By Ahmad Hathout
OTTAWA – Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei is ramping up lobby efforts by hiring two influential consultants with past ties to prominent Liberal Party figures, after it recently solicited the services of a recent party candidate in this past election.
Last week, the company registered Tim Barber and Joe Jordan of Bluesky Strategy Group, the Ottawa-based consulting house founded in 2003 and consisting of the eventual co-founders of Canada 2020, which is the influential think-tank that has previous ties to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and which former NDP leader Tom Mulcair called a “wing” of the Liberal Party.
The hirings, one of its most high-profile yet, come after Huawei last month signed a former Liberal Party candidate in the previous two elections – Antoine Bujold of Consilium – and comes during a tumultuous period for the manufacturer, which is fighting to convince the federal government not to ban it from involvement in the nation’s 5G networks.
The connections between Bluesky, Canada 2020 and the Liberal Party are well-established. Susan Smith and Tim Barber, both principals at the consulting firm, were co-founders of Canada 2020 and are still listed as advisors on the not-for-profit’s website. Joe Jordan was a former Liberal MP.
Canada 2020 was founded in 2006, following the Conservatives triumph over the Liberals in the federal election. The Conservatives reigned for nine years until 2015, when the Liberals took back power. In the year of that election, Trudeau’s campaign rented office space from Canada 2020 in Ottawa, which caused a stir.
Then in 2017, Tom Pitfield, one of the organization’s co-founders, was among Trudeau’s entourage on a vacation to Aga Khan’s private island – while the billionaire philanthropist was in talks about funding projects with the Trudeau’s government. The Liberal government has also aided Canada 2020 in holding high-profile events and the organization has been implicated in the 2016 cash-for-access controversy that brought those seeking influence closer to the governing Liberals.
Huawei is using Bluesky to discuss the location of an artificial intelligence research centre and “Canada’s policy suite related to supporting foreign investment in the Research and Development sector,” according to the federal lobbyist registry. Huawei is already using its lobbyists to discuss the company’s “current and long-term investments and business objectives in Canada” and “matters related to domestic and global security assurance practices.”
Phone calls and voicemails to Bluesky and Huawei were not returned.
Reuters reported Thursday that the United States has further escalated its fight against the company by restricting American companies from selected newer technologies to the Chinese giant, after blacklisting it last year from its 5G networks last year. Other developed nations have made some moves in the opposite direction.
