Vaughan lobbyist registry rife with ex-political candidate Tony Genco listings

Now mandatory local list shows number of contacts and who spoke to whom

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 5, 2018
By Tim Kelly

Three-time political loser Tony Genco is the big winner on the City of Vaughan lobby registry, now available on the city's website for public viewing.

Genco fills up 18 pages of the 23-page registry and is listed 57 times for his number of contacts with City of Vaughan politicians or staff members during the calendar year 2017. Previously voluntary, the list is now mandatory.

The list, in spreadsheet form, displays the lobbyists, who they represent, the subject matter and issue being lobbied, the wards of Vaughan involved, whether the lobbying involves email, phone and/or in-person contact, and which political office holder being lobbied.

Genco represented just one client, Eric Bellisario, president of both Thermal Technology Services Inc., and Nu-Aria Odour Removal. With Thermal Technology Services, Genco's many lobbying contacts were largely with City of Vaughan Transportation staffer Donald Eta while he dealt with a combination of staff and Regional Coun. Gino Rosati on the Nu-Aria Odour Removal issue.

It's not clear whether Genco's lobbying resulted in any contracts or grants for either of Bellisario's companies from the city.

Genco was far and away the most active registered lobbyist in Vaughan in 2017. The Vaughan resident made waves early in the decade when he ran for the Liberals federally, losing a 2010 byelection to Conservative Julian Fantino to be Woodbridge MP. He ran in the 2011 provincial election as a PC candidate, losing to Liberal Greg Sorbara for Woodbridge MPP. He was beaten again for the third time in less than two years when he lost in September 2012 to current Liberal MPP Steven Del Duca.

The second most active lobbyist on the registry was Marcelo Lu, president of BASF Canada. Listed as an in-house lobbyist, Lu lobbied for his own company on a number of issues. The registry does not include the dates he lobbied, nor does it say who he lobbied.

Asked about some gaps in the registry, Suzanne Craig, who oversees the registry, said there are some "situations where the lobbyist has registered multiple subject matters, but have not yet registered any issues (blank lobbying dates, public office holders). Perhaps this was done in anticipation of the mandatory registry."