Conservative candidate didn't register on time as travel nurse lobbyist
CBC
A Fredericton-based lobbyist and federal Conservative election candidate didn't promptly report his lobbying for a company supplying travel nurses to New Brunswick's struggling health care system.
Brian Macdonald, a former Progressive Conservative MLA, represented Canadian Health Labs in early 2023, seeking to arrange meetings with senior government officials, including his former PC caucus colleague Premier Blaine Higgs.
New Brunswick's Lobbyists' Registration Act requires a lobbyist to submit a return to the provincial integrity commissioner "within 15 days after commencing performance of an undertaking on behalf of a client."
However, Macdonald didn't register as a lobbyist for the company until this year, after it made national headlines.
His registration is dated Feb. 26, 10 days after an investigative report in the Globe and Mail newspaper revealed detailed information about Canadian Health Labs' contracts in New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador.
Macdonald told CBC News that he tried to register when he was hired last year but the process required him to list all of the company's contracts across Canada.
"Despite my repeated requests, CHL did not provide that information," he said.
"When the Globe and Mail reported on CHL around Feb. 16, 2024, I contacted the ethics commissioner and filed a disclosure because I wanted to ensure that my involvement with CHL was on the public record."
Under the act, a lobbyist like Macdonald who violates the 15-day registration requirement can be charged with an offence and, if found guilty, fined up to $25,000.
Integrity commissioner Charles Murray said he did not contact prosecutors because Macdonald has registered properly for other clients, tried to register for Canadian Health Labs and eventually approached his office about the breach voluntarily, albeit months late.
The law is designed "to encourage transparency. It's not designed to punish wrongdoing as much as it is to encourage [transparency]," Murray said.
"It's a voluntary scheme in many ways. So our goal is always to inform and to educate and to correct errors, rather than to punish someone. … Better to register you late than not at all, and better to register you with what information you're able to obtain than no information."
Macdonald said in his public registration that the focus of his work for Canadian Health Labs was "continuing and expanding" the company's business in New Brunswick.
In his statement to CBC News, he said no contracts resulted from his lobbying.
More Albertans are waiting longer than clinically recommended for critical cardiac and cancer surgeries, sparking concern among health experts and calls for urgent action.
There have been four collisions involving transport trucks in northwestern Ontario in three days, prompting renewed calls for action to address ongoing safety concerns along Highway 11-17.
Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives will huddle behind closed doors at a policy convention this weekend as some Tories question the party’s direction after nearly eight years in power.
The father of a three-year-old girl that was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Cambridge in mid-December says recent charges laid to the driver bring little comfort and relief.
The start of kindergarten can be a time of excitement or anxiety for parents, guardians and children — and also for Prince Edward Island's education officials as they try to staff schools appropriately.
Nunavut Nukkiksautiit Corporation (NNC)’s proposed hydro project is facing some backlash in Pangnirtung.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will take to the stage Friday for what could be one of the most important speeches of his political career as he tries to convince delegates at the party's Calgary convention to keep him in the job.
As his flight departed from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport en route to Kuwait via Istanbul, Canadian crypto fugitive Andean Medjedovic was unaware that his globe-trotting lifestyle would soon be halted.
One of the largest taxi companies in Toronto will be down to three wheelchair-accessible cabs by the end of March, as advocates and providers say the city is failing to support accessible taxi drivers.
As a deep freeze continues to envelop southwestern Ontario at the same time municipalities deal with a pressing shortage of road salt, there's a renewed focus on finding different ways to melt road ice.
Dave Lawson is a proud Canadian who has bumper stickers that say "Canada is not for sale." He's fed up with grocery products plastered with maple leaves and patriotic logos that turn out to be American imports.
The Town of Badger has issued an evacuation order for some residents as water levels on the Exploits River continue to rise.
The head of a national seniors' advocacy organization says protecting nursing home residents from sexual abuse is an important but challenging issue.