A federal Conservative candidate in New Brunswick lobbied for private nursing agency Canadian Health Labs but didn’t register his work until after The Globe and Mail published an investigation raising questions about the company’s billing practices.
That disclosure is necessary, Mr. Murray said, because “we want to understand the client’s overall interests and whether or not they’re conducting business with other provinces.” When reached by The Globe, Mr. Macdonald said a response had to come from the Conservative Party because he is a candidate. The party didn’t reply to a request for comment. In a statement that he provided to the CBC, Mr. Macdonald said he didn’t register because he couldn’t list the agency’s contracts across Canada. “Despite my repeated requests, CHL did not provide that information.”Mr. Macdonald’s representation for CHL was eventually registered on Feb.
Earlier this year, deputy health minister Éric Beaulieu told a legislature committee that lobbyist Jordan O’Brien represented CHL when the agency first signed a contract with Vitalité. Mr. O’Brien is a former chief of staff for Mr. Higgs’s Liberal predecessor, Brian Gallant. The deputy minister made no mention of Mr. Macdonald.
Mr. O’Brien and Amos Westropp, a Yukon-based consultant, are also registered as CHL lobbyists with the federal government.