Hi Lobby Bot followers! 

We’re excited to be back sharing some juicy updates from the first three months of this year. We’re moving to quarterly blog updates on lobbying, but the tracker on our main Lobby Bot web page will be updated monthly. 

The first quarter of 2024 was a busy one for the oil and gas industry! They updated shareholders on the billions of dollars in profits they received in 2023, kicked off the new year with big plans to increase production, and wasted no time before lobbying against policies that would regulate their pollution. 

Here are the highlights from January, February and March (Q1): 

Q1 total lobby meetings: 256

Top 3 Companies that lobbied the most 

Suncor: 31 meetings

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP): 23 meetings

Pathways Alliance: 21 meetings

Ministries lobbied most 

  1. Natural Resources Canada – 80 meetings
  2. Environment and Climate Change Canada – 48 meetings
  3. Privy Council Office – 45 meetings

Ministers lobbied most

  1. Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Natural Resources, took 5 lobby meetings. This included meetings with the CAPP, MEG, Pathways Alliance, and Suncor. 
  2. Chrystia Freeland, Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister took 4 lobby meetings. This included meetings with Pathways Alliance, Imperial Oil, ConocoPhillips, and Cenovus. 
  3. Francoise-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, took 4 lobby meetings. This included meetings with BHP, Suncor, Pathways Alliance, and Imperial Oil. 

MPs who took the most meetings

  1. Shannon Stubbs, Member of Parliament for Lakeland (AB) took meetings with the Pathways Alliance, Irving Oil, and MEG, as well as multiple meetings with CAPP, Canadian Natural Resources Ltd,  Suncor, and Cenovus, for a total of 12  meetings.
  2. Patrick Weiler, Member of Parliament for West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast – Sea to Sky (BC) took meetings with the Canadian Gas Association and Pathways Alliance, as well as two meetings with Fortis BC, for a total of 4 meetings.

When Big Oil lobbies, it’s important to remember that these are for-profit companies whose core interest is extracting, producing and selling fossil fuels to make lots of money for their shareholders. Greenhouse gas emissions from oil, coal, and gas are causing the climate crisis, yet these companies’ entire business model is to continue growing fossil fuel production. 

The Canadian government has to stand up to the oil and gas industry and support Canadians’ vision to cap and cut that industry’s emissions. Will you join us in telling the federal government to put people in Canada ahead of the profits of oil and gas companies?

TAKE ACTION TO STOP BIG OIL FROM POLLUTING OUR CLIMATE

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Looking for more information about how we track the fossil fuel industry lobbying the federal government? Visit this page.