Canadian pharmaceutical executive Barry Sherman and his wife Honey have been found dead in their Old Colony Rd. home off Bayview Ave. near Highway 401. He is the founder of generic drug maker Apotex and with his wife a celebrated philanthropist. The deaths have been called suspicious but it is unclear where the investigation is focussed. CBC Globe and Mail
I am beyond words right now. My dear friends Barry and Honey Sherman have been found dead. Wonderful human beings, incredible philanthropists, great leaders in health care. A very, very sad day. Barry, Honey, rest in peace.
— Dr. Eric Hoskins (@DrEricHoskins) December 15, 2017
APOTEX WAS FIGHTING FEDERAL LOBBYING COMMISSIONER
From iPoliitics, September 22, 2017 Canada’s largest drug maker is fighting the federal lobbying commissioner in court in a bid to shut down an investigation into a political fundraiser its chairman hosted for the Liberal party during the last election. It’s the first time Lobbying Commissioner Karen Shepherd has been challenged in court since her position was created nearly a decade ago.
Apotex Inc. applied in May this year for a judicial review to contest Shepherd’s investigation, calling it an “unanchored fishing expedition” that started in “bad faith,” according to documents filed in Federal Court. The generic drug manufacturer wants her entire probe quashed. None of the allegations in Apotex’s claim have been tested in court. Among the allegations made by Apotex is a claim that the lobbying commissioner’s powers to compel testimony under the Lobbying Act are “unenforceable” and “inconsistent with sections 2, 7 and 8 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.” Because of the Charter argument, Apotex wants the attorney general to be added as a respondent.
Shepherd started an investigation into Apotex in January after a complaint was lodged last year over how its chairman, Barry Sherman, hosted an August 2015 fundraiser at his home in Toronto, featuring Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Liberal MP Michael Levitt – both election candidates at the time. Sherman and other senior Apotex officials were registered to lobby the federal government when the fundraiser was held. Tickets for the event reportedly sold for $1,500 each.
Shepherd’s investigation is looking into whether Sherman violated the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct by hosting the fundraiser. The suit has quietly advanced over the summer in a legal back-and-forth to determine the scope of the judicial review after Apotex moved to expand it. About a month before Apotex filed its court application, Shepherd issued subpoenas to President and CEO Jeremy Desai and ex-director of government relations Elie Betito. Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying documents submitted in court show the office determined Betito attended the August 2015 fundraiser.
The federal Lobbying Act gives the commissioner the power to summon people and compel testimony under oath in the “same manner” as a superior court of record. In April, Shepherd issued subpoenas to Betito and Desai after they refused a senior OCL investigator’s earlier request to meet for interviews, stalling the investigation into Sherman’s house party. Apotex is arguing the commissioner’s office issued the subpoenas for a baseless investigation, that they were “not lawfully issued” and are “unconstitutional” and “abusive.”
