story.

→ The top 10 consultant lobbyists — aka hired guns — in meeting count were DAVID PRATT, DAN LOVELL, DAVID ANGUS, MARC DESMARAIS, KEVIN BOSCH, ISABEL METCALFE, ANDREW WALKER, NARESH RAGHUBEER, BILAL CHEEMA and DAN PFEFFER.

→ The top 10 stakeholders were Environmental Defence, Canadian Canola Growers Association, Federation of Canadian Municipalities, Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Canola Council of Canada, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Telesat Canada, National Council of Canadian Muslims, Canadian Labour Congress, and Canadian Cattle Association.

— Watch for more Playbook analysis later this week.

Where the leaders are

— Prime Minister JUSTIN TRUDEAU is in Montreal. He'll make a speech at the Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal (mostly in French according to the event notice). Chamber CEO MICHEL LEBLANC will moderate a discussion. Trudeau is scheduled to make remarks at 8:45 a.m.

— Deputy PM CHRYSTIA FREELAND is in Ottawa with private meetings on her agenda.

— Conservative Leader PIERRE POILIEVRE headlines a 5:30 p.m. fundraising reception at a mansion in Westmount, Que.

— NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH is in British Columbia and will meet with Burnaby Mayor MIKE HURLEY.

DULY NOTED

7 p.m. (6 p.m. CT) Industry Minister FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE headlines a Laurier Club fundraiser at a Delta Hotels in Regina, Sask.

We're tracking every major political event of 2024 on a mega-calendar. Send us events and download the calendar yourself for Google and other clients .

For your radar

INFLATION WATCH — It might be PIERRE POILIEVRE's favorite day of the month, at least as far as it creates an opportunity for him to point fingers at those he deems responsible for persistent inflation.

At 8:30 a.m., Statistics Canada releases Consumer Price Index data for December.

The consensus among bank economists predicts year-over-year inflation will land a few ticks above the Bank of Canada's target range of 1-3 percent — far lower, it's worth repeating, than the pandemic peak of 8.1 percent.

RBC and CIBC are both forecasting 3.4 percent‚ driven largely by various costs associated with keeping roofs over heads.

— More from RBC: "Food price growth likely slowed again and broader measures of inflation pressures have eased in recent months with the bulk of remaining upward price growth coming from surging mortgage interest costs due to higher interest rates," wrote NATHAN JANZEN and CARRIE FREESTONE.

— More from CIBC: "A likely slowing in inflows of students and temporary foreign workers by 2025 should ease rent inflation, while interest rate cuts will cap the inflation contribution from mortgage interest," wrote AVERY SHENFELD.

2024 WATCH

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at his caucus night victory event.

The scene last night at HyVee Hall in Des Moines, Iowa. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO

TRUMP WINS — Not for the first time, not for the last time, DONALD TRUMP came out on top. Trump took the lion's share of Iowa caucus delegates in a powerful show of strength at the outset of the 2024 primary season. The only uncertainty last night was the race for second place between NIKKI HALEY and RON DESANTIS.

DeSantis squeaked out a runner-up finish, besting Haley by about 2 points with most votes in.

— Top headline on POLITICO this hour: Trump flexes and the rest of the field fades.

THE VIEW FROM UP HERE — Canadians appear to like indy candidate RFK JR. more than Haley or DeSantis. That's one quirky takeaway in the first tranche of survey results from a new Pollara-Emerson College partnership leading up to the U.S. presidential election.

The yearlong series will track Canadian opinion on the chaos south of the border — a guaranteed hit with the pollster's subscribers as their keen interest in election-year politics spirals into post-Labor Day obsession.

— Who will win? One in four thinks Americans will reelect President JOE BIDEN. Another 22 percent see DONALD TRUMP retaking the White House. The prospect of another Democrat winning is unlikely barring major unforeseen events, but 14 percent see it happening. Only 11 percent think a non-Trump candidate like Haley or DeSantis will prevail.

Then there's the 28 percent who couldn't decide — which, fair enough, it's early days.

— Not Obama: Canada's antipathy for Trump is well-documented, but Pollara found mixed reviews for Biden: 8 percent excited about him, 33 percent comfortable, 25 percent frustrated, and 17 percent angry; (45 percent were angry about Trump).

— Age gap: Young Canadians aged 18-34 are far likelier to like Trump — 37 percent have positive feelings, compared to 48 percent negative. More than three-quarters of the 55-plus set have negative emotions (including 60 percent who are angry, about twice the level of youths).

— The methodology: Pollara surveyed 1,649 adult Canadians between Dec. 29 and Jan. 2.

— Next up, New Hampshire: Emerson College polled the state's registered voters last week in advance of the Jan. 23 primary vote. They found 44 percent siding with Trump.

Haley only appealed most to 28 percent, but that's 10 points higher than November and 24 higher than August. DeSantis languishes in third place with 7 percent support. Haley is also the second choice of 22 percent of voters, more than any other contender.

— In related reading: From POLITICO’s senior foreign affairs correspondent NAHAL TOOSI: Why the world is betting against American democracy.

MEDIA ROOM

— The Post's CATHERINE LÉVESQUE reports: Ethics committee to meet this week to discuss probe on Trudeau's latest trip to Jamaica.

— BRETT FORESTER of CBC News reports: In the early 2000s, Canada led efforts to weaken the original UN Indigenous rights declaration.

— The Star's STEPHANIE LEVITZ and DAVID RIDER explain why Toronto MPs are furious with Mayor OLIVIA CHOW.

— The Big Story pod talks to a University of Saskatchewan hydrologist about a lack of snow and water accumulation in Canada — “unprecedented in modern times.”

— Tuberculosis is on the rise in Nunavik, MADALYN HOWITT reports in the Nunatsiaq News.

— For the Canadian Bar Association, DALE SMITH looks at the status of government bills in both chambers as MPs head back to the Hill at the end of the month.

— JEAN CHAREST, PETER MACKAY and JOHN MANLEY take on 2024 on the latest episode of The Global Exchange.

PROZONE

Don’t miss our latest newsletter for Pro subscribers via SUE ALLAN: Keeping tabs on Davos.

In other news for Pros:

— Inside the conservative ‘civil war’ over carbon tariffs.

— IMF report: 40 percent of jobs exposed to AI.

— POLITICO Pro Q&A: World Bank President AJAY BANGA.

— Carbon removal is ready for its close-up at Davos.

— Top Biden ally floats restricting military aid to Israel.

Playbookers

Birthdays: HBD to Foreign Minister MÉLANIE JOLY, NDP MP DON DAVIES, former Nova Scotia premier RUSSELL MACLELLAN, former MP JUDY EROLA (90!) and journo SANDIE RINALDO.

Also celebrating today: The PENDULUM GROUP turns one.

Celebrate your day with the Playbook community. Send us the details. We’ll let everyone know.

Spotted: LAUREEN HARPER and PETER MACKAY, shaming Toronto for banning tobogganing on dozens of local hills. Mayor OLIVIA CHOW was a popular target online for the dismay … TVO's JOHN MICHAEL MCGRATH, reminding his followers that legal liability worries long predate Chow's reign.

The Department of National Defence, on the lookout for two role-playing journalists.

Movers and shakers: LUCY WATSON is the NDP's new national director. Party stalwart ANNE MCGRATH, who held the position since 2019, shifts to the role of principal secretary to NDP Leader JAGMEET SINGH. Watson will focus on election preparedness, while McGrath will work on seeing through the Liberal-NDP supply and confidence deal.

As first reported by The Hill Times, a staff shuffle in Energy Minister JONATHAN WILKINSON's office. Former policy director RANDI ANDERSON departs for a gig as acting chief of staff to Indigenous Services Minister PATTY HAJDU. As Playbook noted last week, SAMIR KASSAM replaces Anderson … BRENNA WALSH has also joined Wilkinson’s team as a policy adviser.

LYDIA BLANCHARD is the new executive director of the Banff Forum … FAITH CHIPMAN joins New West Public Affairs as a Toronto-based senior consultant.

Media mentions: Ukrainian journalist and POLITICO correspondent VERONIKA MELKOZEROVA headlines Carleton University’s PETER STURSBERG foreign correspondent’s lecture today on the realities of covering her own country at war.

OMAYRA ISSA joins CPAC as an anchor.

TRIVIA

On this date in 1983: President Ronald Reagan signs the bill making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday into a national holiday, as Coretta Scott King watches along. From left are Vice President George Bush, Sen. Charles McCurdy Mathias (R-Md.), King, Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), Rep. Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.), Reagan and Rep. Katie Hall (D-Ind.).

In 1983, U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the bill making Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday into a national holiday, as Coretta Scott King watches along. | Barry Thumma/AP

Monday’s answer: On Nov. 2, 1983, President RONALD REAGAN signed the King Holiday Bill into law, designating the third Monday in January a U.S. federal holiday in observance of Martin Luther King Jr.

Props to SUSAN KING, GOZDE KAZAZOGLU, TRACY SALMON, DAN FONDA, WILL BULMER, GORDON RANDALL, GERMAINE MALABRE, ROBERT MCDOUGALL, JIM CAMPBELL, SHAUGHN MCARTHUR, MARCEL MARCOTTE, JOHN ECKER, GEORGE SCHOENHOFER, BOB GORDON, NANCI WAUGH, JOHN DILLON, RODDY MCFALL, JOHN MERRIMAN and STEPHEN HARRIS.

Today’s question: Name the first woman to be employed as a weather reporter by a Canadian television station.

Answers to ottawaplaybook@politico.com.

Want to grab the attention of movers and shakers on Parliament Hill? Want your brand in front of a key audience of Ottawa influencers? Run a Playbook ad campaign. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com.

Playbook wouldn’t happen without: POLITICO Canada editor Sue Allan, editor Willa Plank and Luiza Ch. Savage.

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