The Influencers looks at lobbying, and who stands in the way of stronger climate policy. Produced in collaboration with the Institute for Sustainability, Education and Action (I-SEA).
The Pathways Alliance represents the titans of Canada's oil and gas industry, and according to a leading international think tank, the group is using a three-step greenwashing strategy aimed at extracting tax dollars and delaying climate action.
As climate action gains traction across Canada, a quiet feud is brewing in the oilsands over the best way to continue extracting fossil fuels in an era of decarbonization.
In an era of decarbonization, the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers appears to be losing its influence on federal policy. But that doesn't mean Big Oil is on the way out.
Opponents say lobbying stands to become more unethical if suggested changes from the commissioner of lobbying Nancy Bélanger go through. Faisal Bhabha, an associate professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, said he signed the letter released by lobbying watchdog group Democracy Watch because current rules “help protect the integrity of our fragile democracy.”
A joint investigation by Canada’s National Observer and the Investigative Journalism Foundation has found oil and gas industry lobbyists far outgun their environmental counterparts in the battle for influence over climate legislation.
A person who is not being paid to lobby is not a lobbyist. Those who choose to take time out of their busy days without remuneration are practising what constitutional scholars like to call freedom of expression or freedom of assembly.
Laws governing lobbyists in Canada permit levels of donations and loans to political parties that are much too high, giving lobbyists an unethical, undemocratic level of influence over political parties and politicians, writes Democracy Watch co-founder Duff Conacher.
There is no room for ambiguity in the face of the layered crises of climate change, economic strain and a pandemic, writes Anjali Appadurai. We must pick a side.
In the decade before the pandemic, representatives of Canada's biggest oil and gas lobby averaged 117 meetings with government officials each year. In 2020, that number hit an all-time high of 269 — more meetings than there were business days in the year.
The number of tax dollars funnelled to 11 of Canada's biggest oil and gas companies more than doubled over the past two years, a joint investigation by Canada’s National Observer and the Investigative Journalism Foundation reveals.