Lobbying in Canada is an activity where organizations or people outside of government attempt to influence the decision making of elected politicians or government officials at the municipal, provincial or federal level.
Lobbying has changed in Canada from a period where it was restricted to economic and social elites to the modern day, when lobbying is used as a tool by many forms of civil society organizations to advance their view for what society and government should look like, with approximately 9,000 people working as registered lobbyists at Canada's federal level as of 2024, across approximately 3,500 organizations. Lobbying began as an unregulated profession, but since the late 20th century has been regulated by government to increase transparency and establish a set of ethics for both lobbyists, and those who will be lobbied. Canada does not require disclosure of lobbyist spending on lobbying activities.
History
Pre-Colonization
Scholarship on influencing of decision-makers within various First Nations is sparse. Traditions and practices likely may have varied widely from nation to nation.
Two Canadas Period
The political culture in colonial Canada was imported from the British and French traditions, including early forms of political influence such as submission of petitions, which existed from the start of Canada's parliamentary structure.Marleau, M. & Montpetit, C. (2000). House of Commons Procedure and Practice. 2000 Edition. House of Commons, Canada. https://www.ourcommons.ca/marleaumontpetit/DocumentViewer.aspx?Language=E&Sec=Ch22&Seq=2
Lobbying in the early 1800s was dominated by the Family Compact and Château Clique, informal networks of the social elite, engaging in clientelism, where economic favours are exchanged for political favours, and patronage, where government posts are given out to favoured political supporters instead of by merit. The Family Compact was weakened by the 1830s reform movement in then Upper Canada, seeing irrelevance by the mid-1840s. The Château Clique was similarly irrelevant due to changes instituting responsible government in then Lower Canada, seeing irrelevance by the late 1830s. During this period, the decision-makers that lobbyists were looking to influence were unelected Lieutenant Governors in addition to their Executive Councils (usually elites appointed to upper legislative chambers). elected lower houses of legislatures, and judicial officials. There was also substantial representation of the Family compact in these institutions in Upper Canada.
In Lower Canada, the clique was led by anglophone merchants, and succeeded in abolishing the Seigneurial system, but failed to abolish civil law. The influence of the compact and clique influence was substantially lessened after responsible government reforms such as elected upper houses brought on by the Durham Report after violence between the Family Compact and its oligopic state power and William Lyon Mackenzie's reform rebellion. Due to the close-knit informal nature of these organizations, lobbying was largely restricted to those with economic power, religious power or social status. For example, the Bank of Upper Canada, closely associated with the Family Compacy, lobbied the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada that no other bank should be chartered in the province, arguing that smaller banking establishments were more prone to collapse, as had been seen in the United States.Schortt. A. (1986). Adam Shortt's History of Canadian Currency and Banking 1600-1880. The Canadian Banking Association. p.799 & p.282.
Canadian political scientist Robert Presthus highlights that early interest groups had formed by this period. In 1792, the first agricultural association identifiable by Presthus, the Agricultural Association of Quebec had been formed. The first industry group, the Montreal Board of Trade was founded in 1822. The first literary or historical society, which presumably solicited funding from the government, was founded in Quebec in 1824. The first interest group in the field of welfare was the Society for Relief of Strangers in Distress, in Toronto in 1827. Presthus finally identifies the first educational interest group, the Royal Institute for Advancement of Learning of Quebec in 1829.
Province of Canada Period
After unification of the two Canadas, greater power was vested in party leaders and the civil service. Patronage and clientelism continued, but with a decreased emphasis on religious elites. Little is known about lobbying in this period.
Atlantic Provinces Pre-Confederation Nova Scotia was the first Canadian adopter of responsible government. Some evidence exists of relationships between Nova Scotia pre-Confederation premier Charles Tupper, who prior to Confederation was a strong supporter of the interest of trans-Canada railway companies, and negotiating with the General Mining Association, which had a de facto monopoly on mining.
Early Canadian colonial history also gives early examples of lobbying in such a way as to defeat government action. When minister of finance Alexander Galt attempted to issue provincial debentures in Canada West in the 1860s, bankers and merchants in "western Canada"—here likely referring to Southwestern Ontario, opposed the debentures and led Galt to withdraw, leading to Galt's eventual resignation.Schortt. A. (1986). Adam Shortt's History of Canadian Currency and Banking 1600-1880. The Canadian Banking Association. p.571.
Confederation Period
After Confederation, informal relationships between economic elites and first ministers continued, with the Pacific Scandal resulting from the Canadian Pacific Railway lobbying through bribery of first post-Confederation Prime Minister John A. Macdonald, causing MacDonald to favour the bid of the CPR over a competing company.
In this period, Canadian manufacturers may also have been involved in lobbying for protections by import tariffs under John A. Macdonald's national policy, and certainly lobbied for its continuance when the tariffs were under threat in 1911.Brown, R.C. (2015). National Policy. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/national-policy During this time, the interests of Nova Scotia coal companies were also the subject of lobbying, with member of parliament for Cumberland, Charles Tupper, being persuaded by coal producers to lobby for increased coal tariffs.
In the 1910s, various cities in Canada saw the importation of an American model of civic committees for beautification.“Landscape Artist Sees City in Rain,” Evening Mail, 20 September 1910. In https://doi.org/10.7202/1009193ar (Grant, Vissers & Haney) In Halifax for example, a committee formed from the local business interests by the Halifax Board of Trade lobbied the municipal government for investment in civic centres.Andrew Nicholson, “Dreaming ‘the Perfect City’: The Halifax Civic Improvement League 1905–1949” (MA thesis, Saint Mary’s University, 2000), 23. In https://doi.org/10.7202/1009193ar (Grant, Vissers and Haney). Various civic committees engaged in a strategy of hiring British planning experts to give speeches locally, leading to the creation of Canada's first municipal planning acts.C. Schmitz, “The Movement in Canada,” Town Planning Review 3, no. 3 (1912): 218–219; Nicholson, “Dreaming ‘the Perfect City,’” chaps. 1–2. In https://doi.org/10.7202/1009193ar (Grant Vissers and haney) These touring speeches were also paired with early instances of a non-governmental groups publicly circulating model legislation, not only locally, but lobbying for unified municipal planning bylaws across Canada.
In 1918, the political patronage system was abolished for the federal public service, reducing the ability to lobby to be placed into a certain role.Lemieux, V & Noël, S.J.R. (2017). Political Patronage in Canada. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/patronage
Bribery and corruption continued to be a theme of lobbying through the 1930s, when the Beauharnois scandal highlighted a cash-for-contract scheme similar to the Pacific Scandal.Thompson, J.H. (2013). Beauharnois Scandal. The Canadian Encyclopedia. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/beauharnois-scandal
Post Second World War The period after the Second World War saw the United States institute its first comprehensive legislation restricting activities of lobbyists in 1946, but Canada declined to do so until 1989.
The 1960s saw the advent of a number of new civic society groups, including many not associated with business interests. Groups that may have existed previous to the Second World War saw increased relevance, such as civil liberties group CCLA, municipal advocacy group FCM, and professional groups such as the CMA, CBA, and CAUT, representing doctors, lawyers, and university professors, respectively. New organizations began as well: environmental groups and the umbrella advocacy alliance Canadian Council for International Co-operation were both founded in the 1960s. The model of advocacy partnership was popular during this time, seeing conglomerations of interest groups under common banners, such as the Canada Grains Council, which was an umbrella organization representing farmers groups, railway groups, ports groups, and the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, all of which had an interest in a robust grain economy and ease of grain shipping.
The emergence of the interest group can be linked to the "Old Tory" tradition of Great Britain, where networks of elites were thought to play an important role in informing the political system as to the development of policy. Lobbyists in the 1970s for example, were often part of not only one interest group, but on average, three.Presthus, Robert (1973). Elite Accommodation in Canadian Politics. Cambridge University Press.
21st Century Contemporary events in Canadian lobbying include reforms brought about after the sponsorship scandal. While the kickback scheme did not apparently involve lobbying in the traditional sense, the Gomery Commission did make recommendations which were incorporated into legislation in 2006, which led to increased restrictions coming into force in 2008, including broader ability to prosecute lobbyists, and established the Commissioner of Lobbying, an officer of parliament, outside of the direct control of the government.
The 21st century also saw the first successful prosecution of a lobbyist under lobbying legislation for a lobbyist failing to register in 2013.
Under the Justin Trudeau Ministry, multiple lobbying scandals have had significant public attention. The SNC-Lavalin affair, where lobbying was conducted to implement deferred prosecutions in the Canadian Criminal Code, which the Public Prosecution Service of Canada and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould refused to implement despite the Office of the Prime Minister's requests. The improper influence of the Attorney General against the Shawcross principle became a major scandal which was criticized by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner in a 2019 report.Wells, P. (2019). Canada, the show. Macleans. https://www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/canada-the-show/
During the COVID-19 pandemic, lobbying by WE Charity of the government to create a program that the charity was uniquely well situated to bid for became an issue, leading to the WE Charity scandal and WE Charity's subsequent winddown of Canadian operations. The issue with lobbying included whether inviting the family of the Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau to attend events run by the charity, with expenses paid, constituted a conflict of interest and improper lobbying.