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.
Powerful lobby groups representing fossil fuel companies, big agriculture, banks and other industries threatening the environment are out in full force at the United Nations biodiversity conference in Montreal.
Hundreds of fossil fuel lobbyists including at least a dozen from Canada are in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for this year’s United Nations’ climate conference, a data analysis from Corporate Accountability, Corporate Europe Observatory and Global Witness reveals.
A controversy over an industry lobbyist's input into draft guidelines for genetically modified organisms has exposed gaping loopholes in Canada's lobbying laws, experts say.
