The federal Liberal Party’s upcoming national convention will be run by a former campaign worker who is currently lobbying the government on behalf of two major commercial interests in British Columbia.
The party’s national board appointed Stephen Kukucha as general-secretary of the 2016 Biennial Convention in Winnipeg from May 26-29.
Kukucha worked on logistics for the Liberal election campaign in Western Canada last year. He is also a founding partner of the Vancouver-based lobbying firm Wazuku Advisory Group, which recently opened an Ottawa branch.
Last month, Kukucha registered to lobby the federal government for Tilray, a medical marijuana company based in Nanaimo, B.C. On the company’s behalf, Kukucha is lobbying for removal of HST from medical marijuana sales.
He also registered to lobby for Pacific Northwest LNG, a firm seeking approval to build a liquefied natural gas plant in Prince Rupert.
Among the government institutions he will contact on the LNG project, Kukucha listed the House of Commons and Senate and 15 federal departments, including the prime minister’s department, the Privy Council Office.
After the election, Kukucha’s firm hired another well-connected Liberal, Curtis O’Nyon, who had also worked on Justin Trudeau’s tour during the election campaign.
In documents filed with the Office of the Lobbying Commissioner, O’Nyon reported contacts with nine public office holders on behalf of Tilray this year, including Cyrus Reporter, a senior aide to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Liberal MP Bill Blair, the government’s point man on marijuana reform.
Kukucha said in an email that before opening the Ottawa branch of his firm, he obtained a legal opinion from Guy Giorno, an expert on lobbying rules with the firm Fasken Martineau.
“We continue to operate our business advisory firm, based on expert compliance advice, in a legal and ethical way,” he said.
Giorno had served as chief of staff to then-prime minister Stephen Harper from 2008 to 2011.
Kukucha said he also consulted with Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd before accepting the position as general secretary to the convention.
“Everyone has a right to make representations to the government,” Kukucha said in an email.
“So, Canadians have the right to do both except in the case of conflict of interest. The Lobbying Commissioner has established a test for conflict, and I trust her guidance and will comply with it.”
Kukucha declined to provide more details on what Shepherd told him, saying she had given him “confidential guidance.” Shepherd’s office did not respond to a request from comment.
Conservative MP Garnett Genuis says he is concerned that a top official at the party’s upcoming convention is lobbying the same elected officials in government.
"To hide behind the letter of the law when clearly there's a violation of the principles of how government is supposed to operate, I don't think that's acceptable," Genuis told CTV News.
Asked for comment, Liberal Party spokesperson Braeden Caley noted that Kukucha had spoken to Shepherd, saying “that he continues to offer his assistance in a manner that is entirely consistent with the direction he received.”
In Jean Chretien’s Liberal government, Kukucha had worked as a ministerial policy advisor at Environment Canada and Transport Canada.
