So I asked three people on the local campaign here -- the campaign co-manager and two media people -- and none of them thought H+K were being consulted about the federal campaign. One said that, as far as she knew, they never hire outside PR. However she also said that it's possible there's something happening on the federal level that she doesn't know about. Two of them knew that Brad Lavigne had worked at H+K but was now full time with the NDP, and one said that a top Ontario H+K executive was close to the Conservatives.
I summarized the article in your OP, and the response was something to the effect of, "Well, you can say pretty much anything you want if you don't have to back it up...and in an election, that's what people often do." They said, as far as they knew, there was no agreement between the NDP/H+K/the Conservatives, and they couldn't see any benefit to one.
Btw, I did a little more looking into H+K, and they certainly are sleazy, though it's not clear if they're any more or less so than other professional influence peddlers. They're larger and have been around awhile, so the scope of their influence is quite broad. I'd forgotten that they were central to the plot of "Merchants of Doubt," which describes the attempt to sell an "alternative truth" about cigarettes. I haven't read the book, but I can highly recommend the documentary.
http://www.merchantsofdoubt.org/
= new reply since forum marked as read