Lobbying in Canada
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Lobbying In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agency, regulatory agencie ...
in Canada is an activity where organizations or people outside of government attempt to influence the decision making of elected politicians or
government officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their su ...
at the
municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
,
provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...
or
federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...
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 over 5,000 people now working as registered lobbyists at Canada's federal level. 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 In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...
, 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 First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...
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. Lobbying in the early 1800s was dominated by the
Family Compact The Family Compact was a small closed group of men who exercised most of the political, economic and judicial power in Upper Canada (today’s Ontario) from the 1810s to the 1840s. It was the Upper Canadian equivalent of the Château Clique in L ...
and
Château Clique The Château Clique, or Clique du Château, was a group of wealthy families in Lower Canada in the early 19th century. They were the Lower Canadian equivalent of the Family Compact in Upper Canada. They were also known on the electoral scene ...
, informal networks of the social elite, engaging in
clientelism Clientelism or client politics is the exchange of goods and services for political support, often involving an implicit or explicit quid-pro-quo. It is closely related to patronage politics and vote buying. Clientelism involves an asymmetric rel ...
, where economic favours are exchanged for political favours, and
patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
, where government posts are given out to favoured political supporters instead of by
merit Merit may refer to: Religion * Merit (Christianity) * Merit (Buddhism) * Punya (Hinduism) * Imputed righteousness in Reformed Christianity Companies and brands * Merit (cigarette), a brand of cigarettes made by Altria * Merit Energy Company, ...
. The Family Compact was weakened by the 1830s reform movement in then
Upper Canada The Province of Upper Canada (french: link=no, province du Haut-Canada) was a part of British Canada established in 1791 by the Kingdom of Great Britain, to govern the central third of the lands in British North America, formerly part of the ...
, seeing irrelevance by the mid-1840s. The Château Clique was similarly irrelevant due to changes instituting
responsible government Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive bran ...
in then
Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...
, seeing irrelevance by the late 1830s. During this period, the decision-makers that lobbyists were looking to influence were unelected
Lieutenant Governors A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
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 Seigneurial system may refer to: * Manorialism - the socio-economic system of the Middle Ages and Early Modern period * Seigneurial system of New France The manorial system of New France, known as the seigneurial system (french: Régime seigneu ...
, 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 The ''Report on the Affairs of British North America'', (1839) commonly known as the ''Durham Report'' or ''Lord Durham's Report'', is an important document in the history of Quebec, Ontario, Canada and the British Empire. The notable British ...
after violence between the Family Compact and it's 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 The Bank of Upper Canada was established in 1821 under a charter granted by the legislature of Upper Canada in 1819 to a group of Kingston merchants. The charter was appropriated by the more influential Executive Councillors to the Lt. Governor, t ...
, 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. 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 leader In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their political party, either to a legislature or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a political ...
s 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 Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet, (July 2, 1821 – October 30, 1915) was a Canadian Father of Confederation who served as the sixth prime minister of Canada from May 1 to July 8, 1896. As the premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867, he led N ...
, 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 Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt, (September 6, 1817 – September 19, 1893) was a politician and a father of the Canadian Confederation. Early life Galt was born in Chelsea, England on September 6, 1817. He was the son of John Galt, a Scottish ...
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.


Confederation Period

After
Confederation A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
, informal relationships between economic elites and first ministers continued, with the
Pacific Scandal The Pacific Scandal was a political scandal in Canada involving bribes being accepted by 150 members of the Conservative government in the attempts of private interests to influence the bidding for a national rail contract. As part of British Colum ...
resulting from the Canadian Pacific Railway lobbying through
bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...
of first post-Confederation Prime Minister
John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...
, 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 A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...
under John A. Macdonald's national policy, and certainly lobbied for its continuance when the tariffs were under threat in 1911. 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. 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. Various civic committees engaged in a strategy of hiring British planning experts to give
speeches This list of speeches includes those that have gained notability in English or in English translation. The earliest listings may be approximate dates. Before the 1st century *c.570 BC : Gautama Buddha gives his first sermon at Sarnath *431 ...
locally, leading to the creation of Canada's first municipal planning acts. 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. 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.


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 Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...
group CCLA, municipal advocacy group FCM, and professional groups such as the CMA, CBA, and
CAUT The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT; french: Association canadienne des professeures et professeurs d'université, ACPPU) is a federation of independent associations and trade unions representing approximately 70,000 teachers, l ...
, 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 The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, often abbreviated as SARM, is an independent association that is responsible for representing the governments of the many rural municipalities in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is an ...
, 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 The sponsorship scandal, AdScam or Sponsorgate, was a scandal in Canada that came as a result of a federal government " sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006. T ...
. 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 The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada is an officer of Parliament of Canada who is responsible for achieving the objectives of the Lobbying Act that came into force in 2008. The office replaced the Office of the Registrar of Lo ...
, an officer of parliament, outside of the direct control of the
government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
. 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 The SNC-Lavalin affair () was a political scandal involving attempted political interference with the justice system by the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, and the Prime Minister's Office (PMO). The Parliament of Canada's Ethics ...
, where lobbying was conducted to implement deferred prosecutions in the Canadian
Criminal Code A criminal code (or penal code) is a document that compiles all, or a significant amount of a particular jurisdiction's criminal law. Typically a criminal code will contain offences that are recognised in the jurisdiction, penalties that migh ...
, which the
Public Prosecution Service of Canada The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC; french: Service des poursuites pénales du Canada (SPPC)) was established on December 12, 2006 by the ''Director of Public Prosecutions Act''. A federal agency, the PPSC prosecutes offences on behal ...
and Attorney General
Jody Wilson-Raybould Jody Wilson-Raybould (born March 23, 1971), also known by her initials JWR and by her Kwak’wala name Puglaas, is a Canadian lawyer and former politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the British Columbia (BC) riding of Van ...
refused to implement despite the Office of the Prime Minister's requests. The improper influence of the Attorney General against the
Shawcross principle The Shawcross principle is an idea in the United Kingdom's Westminster system of government, whereby the Attorney-General is to be left to his or her own devices and judgments regarding whether or not to establish criminal proceedings. It relates to ...
became a major scandal which was criticized by the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner in a 2019 report. During the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, lobbying by
WE Charity WE Charity (french: Organisme UNIS), formerly known as Free the Children (French: ''Enfants Entraide''), is an international development charity and youth empowerment movement founded in 1995 by human rights advocates Marc and Craig Kielburger. ...
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 The WE Charity scandal was a Canadian political scandal regarding the awarding of a federal contract to WE Charity to administer the $912 million Canada Student Summer Grant program (CSSG) in 2020. The controversy arose when it was revealed t ...
and WE Charity's subsequent winddown of Canadian operations. The issue with lobbying included whether inviting the family of the Prime Minister,
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
to attend events run by the charity, with expenses paid, constituted a conflict of interest and improper lobbying. During the 21st century, technology such as allowing for e-mail and digital submissions has increased the accessibility of lobbying. Over 700 groups were able to submit budget briefs to the finance committee in connection with the federal budget, including not only industry groups, but individuals, charities, not-for-profits, academics and labour unions. The top 10 lobbying organizations of 2012 were still dominated specifically by business interests, but the
World Society for the Protection of Animals World Animal Protection, formerly The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is an international non-profit animal rights organization that has been in operation since 1981. The charity describes its vision as: A world where animal ...
as a non-profit was one of the Top 10. With reforms in the Trudeau Ministry to the
Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the B ...
, lobbying of Senators increased about 600% between 2015 pre-reform to 2017 post-reform, as Senators are now seen to have more independence and more authority to propose amendments to legislation for the House to implement.


Legislative Frameworks


Federal


History

The legislation that regulates the lobbying industry is found in the lobbying act. The Lobbying Act began as the Lobbyists Registration Act, which came into force in 1989 after approximately 20 years of interest expressed through
private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...
s. The motivation of the act was to provide a record of who the lobbyists on the federal level were, and what meetings they were having. The registration act also created the role of Registrar of Lobbyists, whose role was primarily one of collecting and releasing information as required by the act, and did not possess substantial enforcement powers. The Act was amended in 2003 after two years of study, where recommendations adopted included giving investigatory power, establishing a mandatory 5-year review, and establishing that the politicians who were lobbied also have their names published. These amendments and others were enacted in a 2003 bill, but did not take force until 2005. In 2006, Stephen Harper ran on an accountability-centric platform, including a major overhaul to lobbying legislation. After election in a minority parliament, Prime Minister
Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...
resigned, and the
Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
,
Michaëlle Jean Michaëlle Jean (; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who served from 2005 to 2010 as governor general of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. She is the first Haitian Canadian and black person ...
invited Harper to form government, where he introduced omnibus legislation, the
Federal Accountability Act The Federal Accountability Act (full title: "An Act providing for conflict of interest rules, restrictions on election financing and measures respecting administrative transparency, oversight and accountability") (the Act) is a statute introduce ...
, which reformed a number of acts, including renaming the Lobbyists Registration Act to the Lobbying Act. The provisions in this amendment entered into force in 2008, and included establishing the Lobbying Commissioner as an independent officer of parliament, meaning the government (Prime Minister and cabinet) has no authority to command the commissioner. The act also established a prohibition on many previous civil servants (usually at the level of assistant deputy minister or above) from becoming a lobbyist for the first 5 years after leaving their government post, extending the length of time after an infringement that a lobbyist could be prosecuted (from 2 to 10 years), and some other changes stemming from recommendations of the Gomery Commission.


Current Legislation

The current act defines lobbying as persons receiving paid compensation to communicate with public office holders about changes to government law, regulation or programs, or to obtain a government contract. The act then defines a lobbyist as anyone who spends more than 20% of their time in any given month doing lobbying or preparing for lobbying. The act requires those lobbyists to register and, if they have done any lobbying activity during a month, to provide a monthly report on their activities, including the date, name of the office holder they contacted, and the subject of their communications. These reports are then placed for free public access on the website of the Commissioner of Lobbying. The act also establishes a statutory
code of conduct A code of conduct is a set of rules outlining the norms, rules, and responsibilities or proper practices of an individual party or an organization. Companies' codes of conduct A company code of conduct is a set of rules which is commonly writt ...
for lobbyists, including not just rules that lobbyists must follow, but also as of the 2006 amendment, also make the principles that they must follow carry punishment if they contravene the principles. The code of conduct was most recently amended in 2015 after recommendations from the commissioner to parliament on how to update the code. The Commissioner of Lobbying is responsible for not only conducting enforcement, but also providing clarifications, either proactively or on request, as to what activities do or do not comport with lobbying regulation. Penalties under the act range from fines of between $0 and $200,000, and imprisonment of up to 2 years for an indictable (serious) offence. Few lobbyists have ever been prosecuted under the legislation, and only about 20 formal investigations since investigatory powers were added to the act.


Comparison to other Legislation

In a thorough 2018 comparative politics book chapter comparing Canada, the US and the UK, Jeremy Sapers found that Canada was an early adopter of lobbying legislation, with the United States as a frontrunner, and Canada being one of the first four countries globally to establish legislation. Sapers characterizes Canada's system as facilitating easy entry into the profession of lobbying. He also notes that Canada, like the US, differs from lobbying to the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, as registration of lobbyists in the EU system was voluntary. Sapers concludes that Canada's regulatory regime is commendable, but below the standards of the United States, with further financial disclosures being the key weakness of Canada's regime, as Canada does not require disclosure of lobbyist spending on lobbying activities.


Provincial

Every province has its own lobbying legislation regarding lobbying officials in that province, and federal law does not apply to lobbying provincial officials. These acts are usually styled as Lobbyist's Registration acts, except in Alberta and Saskatchewan, where it is styled the Lobbyist Act, and Quebec, where it is styled as the Lobbying Transparency and Ethics Act. The Yukon Territory also has a lobbying act, though no act exists for the Northwest Territories or Nunavut. The Northwest Territories declined to enact legislation in 2015.


Lobbying Industry


Professional Lobbying Associations

Lobbyists in Canada are not automatically part of any registered association, and while they have oversight by a government agency, they do not have any mandatory self-regulatory professional organization such as other professions such as
Professional Engineers Ontario Professional Engineers Ontario (PEO; known until 1993 as the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario, APEO) is the self-regulatory body that governs Ontario's 85,000 professional engineers, and sets standards for and regulates engineering ...
, or
College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) is the regulatory college for medical doctors in Ontario, Canada. The college issues certificates of registration for all doctors to allow them to practise medicine as well as: monitors an ...
. Lobbyists may however choose to join a voluntary professional association such as the Canadian Association of Political Consultants, which represents lobbyists as well as media consultants, political staffers, pollsters and others, both provincially and federally. This association does maintain a code of ethics which provides guidelines for actions, though has no enforcement value. Another association is the Public Affairs Association of Canada, which conducts advocacy work on behalf of the lobbying profession on the topic of lobbying regulation, and also provides services to members such as running networking events, and is likewise open to a wide range of political jobs.


Employment

Estimates for the number of lobbyists in Canada are at roughly 5000 lobbyists in the federal system as of 2011. Of these 5000, about 84% or 4300 worked within a not-for-profit or a corporation as an "in-house lobbyist", while about 800 worked as "consultant lobbyists", or in firms that sell lobbying services to other organizations on a contract basis.Wild, J. Canada's Lobbying Act. Privy Council Office of Canada. https://www.oecd.org/governance/digital-government/50659022.pdf More lobbyists may likely be found registered provincially but not federally. As of 2020, the number of lobbyists who had registered had reached 8000.


Practices


Interest Group Associations and Incorporations

Most lobbyists are in-house, meaning they work as a full employee of an organization, not a contractor. These lobbyists can be part of for-profit corporations, or other not-for-profit organizations, and exist in roughly equal proportion. Corporate lobbyists are therefore hired with money generated from the corporation's income, but not-for-profit organizations are more often funded by donations or memberships. Lobbying usually focuses on aligning the interests of the lobbying principal (the organization who hired the lobbyist) with the interests or objectives of the government. For example, almost every government is interested in growing the economy, so the
Canadian Federation of Independent Business The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is a non-profit business organization representing the interests and concerns of over 110,000 Canadian owners of small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) to all three levels of government. Thei ...
frames their interests in generally more permissive regulations through the lens of a "stronger business environment", implying economic growth, employment, and general tax revenue. As another example, when provincial government in Ontario switched in 2018 to the Ford Ministry, focused on slimming government, doing-more-with-less, and an educational focus of making students ready for the workforce, an alignment that was likely to favour
career college A vocational school is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocational education or technical skills required to complete the tasks ...
s, the
Council of Ontario Universities The Council of Ontario Universities (COU) provides a forum for Ontario’s universities to collaborate and advocate in support of their shared mission to the benefit and prosperity of students, communities and the province of Ontario. A membershi ...
, which represents traditional universities issued a statement emphasizing their job-training function that they play. In-house lobbyists are generally centered in interest groups, usually styled as "associations". Many associations, as of the 1970s, explicitly have government relations in their mandates or founding objects. These associations in the 1970s were typically staffed by 2 or more full-time staff, including a director and a secretary, and many had others working in research or communications functions. Most of them were funded by member dues, with different forms of memberships having different prices. The governance of these groups typically had an incorporated structure with annual general meetings, a Board of Directors, a president elected among the directors, and an executive director. The associations often had a multi-level structure by 1970, with many associations having provincial branches or caucuses. Swiss sociologist
Robert Michels Robert Michels (; 9 January 1876 – 3 May 1936) was a German-born Italian sociologist who contributed to elite theory by describing the political behavior of intellectual elites. He belonged to the Italian school of elitism. He is best know ...
has characterized interest organizations as typically having an oligarchical structure, with a membership that is not highly engaged, and directors and staff that spend a large amount of time focusing on the political sphere and as a result are given deference. The director in this model begins to function as an intermediary between members of the association and with government officials, as well as an intermediary between members and the public through communication campaigns and through spokesmanship Most associations were historically in the business or industry space, but Presthus notes that in 1970, there was substantial quantitively variation in the number of provincial advocacy groups, with more labour unions in BC, more business industries in Ontario, and more welfare groups in Quebec. He also notes that at the time, there were relatively few agricultural associations, that he speculates may be due to heavy rural representation. He also notes that the most common group of advocacy groups are locally based, presumably travelling to Ottawa on occasion, rather than having a federal membership, though he notes many also have a tri-level structure, with local associations in a provincial umbrella and a larger federal umbrella. He also notes there were at that time very few associations that were affiliates of international
NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
.


Association Practices

The functions of these associations are characterized by Presthus as the following: recommending appointees to public posts, issuing publications, intervening for the benefit of individual members (a sort of "our man in Ottawa"), hosting annual meetings with important stakeholders, building coalitions with other associations on specific issues, and running an award program, where aligned politicians are given public recognition. How each of these functions may have changed or gone defunct is uncertain, for example, giving awards may have gone out of vogue. Lobbyists may also pair their interactions with public pressure campaigns. For example, the
TransCanada Corporation TC Energy Corporation (formerly TransCanada Corporation) is a major North American energy company, based in the TC Energy Tower building in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, that develops and operates energy infrastructure in Canada, the United States, ...
, when looking to build the
Energy East The Energy East pipeline was a proposed oil pipeline in Canada. It would have delivered diluted bitumen from Western Canada and North Western United States to Eastern Canada, from receipt points in Alberta, Saskatchewan and North Dakota to ref ...
pipeline, launched a campaign trying to generate public interest in the project, while simultaneously lobbying for the pipeline's approval. Lobbying would classically also include inviting politicians to receptions, gatherings at a private venue or a room rented within the legislature where food or drinks may be served, and lobbyists for the group are able to make a speech or interact with politicians or staffers who attend. Lobbying often has a goal of facilitating knowledge transfer. Many targets of lobbying may be unaware of statistics, anecdotes or trends that the organization that is lobbying is aware of. In this way, academics sometimes conceptualize lobbyists as experts who inform public policy making and play a key role in improving the ability of legislators to effectively legislate. An example of this might be the insight of an economist working for a non-profit that pursues the non-profit's interest (improving welfare for less well-off Canadians), by providing expertise on how the Canadian government can most efficiently increase resources in the welfare system in response to
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. This can however create the risk of a revolving door, where people may move between government to industry groups, giving too much insight into the government process and which arguments to make to shape policy, necessitating revolving door legislation like that currently found in the Lobbying Act. In the 1970s, a near majority of bureaucrats described lobbying as important to their work in policy making, with only 40% saying it played little or no role. The majority of lobbying meetings are taken either by civil servants or members of parliament. Government ministers do receive a sizeable amount of lobbying, more than the average member of parliament or senator.


Association Finances

The funding of associations was traditionally dues based, but there was traditional variation that likely continues to this day, with religious and welfare interest groups more likely to be funded by donations than dues, industrial associations more likely to be funded by dues, and with some educational interest groups or others receiving government funds through grants. Some alternative forms of funding may have existed, with Presthus noting that companies were using trade booth space at conventions as a revenue stream. He also noted that membership in these associations was generally affordable, a majority of non-industry associations had dues of under $100 (1970 nominal) per year, and a majority of industry associations were under $2000 per year. Most expenditures are spent in-house, presumably largely on staff, as a majority of association budgets were under $150,000. At that time, executive directors were well-paid on average, with approximately two-thirds of them being in the top earnings decile, with some variation by sector.Presthus, Robert (1973). ''Elite Accommodation in Canadian Politics''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 123-124


Association Staff

Staff were noted to generally have deep subject matter, with approximately 40% of lobbyists having spent 10 years or more in the association or the industry. Ethnic interest groups were less likely to have this configuration and were more likely to have volunteers rather than full-time paid staff. Conceptualizing the political power of these organizations is difficult, but Presthus generally characterizes them as transactional, having
political capital Political capital is the term used for an individual's ability to influence political decisions. This capital is built from what the opposition thinks of the politician, so radical politicians will lose capital. Political capital can be understoo ...
to spend, and spend most of their time building that capital. Statistically, meetings with MPs were a major activity of associations, with industry associations having the most significant number of meetings, at a statistically significant level. Efficacy of this gathering of capital could be measured by "psychopolitical" ratings, how the lobbyists are perceived by politicians. When asked to self-assess what politicians thought of them, slightly more than half of lobbyists believed they had good levels of this ratings, with only labour leaders rating themselves low, despite being the best funded on average.


References

{{reflist Lobbying in Canada