Federal lobbying hit a record high last fiscal year, industry watchdog says

Lobbying hit an all-time high in Ottawa during the last fiscal year — and lobbyists secured more conversations with the Prime Minister's Office last year than in previous years — says a new report from the industry's watchdog.

On Monday, Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger released her annual report covering the 2022-2023 year in lobbying.

Under the law, lobbyists must report their oral and arranged communications with certain public office holders to the commissioner. Consultant lobbyists must also report any communications relating to the awarding of a federal contract.

During the last fiscal year, 30,681 communication reports were filed with Bélanger's office — a 19 per cent increase over 2021-22 that set a new record.

"I think it is likely because there [have] been a lot of projects and policy issues and decision makers are opening the doors to those who want to provide their views and information and data in order to have all the information they need to make the right decision," Bélanger told CBC News.

"What's important is that people know who is lobbying whom and about what, and as long as that is happening, there is absolutely nothing wrong."

Bélanger reported that the Prime Minister's Office was lobbied 1,602 times over 2022-2023 — sometimes with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau present. The PMO was directly lobbied 1,117 times the previous year.

Trudeau spoke with lobbyists alone on 56 occasions, according to the report.

The numbers show ministers and MPs were also lobbied more last fiscal year than in the year before. Lobbyists recorded more than 2,100 communications with cabinet ministers and 11,511 with MPs from various parties.

Senators were lobbied 1,421 times during the past fiscal year while senior public servants — including deputy ministers and associate deputy ministers — were lobbied nearly 6,000 times.

The commissioner's report found the top five subject matters in those reports were the environment, economic development, energy, industry and health.

Duff Conacher of Democracy Watch said the increase in lobbying activity isn't a surprise. 

"The federal government increased both policy-making decisions and government programs through the COVID-19 crisis period, and continues to move toward significant changes in several policy areas," he said.

"Also, because while enforcement of the lobbying law remains much too weak, the commissioner of lobbying has undertaken some more proactive enforcement, which gives an incentive for lobbyists to register their activities so they are not caught and found in violation of the registration requirements."

RCMP lay charges in a lobbying case

Bélanger's report also suggests the industry is booming. The last fiscal year, which runs from April to March, set new records for both active registrations and active lobbyists.

Nearly 8,500 individual lobbyists were registered at least once during the year. About 2,800 were employed by corporations and just over 4,000 were employed by an organization.

As of March 31, Bélanger was reviewing about 30 cases and investigating four.

Just one case was referred to the Mounties during the report's timeframe.

On Sept. 8, the force charged Andrew Burns under the Lobbying Act for unregistered lobbying activities he allegedly conducted on behalf of MarineLand Canada in relation to a bill, now a law, banning keeping cetaceans like whales and dolphins in captivity.

"I don't think anyone wants to have to deal with me investigating them for an offence or sending it to the RCMP. So I would say that yes, generally, that compliance is is there," Bélanger said.

Conacher sees it differently.

"While one lobbyist is being prosecuted five years after allegedly violating the federal lobbying law, no one should be fooled as almost all violators continue to be let off the hook because of negligently weak enforcement by the commissioner and the RCMP," he said.

A new code of conduct for the industry will come into effect Saturday. The code is meant to more explicitly define what lobbyists can and cannot do.

The update also introduces limits on how much government relations professionals can spend on gifts and hospitality for federal officials.

"Transparency is extremely important, but with transparency must come ethical behaviour," said Bélanger. "The intent of this code is to really enhance the understanding of what is expected of registered lobbyists with respect to ethical conduct."

Bélanger said she is hoping more changes are coming to her office's enabling legislation, which was last reviewed in 2012.

"We need to catch up with the Lobbying Act. What I want to see is really the removal of, I'll call them gaps, that allows a lot of lobbying to occur that doesn't require registration," she said.

"The need to amend the act has to be a priority."