August 12 By-Elections Called in Prince Edward Island

On August 12, by-elections will be held for District 9 (Charlottetown-Hillsborough Park) and District 15 (Brackley-Hunter RiverPark) for the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island.

In District 9, the by-election was called because of the resignation of MLA Natalie Jameson, who resigned on February 11. Jameson will be the Conservative Party of Canada’s candidate for Charlottetown in the next federal election.

In District 15, the by-election was called because of the resignation of Premier Dennis King, who resigned on February 21. King has indicated he no longer wished to remain in politics.

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Beginning January 19, 2026, the Canadian federal lobbyist registration threshold for organizations and corporations will be lowered. On July 16, the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada issued new interpretation bulletins concerning the “significant part of the duties” threshold for when organizations and corporations must be registered under the Lobbying Act.

One bulletin lowers the lobbyist registration threshold from the current 32 hours per month to 8 hours in a rolling four-week period.

A second updated interpretation addresses the Lobbying Act’s revolving door provision and interprets a significant part of a designated public office holder’s work as 8 hours or more in any given consecutive four-week period. This would include any time spent preparing for and participating in oral communications with public office holders as well as drafting written communications to public office holders.

An additional bulletin addressing the transitional period for former designated public office holders employed by corporations was also issued.

The commissioner believes these interpretations are consistent with the Lobbying Act.

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Beginning on July 14, a new federal procurement policy regarding foreign vendors took effect.

The new policy requires all new non-defense procurements over $10,000 involving an open competition by or on behalf of any federal department or agency of Canada by a foreign supplier be limited to whether the solicitation is subject to a trade agreement between Canada and the supplier’s jurisdiction. If a supplier is from a jurisdiction that does not have a trade agreement with Canada and applies to a procurement process, it will no longer be eligible to compete, with limited exceptions. Canadian suppliers will continue to be eligible to compete for all federal procurement opportunities.

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat issued a Contracting Policy Notice on July 10 regarding the policy, entitled the Interim Policy on Reciprocal Procurement, for all departments and agencies that have delegated authority for procurement from the Minister responsible for Public Services and Procurement Canada.

Contracts and solicitations posted prior to July 14 are not subject to this new rule

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On August 11, a by-election will be held in the electoral division of Arthabaska, in the Centre-du-Québec region, for a seat in the province’s National Assembly of Quebec. MNA Éric Lefebvre had resigned on March 18 to run with the Conservative Party of Canada for the federal riding of Richmond-Arthabaska (Quebec) for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons.

Under a decree issued by the Government of Québec on July 8, the Chief Electoral Officer, Mr. Jean-François Blanchet, will oversee the organization of the election. Advance polling for voting will begin on August 3.

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On June 30, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a federal by-election will be held on August 18 for the electoral district of Battle River-Crowfoot in Alberta.

Earlier this month, the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada, Stéphane Perrault, had received official notice from the Speaker of the House of Commons that the seat was vacant. MP Damien Kurek had resigned in order to allow Pierre Poilievre to run for his place in the House of Commons.

Perrault’s announcement of the vacancy, made on June 18, signaled the start of the election period.

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Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger has submitted to the Parliament of Canada her annual report for 2024-25. The report highlights the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying’s ongoing efforts to support transparency in lobbying at the federal level in Canada.

The report details information about lobbying registration and compliance activities. Additionally, the commissioner repeats her intention to issue a new interpretation in 2025 with respect to the registration threshold by employees of organizations and corporations. A new interpretation will also be issued regarding the five-year restriction on lobbying for individuals ceasing to be designated public office holders.

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Beginning on January 1, 2026, third parties running partisan election advertisements will have to register with Quebec’s Chief Electoral Officer. On May 30, Quebec’s Bill 98, the Act to Amend the Election Act Primarily to Preserve the Integrity of the Electoral Process, received royal assent.

Third party advertisers with expenses totaling more than $1,000 will have to register with the Chief Electoral Officer by sending a notice of intent. Following the election, they will have to submit a statement of their advertising expenses. The public will be able to view a list of registered third parties and their statements on the Elections Québec website.

The bill also changes political party activity reporting, imposes an obligation to destroy personal information relating to voters in certain circumstances, and makes it an offence for anyone disseminating certain information that they know to be false with the intent to influence the results of an election, disrupt its conduct, or compromise public confidence in the electoral process.

New changes in the legislation will be in effect by October 5, 2026, the date of Quebec’s next scheduled provincial elections.

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On May 27, the Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists for British Columbia released updates for several of its guidance documents to reflect the changes to the Lobbyists Transparency Act’s (LTA) filing requirements brought in by the Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act, 2024, which came into force on the same day.

One updated guidance, Government Funding, is intended to help lobbyists understand what is meant by the term government funding and the associated reporting obligations.

A guidance previously called Coalitions is now entitled Working Together for the Purpose of Lobbying. It outlines the reporting requirements under the LTA. It outlines designated filers’ obligations to report the name and business address of any other client or organization with whom they work for the purpose of lobbying and who has a direct interest in the outcome of the lobbying activities. When a consultant lobbyist or an organization ceases lobbying, a designated filer has 30 days after the month in which lobbying stops to end their registration return in the registry.

Other released guidance documents include Sample Questionnaire for Consultant Lobbyists’ Clients, Sample Questionnaire for Organizations that are Lobbying, Non-Profit Organizations, Getting Started – Reference Guide, Registration Returns – New and Reactivations, Monthly Returns – Registration Return Updates and Lobbying Activity Reports, Quick Reference Guide for Representatives, and Funding Returns.

On May 27, 2025, Elections Canada published the updated limits on expenses for regulated activities of third parties involved in federal elections in Canada. The Canada Elections Act imposes a limit on expenses a third party can incur for regulated political activities.

For an election called on or after April 1, 2025, and before April 1, 2026 , a third party is prohibited from incurring overall election advertising expenses of a total amount of more than $617,400 during a general election. The previous limit was $602,700. For the same period of April 1, 2025, to March 31, 2026, a third party is prohibited from incurring election advertising expenses in a given electoral district of a total amount of more than $5,292 during a general election. The previous limit was $5,166.

Adjustments are made annually based on a formula of a base amount multiplied by the inflation adjustment factor in effect for the period.

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Earlier this month, the Commissioner of Lobbying for Canada, Nancy Bélanger, reiterated some of her office’s proposed modifications to Canada’s current lobbying law. Speaking at a webinar on May 13 for the Public Affairs Association of Canada, Saskatchewan Chapter, Bélanger reportedly talked about a proposal to remove the “significant part of duties” registration threshold, known as the 20% rule, for in-house lobbyists and replace it with an obligation to register lobbying activities by default, with limited exceptions. Other proposals being considered by Bélanger’s office include making reporting requirements the same for all in-house lobbyist registrations; deeming paid members of boards of directors to be employees of corporations and organizations; and harmonizing the registration deadline for consultant and in-house lobbyists to 15 days.

Bélanger has stated that she intends to issue new guidance on how the Lobbying Act should be interpreted.

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Cathryn Motherwell was appointed Integrity Commissioner of Ontario by the Legislative Assembly on April 16, replacing former Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake. Wake served as commissioner for nine years before deciding to retire earlier this year. Motherwell is a former journalist and has worked with the Office of the Integrity Commissioner since 2009.

On May 27, amendments to British Columbia’s Lobbyists Transparency Act come into force. The changes included in Bill 9, Miscellaneous Statutes Amendment Act 2024, include removing requirements that requested government funding be reported, extending the due date to report received government funding, and clarifications on other existing filing requirements for coalition lobbying.

Designated filers will no longer be required to report requested government funding but will still need to report received government funding the previous 12 months. The deadline to report received government funding has been extended. A filer now has three months plus 15 days following the month in which government funding was received to report the funding. Designated filers may continue to file received government funding information monthly if they prefer to do so.

While requirements remain the same concerning coalition lobbying reporting, there are language changes for clarification. Designated Filers will be required to report the name and business address of any other client or organization who they work with for the purpose of lobbying and who has a direct interest in the outcome of the lobbying activities. When a consultant lobbyist or an organization ceases lobbying, the designated filer will have 30 days after the month in which lobbying stops to end their registration return in the Lobbyists Registry. They must submit any outstanding information that otherwise would have been submitted in a monthly return or any outstanding information on received government funding up to the date the lobbying ceased.

Sometime in 2025, a by-election will be coming in Quebec for the provincial riding of Arthabaska for a seat in the province’s National Assembly of Quebec. MNA Éric Lefebvre resigned on March 18 to run with the Conservative Party of Canada for the federal riding of Richmond-Arthabaska (Quebec) for a seat in the Canadian House of Commons.

The by-election date in the Arthabaska electoral division has not yet been determined, according to Elections Quebec. Prime Minister François Legault has six months to call a by-election.

The federal by-election for the electoral district of Halifax (Nova Scotia) to fill a vacancy in the House of Commons has been cancelled.

Originally scheduled for April 14, Elections Canada announced that because A federal general election has been called for April 28, the previously scheduled by-election for the electoral district will be held on that date. Technically, the electoral district may change for the general election and have new electoral boundaries.

Member of Parliament Andy Fillmore, who had occupied the seat, resigned on August 31 of last year to run for Halifax mayor. On March 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney called the snap federal election because his Liberal Party was not able to form a majority government.