Another Ford Campaigner Now A Lobbyist, This Time For AstraZeneca; Rubicon Strategy

Back we go with the pharmaceutical lobbying in Ontario. This time, it’s AstraZeneca that is inappropriately using its political influence in order to peddle their drugs. Ever wonder why Ford insists on maintaining martial law until everyone is vaccinated? Look at who he’s been talking to.

The Ontario Lobbying Registry is open to the public. Anyone can search it, and for any reason. It’s particularly useful in determining who politicians have been talking to, on whose behalf, and on what subject matter. It really can be a gold mine if used properly.

As a war room operative she helped elect Doug Ford as Premier of Ontario. As a Chief of Staff in Premier Ford’s government, Sarah built an impressive network of peers, and successfully managed communications on a number of contentious files. If you need something at Queen’s Park, Sarah knows who to talk to and how to get it done.

Meet Sarah Letersky. She helped get Doug Ford elected into office in 2018, and became his Chief of Staff. Now, she works with Rubicon Strategy. One of her clients is AstraZeneca, who wants to sell their product here.

We have seen this pattern before with Pfizer and Emergent BioSolutions. It’s also been happening in British Columbia and Nova Scotia.

The other lobbyist, Patrick Harris, spent time working for Federal politicians, which is interesting. Given the crossover between Ontario and Ottawa, he likely has plenty of connections. And the rabbit hole goes deeper.

Jan O’Driscoll worked for Harper, then was a Chief of Staff for Ford, and contributed to his 2018 election. Kory Teneycke was Communications Director for Harper, and helped Ford get elected. Another honourable mention at Rubicon Strategy is Christine Simundson. She also claims credit for helping to make Ford Ontario Premier in June 2018. She claims to have gotten 17 Candidates elected to Parliament.

With years of experience leading tactical communications and tough policy files, Jan is a straight shooter that gets the job done. He’s held senior leadership roles in the private sector as well as with several federal cabinet ministers in Harper’s government. Most recently, Jan served as Chief of Staff in several key ministries in Premier Ford’s government where he drove transformational initiatives to get wins for the people of Ontario.

With two decades in public affairs, Kory has served as the Director of Communications to the Prime Minister of Canada, managed the cable news channel “Sun News”, and served as Executive Director of the Renewable Fuels Association. Kory was the manager of the 2018 campaign that saw Doug Ford become Premier of Ontario, and is now on a leave of absence to manage the 2022 campaign for the Ontario PC Party.

Christine’s experience in the legal profession coupled with her experience in marketing and promotions gives her an edge when it comes to grassroots activism. Before joining Rubicon, Christine was active in the Ontario PC Party War Room during the 2018 Provincial election. Christine’s guidance elected 17 of the PC MPPs in Peel Region, Halton, Toronto and Northern Ontario. Christine was the PC Party Organizer for Peel Region and played a senior role in organizing the PC Leadership race of 2018.

Fadi has invested a decade in politics. He’s worked across all three levels of government. He served as senior advisor to the Interim Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party and has significant experience in public and stakeholder relations. He’s won campaigns and delivered results for Premiers, and top-level public policy leaders. Fadi doesn’t stop till the job is done and done well.

Of course, if Ford hadn’t been elected in 2018, Fadi El Masry may have been sent instead. He’s got plenty of ties to the Ontario Liberal Party, and would’ve used that.

Also, being a mouthpiece for political candidates doesn’t stop with Ontario. Two other Rubicon employees, Emrys Graefe and Cole Hogan, also claim to have been involved in making Jason Kenney the Premier of Alberta.

Spearheading digital for Doug Ford’s leadership campaign, Emrys managed the digital marketing that won the Ontario PCs a majority government in 2018 and then did the same for the UCP in Alberta, electing Jason Kenney as Premier. Having worked in politics for a decade, Emrys’ experience shows when it comes to leveraging public opinion to achieve specific outcomes.

Having played a leading role in the merging of Alberta’s Wildrose and Progressive Conservative parties, Cole is a highly talented communications professional. Cole is responsible for some of the most innovative advertisements seen in Canadian politics and played a key role in electing Doug Ford as Premier of Ontario and Jason Kenney as Premier of Alberta.

It has to be asked: does being a “handler” for a political candidate stop once that person is elected? Or are there favours that need to be paid back. In all honesty, it appears that all politicians are just actors being spoon fed a script by interested parties.

If you didn’t have enough reason to NOT trust the Canadian news, consider that Don Newman (who claimed to be a journalist), is the Executive Vice President of Rubicon. Did he ever call out this sort of thing when he gave his nightly broadcast?

In fairness, lobbying or “public relations” is just part of what the group does. They are also involved in the defense industry. However, that will be for another time.

UPDATE TO ARTICLE