A return to more in-person meetings in 2022 may reduce the extraordinarily high level of government engagement that has been typical during the COVID-19 pandemic, but probably not down to pre-pandemic levels, according to some lobbyists.

“I think we may already be starting to see a tapering-off as we bounce back from COVID,” said Jason Kerr, president of the Government Relations Institute of Canada (GRIC). “As we begin, increasingly, to resume regular in-person meetings with officials in the coming months, I think we will see a natural corresponding shift downward in lobbying activities, because there just would not be enough time in the day to keep those levels up.”

Lobbyists who have relied almost exclusively on virtual meetings to connect with government officials for the past two years during the pandemic are increasingly viewing in-person meetings as an option again as pandemic restrictions show signs of lifting across Canada, according to Kerr, who is also the managing director of government relations for the Canadian Automobile Association. On March 8, the Government of Ontario announced plans to scrap most mask mandates beginning on March 21 in the province, including in schools, restaurants, gyms, and stores, with other remaining health restrictions to drop by the end of April.

Lobbying activity surged during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the number of active registrations on the federal lobbyists’ registry reaching a peak of 4,849 as of March 10, 2022, the registry shows. The fiscal year period between April 2020 and March 2021 included a record-setting average of 4,520 active registrations each month, according to an Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying annual report released on June 15, 2021. The pandemic also resulted in a record of 29,029 monthly communication reports filed for the 2020-2021 fiscal year, according to the registry.

The high volume of lobbying during the pandemic may be partly attributed to most of the meetings occurring virtually, according to Kerr. Virtual meetings don’t require any travel time, which potentially allows lobbyists and parliamentarians to squeeze more meetings into a day, he said. The return of in-person meetings, and the travel required to participate in them, could reduce the amount of time spent lobbying, he said.

“Think about walking down Sparks Street, going through security, [and] waiting around in all its forms. It eats up a lot of a lobbyists’ time,” said Kerr. “The ability to take back-to-back meetings without having to work in travel time is especially efficient for government relations professionals, as well as elected officials.”

Even with a possible reduction in total meetings in 2022, there are many lobbyists and parliamentarians who are eager to return to more in-person meetings, according to Kerr. In-person engagements are expected to also increase in the summer as the warmer weather sets in, he said.

“Typically, I would say the ability to build a relationship with those you’re meeting as you arrive and exit through informal chit-chat is missed in a virtual world, as is the ability to read nonverbal cues,” said Kerr. “For the GR community as a whole, I think the opportunity to gather and network is something that’s really been missed, and will be great to get back to, and give us a reason to get away from our screens.”

Daniel Perry, a consultant for Summa Strategies and a Conservative strategist, agreed that virtual meetings can be more efficient in terms of time, and he also said there is an appetite among lobbyists and government officials to resume in-person meetings because they are “tired of being behind computer screens.”

“I think the convenience of having back-to-back meetings is outstanding, and not having a commute time,” said Perry. “At the same time, that face-to-face is very important to help build relationships. I think when it comes to lobbying, what we’ll be seeing is that throughout the day we’ll be having a lot of meetings virtually, but then at night we’ll be seeing traditional receptions come back so we’ll be able to see the people you talked with earlier.”

Perry began as a consultant at Summa in January 2021, while the pandemic was already underway. Perry said that what he looks forward to about an increase in in-person meetings is the opportunity to meet face-to-face with people who he’s gotten to know only through emails and phone calls.

A slight decrease in lobbying activity in 2022 compared to the last two years may also be expected because organizations have gained more experience in understanding the emergency federal programs related to the pandemic, he said.

“At the beginning of the pandemic, people didn’t know what was going on. There was a lot of money on the table, [and] no one really knew how to access that,” he said. “No one knew what was going on, so they turned to government relations professionals to provide some insight and some advice on how best to approach the government, whether that was how to access programs, or to provide support or solutions to the challenges that Canadians are facing.”

Perry said he expects a “small decrease” in overall lobbying in 2022, but said engagements could still be higher than pre-pandemic years. Parliamentarians and government staff wanted to show leadership during the pandemic by making themselves available to lobbyists, and there is now an expectation for that level of availability to continue, Perry said.

Christian von Donat, vice-president of government relations and strategy at Impact Public Affairs and former chief of staff to Liberal MP Yvonne Jones (Newfoundland and Labrador), told The Hill Times he has in-person meetings scheduled for the remainder of March, including with dozens of MPs across different parties.

“I don’t think virtual meetings have, or ever really did, fully replace in-person [meetings]. I think when you’re meeting with somebody in a virtual setting, you can have technology issues. Sometimes the meeting isn’t as clear, or you’re not able to communicate effectively. I feel there’s a bit of a relationship side that’s lacking,” he said. “I also hear from Parliamentarians and ministerial staff that they’re very keen to meet in-person again. I think that people don’t want to sit home like they have for two years. We’re social people. Engagement and interactions, and those types of physical meetings, I think are part of human nature.”

Barbara Fox, CEO of Enterprise Canada, said that the hybrid model combining in-person and virtual meetings is “here to stay” because people have realized the efficiency of virtual meetings.

“In the next little while people are going to try to do more in person, just to make that connection, but once that’s done, both [in-person and virtual] are going to be what we see going forward,” she said. “The in-person receptions, I understand, have started up again. I think people are looking forward to those starting up again.”

Some organizations won’t want to let go of virtual meetings because communicating with government officials remotely is less costly than traveling to Ottawa for in-person meetings, said Fox.

“This sort of virtual approach has also leveled the playing field for some of the players that didn’t feel they could be hosting a larger, elaborate Parliament Hill day,” said Fox. “I’ve heard of a lot of smaller groups that say, ‘Now I’m prepared to try this,’ whereas before it was just a little too overwhelming.”

JCnockaert@hilltimes.com

 

Top 100 Lobbyists

The Hill Times compiled this list after reaching out to more than 20 lobbyists, including both in-house representatives and consultants, on background for input. The list is not a popularity contest, but is intended to showcase prominent lobbyists at the federal level based on their reputation and perceived effectiveness, as judged by their peers. This list was compiled by The Hill Times reporter Jesse Cnockaert and organized alphabetically by the lobbyist’s last name.

Notice: This list was updated on March 14 to replace the name of Lindsey Scully, head of PR (Canada) for Netflix, with Stéphane Cardin, director of public policy for Netflix.

Most Lobbied Cabinet Ministers (2021)

This table shows the top 10 most-lobbied members of the current cabinet, based on communication reports filed in 2021. Note that a cabinet shuffle occurred on Oct. 26, 2021, which introduced nine new ministers to the cabinet, as well as changed the roles of some other ministers. Information courtesy of the federal lobbyists’ registry.

Cabinet member	Communication reports 2021
Minister of Innovation François-Philippe Champagne	224
Minister of Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson	144	(104 as minister of Environment, and 40 in current role)
Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra	112	(111 in current role)
President of the Treasury Board Mona Fortier	110	(99 as minister of Middle Class Prosperity, and 11 in current role)
Minister of Immigration Sean Fraser	108	(Five in current role)
Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault	102	(63 as Heritage minister, 39 as Environment Minister)
Minister of Agriculture Marie-Claude Bibeau	90
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland	88
Minister of International Trade Mary Ng	78
Minister of Labour Seamus O’Regan	76	(62 as minister of Natural Resources, and 14 in current role)

 

Most Lobbied Non-Cabinet MPs

This is a list of the non-cabinet MPs who are listed in the most communication reports on the federal lobbyists’ registry during 2021. Information courtesy of the federal lobbyists’ registry.

Non-cabinet MP	Affiliation/role	Communication reports
Francis Drouin	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of agriculture	136
Erin O’Toole	Conservative, former Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada (Aug. 24, 2020 to Feb. 2, 2022)	117
Terry Duguid	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of environment	108
Francesco Sorbara	Liberal, former parliamentary secretary to the minister of national revenue (Dec. 12, 2019 to Aug. 15, 2021)	108
Dan Albas	Conservative, vice-chair of House Finance Committee	105
Kody Blois	Liberal, chair of House Agriculture Committee	100
Tony Baldinelli	Conservative, member of House International Trade Committee	84
Greg McLean	Conservative, member of House Natural Resources Committee	83
Richard Cannings	NDP, member of House Science and Research Committee	80
Greg Fergus	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the prime minister and to the president of the Treasury Board	78
Patrick Weiler	Liberal, member of House Environment Committee and Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee	77
Heather McPherson	NDP, deputy whip of the New Democratic Party	75
Ed Fast	Conservative, member of House Finance Committee	74
Lianne Rood	Conservative, deputy whip of the official opposition	72
Jim Carr	Liberal, chair of House Public Safety Committee. Former special representative for the Prairies (Jan. 12, 2021 to Oct. 26 2021)	71
Julie Dabrusin	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of natural resources and to the minister of environment	71
Ali Ehsassi	Liberal, former parliamentary secretary to the minister of innovation (Dec. 12, 2019 to Aug. 15, 2021)	71
John Barlow	Conservative, vice-chair of House Agriculture Committee	70
Randy Hoback	Conservative, vice-chair of House International Trade Committee	68
Pam Damoff	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of public safety	67
John Nater	Conservative, vice-chair of House Canadian Heritage Committee	66
Tracy Gray	Conservative, member of House Industry and Technology Committee	65
Ya’ara Saks	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of families	65
Matt Jeneroux	Conservative, member of House Transport Committee	64
Warren Steinley	Conservative, member of House Procedure and House Affairs Committee	63
Chris d’Entremont	Conservative, deputy speaker and chair of Committees of the Whole	58
Larry Maguire	Conservative, vice-chair of House Natural Resources Committee	58
James Maloney	Liberal, member of the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians	57
Andrew Scheer	Conservative, member Procedure and House Affairs Committee	57
Bryan May	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of national defence	56
Adam van Koeverden	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of health and to the minister of sport	56
Jagmeet Singh	Leader of the New Democratic Party	55
Scott Aitchison	Conservative, member of House Human Resources Committee	54
Ziad Aboultaif	Conservative, member of House Foreign Affairs Committee	53
Vance Badawey	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of Indigenous services	53
Colin Carrie	Conservative, member of House Environment Committee	52
Peter Fragiskatos	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of national revenue	52
Dane Lloyd	Conservative, member of House Public Safety Committee	51
Robert Oliphant	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs	51
Tako Van Popta	Conservative, member of House Public Safety Committee	50
Gary Vidal	Conservative, member of House Indigenous and Northern Affairs Committee	50
Alexandre Boulerice	NDP, former member of House Official Languages Committee (Jan. 25, 2021 to Aug. 15, 2021)	49
Rachel Bendayan	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of tourism and associate minister of finance	48
Andy Fillmore	Liberal, parliamentary secretary to the minister of innovation	47
Stephanie Kusie	Conservative, vice chair of House Human Resources Committee	47
Alistair MacGregor	NDP, member of House Agriculture Committee	47
Lloyd Longfield	Liberal, member of House Environment Committee	46
Laurel Collins	NDP, member of House Environment Committee	45
Marcus Powlowski	Liberal, member of House Health Committee	45
Salma Zahid	Liberal, chair of House Citizenship and Immigration Committee	45