Yep, this still appears to be the case. It establishes a long-lived SSL connection to one Google's servers few seconds after the start. If the connection is forcefully killed (e.g. with SysInternal's TcpView), it won't be re-established, but needing to kill it every time I need to use Chrome is really annoying.
It is also the reason why I have Chrome updates permanently disabled - I don't trust Chrome enough to let it run anything in a background.
Well... :) That would require setting up a dummy email account and what not, and that's a bit too much hassle. It'd be far more prudent if you'd remove Google ID requirement in front of the bug repository. I frankly don't understand why it is needed in the first place, at least for browsing the repo that is.
EDIT: Oh, I see you're actually on the Chrome team. I learned the stuff Asa that describes in his comment in your privacy policy. It's pretty easy to understand.
It is also the reason why I have Chrome updates permanently disabled - I don't trust Chrome enough to let it run anything in a background.