Federal lobbying registry

What it means

The federal Registry of Lobbyists is maintained by the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying under the Lobbying Act. Lobbyists register who they are and who they act for, and then file monthly communication reports recording oral, arranged communications with designated public office holders — naming the office holder, the date, and the subject matter.

There are two kinds of registrant. Consultant lobbyists are hired to lobby on a client's behalf, and register per client. In-house lobbyists work for a corporation or organisation and are registered collectively when lobbying makes up a significant part of the organisation's work. The distinction matters when you are reading the registry: a consultant entry names a client, an in-house entry names an employer.

What the registry records is contact, not influence. A communication report tells you that a meeting happened and what subject was raised. It does not tell you what was said, what was asked for, or whether anything changed as a result. Volume of contact is a measure of access, and access is worth knowing about, but it is not the same as a result.

Every province runs its own registry on its own statute, with its own thresholds and its own definition of who counts as a lobbyist and who counts as a target. Provincial registries are separate systems, not regional views of the federal one, and a lobbyist active in both must register in both.

Registries are self-reported. They are the best systematic record that exists of who is in the room, and they depend on registrants filing accurately and on time.