Eric Gagnon

Legislative proposals and policy changes affecting local economies, the investment climate and general competitiveness of the beverage sector in Canada, including tax, tariff advertising, CUSMA, labelling and pre-budget consultations. Matters regarding the regulation of environmental labelling, recycled content and single-use plastics; discussion about the collection and recycling of beverage containers. Improving regulatory interpretation (guidance) development to enhance regulatory transparency and outcomes Food and Drug Regulations as it pertains to food ingredients, food additives, food labelling, food advertising and food safety. Beverage container recycling programs, recycling targets for beverage containers, a federal plastics registry, national standards for extended producer responsibility reporting, environmental labelling, recycled content requirements, microplastics, single-use plastics, and international plastics policy and agreements.

CYBER SECURITY - Encourage the government to invest in cybersecurity innovation, talent, and infrastructure; modernize research and development; accelerate commercialization in the space; support the secure digitalization of small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs); and improve the global competitiveness of Canada’s cybersecurity industry. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE - Advocate for future-proofed, globally competitive, and interoperable policies that position artificial intelligence as a positive economic driver, and support the responsible development, deployment, and use of AI in business. PRIVACY AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION - Ensure that the modernization of Canada’s privacy legislation strikes the right balance between protecting consumers and promoting the ability of firms to innovate and compete by responsibly and securely using data. HOUSING - Support policies that enable the creation of more housing supply, incentivize investment in residential construction, and restore housing affordability for Canadian families. NATIONAL SECURITY/ECONOMIC SECURITY - Advancing policies related to enhancing Canada’s economic and national security. Key priorities include strengthening economic resilience, prudently navigating geopolitical challenges to trade and international relations, safeguarding business operations against new and emerging threats, and fostering conditions for economic growth. TRANSPORTATION - Regarding the consistent funding of trade-enabling infrastructure projects; the development of a competitive and efficient transportation network including all modes of transportation. TELECOMMUNICATIONS - Creating the right investment incentives to foster vibrant competition in the sector as a whole; responding to decisions regarding third-party access that will impact the deployment of internet services in rural and remote communities; and responding to regulatory proposals re: cell phone pricing. TAXATION AND FINANCE – With regard to undertaking a comprehensive and independent tax system review. TAXATION AND FINANCE – With regard to the measurement and improvement of Canada’s tax competitiveness, including: reforming the taxation, remittance, filing and audit processes of Canadian businesses; removing tax barriers for childcare expenses; addressing the taxation of family business transfers; and mobilizing private capital for recovery and growth. TAXATION AND FINANCE - With regard to modernizing our financial systems through open banking and digital currencies TAXATION AND FINANCE - Responding to proposals addressing taxation of digital services. TAXATION AND FINANCE - Maintaining and expanding real-time data made freely available to Canadian businesses, municipalities, academic researchers, and community groups. SMALL BUSINESS – Legislation, regulations and support programs that give Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) the tools to grow in Canada and internationally, including reducing their red tape and compliance burden. PRIVACY AND ACCESS TO INFORMATION - Improving digital privacy legislation to meet the needs of industry. PENSIONS - Treatment of corporate pensions in the event of bankruptcy. NATURAL RESOURCES - Support for the adoption of policy recommendations to strengthen Canada’s world-leading position in the mining industry, oil and gas, and forestry products. OPEN DATA - Maintaining and expanding real-time data made freely available to Canadian businesses, municipalities, academic researchers, and community groups. LABOUR: Ensuring that any changes to the Canada Labour Code are implemented in response to defined and demonstrated issues and not to increase regulatory burdens for employers. INTERNATIONAL TRADE – With respect to issues relating to import and export controls INTERNATIONAL TRADE - Negotiating bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade agreements and promoting them to Canadian businesses. INTERNATIONAL TRADE - Improving federal laws and regulations pertaining to responsible business conduct r

Discussions regarding the application of the Impact Assessment Act to nuclear projects, and the promotion of regulatory effectiveness and efficiency. Discussions regarding the role of nuclear energy in Canada’s climate change policy, including efforts to promote investment in nuclear energy. Advocating for federal support (financial, regulatory and policy) to develop and deploy large/small nuclear and fuel initiatives. International Trade of nuclear technology with respect to nuclear cooperation.

Arranging and participating in meetings on Canada's international competitiveness; potential trade/tariffs with the U.S. Interacting with MPs, Senators, Ministers and government officials regarding funding/investment opportunities to expand Ferrero's production facility in Brantford, Ontario. Arranging and participating in meetings on healthy eating. Arranging and participating in meetings on regulatory modernization. Arranging and participating in meetings on food safety & agri-food.

CRA Electronic Filing Program - Discussions with officials on how to enhance electronic filing for Canadian taxpayers. Financial Consumer Agency of Canada - Promote industry collaboration to increase financial literacy of Canadians. SimpleFile - Promote industry collaboration in offering telefiling services to low-income Canadians as identified by the CRA. Electronic consent - Discussions with government officials to permit the use of electronic signature and forms for tax returns by the tax preparation industry. Data-sharing - Discussions with government officials to examine statistical data-sharing. Community Volunteer Income Tax Program - Promote industry collaboration to increase tax filing by Canadians. Canadian Emergency Response Benefit - Discussions with government officials on individual taxation policy. Automated tax filing - discussions with government officials on the proposal to implement automated tax filing in Canada.

Ensure forthcoming privacy legislation, regulations or guidance provides a level playing field for businesses in the auto-aftermarket and prioritizes consumer control over vehicle data.

Ensure retailer flyer printing and distribution in Canada remains competitive. At a time when the news publishing industry is facing soaring costs due to inflation, advertising competition from foreign Big Tech giants, and the theft of journalistic content by AI companies, ensure Canada Post offers community newspaper publishers the same rates and level of service they are offering to the dominant commercial printer in Canada. Ensure there is healthy competition in the flyer printing and distribution markets across Canada. Amend the definition of a Qualified Canadian Journalism organization (QCJO), requiring that an organization regularly employ two or more journalists to include: journalists who do not deal at arm’s length with the organization. This would generally include owners/partners who actively pursue, research, analyze, explain, edit, format, design, write or report the news, or select, plan, or assign work, in accordance with journalistic processes and principles. They would work, on average, a minimum of 26 hours per week and spend at least 75% of their time engaged in the production of original written news content, including researching, collecting information, verifying facts, photographing, writing, editing, designing and otherwise preparing content. To halt the theft of copyright protected news content, Public Services and Procurement Canada and Treasury Board should ensure those on the government’s list of interested artificial intelligence suppliers sign a "supplier commitment to support the Government of Canada’s effort in leading the way on ethical AI” that includes a commitment to the principles of transparency, consent, and attribution with respect to all copyright-protected source content. Ensure that the Online News Act continues and that funding is distributed in accordance with the Act and its Regulations. Ensure social media services covered by the Online News Act do not allow publisher content to be reproduced (screen shots, copied text, etc.) without providing compensation to news businesses. Protect intellectual property by preventing LLMs from scraping journalistic content. Ensure search engines cannot abuse their dominant position by de-indexing Canadian news sites if publishers block their AI bots from crawling our protected content without consent, credit, and compensation. Ensure any policy changes to the Aid to Publishers component of the Canadian Periodical Fund take into account the importance of the program, especially to smaller rural community newspapers. Align the Government of Canada advertising policy with the Government of Canada's "Buy Canadian Policy" by directing the Agency of Record to ensure a minimum of 25% of the Government of Canada domestic advertising budget to Canadian private sector news businesses. Ensure Canada Post continues to perform its vital role deliver community newspapers to Canadians. Have Canada Post return to the long-standing policy of exempting community newspapers with commercial inserts (e.g., flyers from local hardware and grocery franchisees) from the Consumers’ Choice program. Community newspapers with commercial inserts are not ‘junk mail’. Ensure that the Copyright Act is not modified through an exception permitting Text and Data Mining (TDM) allowing AI companies to use Canadian news publishers' protected works to train generative AI systems without consent, credit, or compensation. For transparency and to facilitate verification of eligible news publishers under the Online News Act, make the list of Qualified Canadian Journalism Organizations public. Keep advertising in dollars in Canada by closing the loophole in Section 19 of the Income Tax Act that allows for the deductibility of foreign internet advertising. Maintaining the Canadian Journalism Labour Tax Credit at 35%. Abuse of dominance and anti?competitive business practices related to online search, search advertising and display advertising services in Canada. Extending the Local Journali