How a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. led Canada's premiers to an $85,000-a-month lobbying firm
'We were all hanging out,' says Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai
How did Canada's premiers end up hiring a Washington lobbying firm for $85,000 US a month? The story involves a meeting with Donald Trump Jr.
It was at an encounter with the president's son that one of them met the head of a lobby firm that helped organize the premiers' visit to Washington this week.
The Council of the Federation — the grouping of the 13 provincial and territorial leaders — hired Checkmate Government Relations LLC to help it connect with U.S. officials in hope of averting a trade war.
Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai says he and his counterparts decided to act late last year, following Chrystia Freeland's surprise resignation from the federal cabinet.
He says they were all meeting at an airport Hilton in Mississauga, Ont., at the time, talking strategy about how to deal with the tariff threats then being raised by president-elect Donald Trump. Three former ambassadors to Washington were also in the room, and the old political hands swiftly realized Freeland's departure was a crisis imperilling the Trudeau government, and would mark "a significant change," to how Ottawa would deal with Washington.
"At that moment, we all knew that we had to do what we could," Pillai told reporters this week, as the premiers visited the U.S. capital.
He reached out quickly to the president's son, whom he'd met once before, and was invited to a get-together days later in North Carolina.
Pillai says he raised the subject of trade tensions. Donald Jr. made clear he did not speak for the incoming administration. But among the people in the room was a young lobbyist who introduced himself — Charles F. McDowell IV, a hunting buddy of the younger Trump and a partner at Checkmate Government Relations.
"We were all hanging out. There was a number of people there together," he said.
Pillai later mentioned McDowell to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, the current chair of the Council of the Federation, who was soliciting ideas as they began planning a Washington visit.
Pillai said he told Ford: "Look, this is somebody I think that has maybe an effective ability to deal with the Trump administration or to get the doors open."
The resulting contract is available for public viewing online thanks to the U.S. Foreign Agent Registration Act. It says the firm will help the premiers, but makes no promises about the outcome of any talks.
The company also employs Chris LaCivita Jr., the son of Donald Trump's campaign co-chair.
The firm is new to Washington. It has its roots in North Carolina but has moved to the capital, just as co-founder and McDowell's brother, Addison McDowell, entered Congress this year.
One source of Canada-U.S. tension — the trafficking of fentanyl, Trump's initial stated rationale for imposing tariffs — is personal to the family. Another McDowell sibling, Luke, died of fentanyl poisoning in 2016. Last week, the day before what would have been his 29th birthday, Addison McDowell gave his first speech in the House in support of an anti-fentanyl bill.
"He was only 20 years old. It changed everything for our family," the freshman Republican from North Carolina said. "There is not a day that goes by that we don't feel the pain of that loss."
The results of the premiers' visit are far from clear. They got meetings with two relatively high-level White House officials, who promised to pass along their concerns but offered no guarantees.
But after the meeting one of those officials, deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs James Blair, posted a tweet that infuriated a number of Canadians, saying that the meeting had been "pleasant " but that: "We never agreed that Canada would not be the 51st state."
Trump also continued to heap verbal abuse on Canada, on Thursday again belittling its military and economy, adding: "I think Canada is going to be a very serious contender to be our 51st state."
Pillai says he doesn't want to get distracted by the talk of statehood. He says he's focused on the immediate problem of preventing tariffs.
"[Let's] just be laser-focused on what we have to do. Like, there's a border issue. We've responded," he said.
"Donald Trump's not going to own the Arctic and he's not going to own Canada. But he will own inflation if these tariffs come in the way they possibly can."
One source, speaking on condition they not be named, who was involved in the visit said the premiers had been hoping to meet the president this week, but got the meeting they did via their new lobbyist.
Another premier hinted the firm had, indeed, helped set up that White House meeting.
"I think it's really important that we're in these rooms," B.C. Premier David Eby said.
"This was a meeting on short notice with senior decision-makers."
He noted that it's a busy week in Washington. Getting meetings was not guaranteed.
"I was glad for the conversation," Eby said. "I'm glad they made the time."
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