Michael Walsh

About Michael Walsh

If your organization's facing federal or provincial rules on lobbying, privacy, competition or foreign investment, Michael Walsh is an associate in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office who works on exactly those questions. On the government affairs side, Walsh helps clients with government relations and regulatory issues, and that includes staying compliant with lobbying rules. The privacy work ranges from writing privacy and compliance policies to data protection files and matters under federal and provincial access to information statutes.

Competition and foreign investment review round out the practice. Walsh covers both the civil and the criminal sides of the Competition Act, pre-notification filings among them. Under the Investment Canada Act, the associate handles notification filings and reviews on national security, net benefit and cultural sector grounds.

Privacy's been a thread since law school. Walsh studied political studies at Queen's University, with a Certificate in Business, and then earned a JD at the University of Ottawa, where the Centre for Law, Technology and Society named Walsh its 2021 recipient of the IAPP Westin Scholar Award. A paper on what a move toward open banking by Canadian financial services providers could mean for privacy drew special praise from the privacy law professor. Walsh was called to the Ontario bar in 2022.

Policy writing and commentary are part of the job, too. Walsh and Suzanne Sabourin looked at what Ottawa's lowered lobbying registration thresholds mean for government relations in The Hill Times, and Walsh co-wrote a review of Canadian digital policy in 2025 with Antoine Guilmain. The Globe and Mail has quoted Walsh as well, pointing out that Canadian businesses have already worked with privacy management plans and impact assessments.