Fossil fuel companies and their industry associations lobbied the federal government an average of five times per working day in 2023, according to a new analysis from Environmental Defence.
The environmental watchdog tracked 31 companies and industry associations over the course of last year and identified 1,255 separate meetings. The top lobbied departments were Energy and Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Finance Canada, with 313, 253 and 118 meetings respectively.
It’s no surprise the three departments most responsible for the country’s emission reduction efforts are the target of intense lobbying, according to the study’s lead author, Emilia Belliveau.
“The oil and gas lobby is targeting ECCC, NRCAN and Finance because those are the ministries that hold the pen on a lot of key pieces of legislation or regulation that will impact the fossil fuel industry as we try to tackle climate change,” she told Canada’s National Observer.
“The oil and gas industry in Canada has a vested interest in persuading governments to not enact regulations, policies or laws that would limit the production of fossil fuels and potentially reduce companies’ profits,” the report reads. “Oil and gas lobbyists also lobby for more financial support for the industry. And they have a track record of success: virtually every environmental policy in Canada has been either delayed, weakened, or blocked.
“In 2023, these ministries were developing the proposed regulation for capping emissions from the fossil fuel sector; the draft Clean Electricity Regulations; methane regulations; and the Canadian Sustainable Jobs Act,” according to the report. “These departments were also developing rules to end subsidies and public financing to the oil and gas industry.”
The top fossil fuel lobbyist was the Pathways Alliance, which recorded 105 meetings with government officials. The alliance represents Canadian Natural Resources, Cenovus, Imperial Oil, MEG Energy, Suncor and ConocoPhillips Canada, who together are responsible for 95 per cent of oilsands production.
Together, those companies also set 365 of their own meetings with government officials.
If those member companies' individual meetings with government officials are added with the Pathways Alliance, the oilsands majors are responsible for 469 meetings, representing 37 per cent of the known fossil fuel lobbying in 2023. Meetings between government officials and fossil fuel representatives initiated by the government are not included in the federal lobbyist registry, meaning the total number of meetings is higher than the 1,255 identified by Environmental Defence.
The Pathways Alliance did not respond to an immediate request for comment.
Belliveau described the lobbyist registry as “a bit of a black box,” because it does not require companies to specifically outline what they are lobbying for. However, she says it’s simple enough to put two and two together to understand the influence. Companies wouldn’t dedicate such significant resources to lobbying efforts if it wasn’t effective, and because critical policies have been delayed or weakened, it’s clear the lobbying works, she says.
The most lobbied federal ministers were Energy and Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson (34), Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault (12), and Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages Randy Boissonneault (11). Boissonneault was the former assistant minister of finance until July 2023.
Beyond the ministers, oil and gas lobbyists focused their efforts on high-ranking bureaucrats. An NRCan assistant deputy minister participated in 97 meetings with fossil fuel lobbyists in 2023, for example, highlighting the power of civil servants.
“The public sector workers have a huge role to play in developing the briefing notes that ministers then see, and in the implementation and follow through of the policies and regulations that government is working on,” Belliveau said. “So those people play a crucial role and the more the oil and gas industry can build relationships and provide resources to those folks, the more reach the oil and gas industry has.”
58 Liberal MPs, including cabinet ministers, met with oil and gas representatives 223 times according to the study. Meanwhile, 52 Conservative MPs met fossil fuel lobbyists 196 times.
Belliveau said it makes complete sense the governing party is the most lobbied, but noted it is revealing how much the Conservative Party is taking meetings when compared to the other opposition parties. Four NDP MPs each had one meeting with a fossil fuel representative, and two Bloc Québécois MPs each met once with an oil and gas lobbyist.
Comments
Just wait should Pierre "Snake Oil Salesman" Poilievre become PM, he will reverse anything hindering the oil & gas industry that impacts their current excessive profits. It's no secret that the industry is in the back pockets of the Conservative parties on the Federal and Provincial levels. Just note the behaviour of Danielle Smith, Scott Moe and Doug Ford these days as they ensure nothing hinders the oil & gas greed to boast profits and continue to rape an pillage the landscape and environment. This despite Doug Ford and his EV battery plants and other EV initiatives, which are just smoke and mirrors to what he is really doing behind the scenes.
It's not like the parties are far apart on oil. Save, maybe, oil's future.
Remember Rachel Notley promptly started buying rail cars to make up for the lack of a pipeline; and did very little to suppress the industry, for four years.
I'm afraid I read too much Vaclav Smil to protest that, too. Oil is currently a necessity of life; even suppressing it (as the Arab Oil Embargo did, hugely, in 1973, prices going up 500%) would only slightly speed the transition, because replacement technology can only be built so fast - while causing great economic pain that would, typically, put the furthest-Right elements back into power. (That Arab Oil Embargo led *directly* to Thatcher and Reagan via "stagflation"...)
The goal is to tax it, slow it, and prevent it building up infrastructure that will be stranded - and guide the industry to a ramp-down and sunset. (Those corporations have employees, to whom we should bear no ill will.)
Oil and gas may be a part of life but we could reduce it considerably. We don't have time for the "slow it" approach.
Re: "The goal is to tax it, slow it, and prevent it building up infrastructure that will be stranded - and guide the industry to a ramp-down and sunset."
But we have to do it right. For example, Canada's carbon tax needs to tax carbon at source. Polluter pays. Right now, taxpayers, the biosphere, today's children and future generations are paying for polluters' pollution. Globally, fossil fuel corporations are receiving $7 trillion per year (IMF, 2023) in direct and indirect subsidies from taxpayers (while in Canada, taxpayers are also being taxed, then rebated ... just tax at source, bam, done). These corporations have been getting corporate welfare for a century. It's time for fossil fuels to stand on their own two feet.
Our governments (worldwide) need to make fossil fuel and other destructive extractive industries pay, internalizing their currently externalized social (health) and environmental damage — before they count their profits, pay their CEO bonuses, and pay dividends to their shareholders. The corporate charter needs to be changed around the world so that every business environment is on the same level playing field. (Businesses are asking for this anyway; let's give it to them.)
The products of the fossil fuel corporations will (because the companies are greedy and won't absorb "the costs of doing business" themselves) become unaffordable — almost overnight — which will turn consumers and investors to more affordable zero-carbon, non-combustion (once built) renewable / perpetual energy technologies.
Smil needs to decide which he prefers: "great economic pain" or extinction.
If you want to know why the Liberals didn't stand up for Greener Homes and specifically heat pump rebates, take a long look at this article. When you spend $34 billion on a tar sands pipeline, you aren't in the climate change fight. The Conservatives will be worse, but the Liberals and Wilkinson have always been in the bag for this industry. Lord knows why, with all the negative press and politics they've thrown at the Liberals.
Let's not forget the first Liberal scandal after Younger Trudeau's rise to PM. Justin's right-hand man had been caught on tape (am I remembering that correctly?) meeting with fossil fuel execs and giving them tips on how to "deal with" the Liberal government.
"These corporations have been getting corporate welfare for a century. It's time for fossil fuels to stand on their own two feet." How do you expect that to happen when Big Oil is lobbying the government five times a day? We need to put a limit on how many times industry representatives can meet with politicians, or maybe it should just be how many times they can meet with Liberal and Conservative politicians since they are the ones who cannot seem to say No.