Agriculture and food-connected lobbyists featured prominently in this week’s Top 100 Lobbyists list compiled annually by the Parliament Hill insider newspaper The Hill Times.Five of the 100 lobbyists named have agriculture or food sector clients.Two of the five lobby for the biofuel industry that has received considerable financial and regulatory support from the federal government in recent years.Canadian Renewable Fuels Association president Gordon Quaiattini was recognized for being “at the forefront of pushing for biofuels and has helped put it on the national agenda,” said the newspaper. “As the energy, environment and climate change file becomes increasing hot, he will be a key voice in the debate.”Phil von Finckenstein, a former Reform party and Conservative aide who created PVF Consulting, also was cited in the survey of Parliament Hill players about the most influential or visible lobbyists. Among the clients he is paid to open doors for are the CRFA and Iogen Corp.Grain Growers of Canada executive director Richard Phillips made the list again.“He’s a former Liberal staffer in the agriculture minister’s office and knows his way around official Ottawa,” says The Hill Times. Actually, he was an aide to former Liberal cabinet minister Reg Alcock, minister responsible for the Canadian Wheat Board until he was defeated in 2006.Peter Clark, veteran lobbyist and former bureaucrat who has Dairy Farmers of Canada and the Canadian Pork Council among his clients, made the list again.Carla Ventin, former press secretary to then- Liberal agriculture minister Bob Speller and now vice-president of Food and Consumer Products of Canada, also is a repeat on the lobby top 100 list.“She knows her way around Parliament and the bureaucracy and insiders said she remains connected and influential among Liberal political circles,” said the newspaper.
Agriculture, food lobbyists rate high
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