A Roadmap To Canada's Rapidly Changing Lobbying Landscape: Q1 Highlights

Canada's lobbying landscape is rapidly changing — a number of amendments have recently come into force or been proposed that revise lobbying, election finance and conflict of interest requirements in Alberta, British Columbia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Additionally, the cities of Edmonton and Vaughan have also changed their lobbying registration requirements.

PROVINCIAL CHANGES

Alberta

Bill 11, Lobbyists Amendment Act, 2018 (Bill 11), was introduced in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta on April 11, 2018 and proposed a number of amendments to the Lobbyists Act. Among these proposed amendments is the reduction of the threshold for in-house lobbyists from 100 hours to 50 hours to match that of Ontario, and the inclusion in that amount of time spent preparing for, and communicating with public office holders. Bill 11 further proposes to add grassroots lobbying to the definition of lobbying under the Lobbyists Act.