The Heating, Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Institute of Canada (HRAI) hosted its second-ever, Quarterly Government Relations Round-Up webinar on May 12.
During the hour-long presentation, attendees heard from Martin Luymes, VP of government and stakeholder relations at HRAI, Kyle Larkin, VP of Impact Public Affairs, Chelsea Goberdhan, government relations specialist for Ontario at HRAI, and two pre-recorded videos by Steven Guilbeault, minister of environment and climate change, and Julie Dubrusin, parliamentary secretary to the minister of natural resources and to the minister of environment and climate change.
The webinar reported on the activities of HRAI’s third quarter, which began in January 2022 and ended in March 2022.
To kick off the formal presentations, Larkin spoke about the shifting political landscape in Ottawa. There were three major highlights from his presentation—a political climate update, the Liberal-NDP agreement, and the top contenders for the Conservative Party leadership.
The biggest takeaway regarding the current political climate at the federal level was that the conservatives are ahead in federal vote projections. “This is the first time the Conservatives have surpassed the Liberals in federal seat projections since the 2015 election,” explained Larkin. “Since Trudeau was first elected, the Liberals were always ahead in seat projections.”
For the NDP-Liberal agreement, the majority of the members of parliament and Canadians are in support of the partnership. “Polling has shown that majority of Canadians are in support of this agreement lasting until 2025,” said Larkin. “I would say that the majority of Canadians don’t want to hear about politics anymore. They just want their government to work on issues that matter to them.” This includes healthcare, indigenous reconciliation, and modernizing the tax system. He anticipates that the partnership won’t last until 2025 and foresees that it could last another year, “Politics always get in the way of agreements like this.”
Additionally, Larkin broke down the top contenders for the Conservative leadership race. The current top contender is Pierre Poilievre, MP of Carleton, Ont, who has been viewed as polarizing and on the right-side of the political spectrum. Jean Charest, former premier of Quebec, is another top contender as the leader of the Conservative Party. According to Larkin, his biggest hurdle will be to get over the question a lot of conservatives have been asking, which is “Is it past his time?” Both Leslyn Lewis, MP of Haldimand—Norfolk, Ont, and Patrick Brown, mayor of Brampton, Ont, were also mentioned in the presentation.
Next on the webinar’s docket was Luymes’ federal advocacy update. He highlighted three major elements—HRAI’s 2022 Budget (which was released in April 2022), HRAI’s Workforce Development Plan (which includes potential government funding towards for its initiatives), and a climate leadership statement.
Goberdhan wrapped up the presentation by speaking about the efforts made at their recent 2022 Day at Queen’s Park, which was held on March 2.