LobbyComply Blog

On July 28, the city of Calgary’s City Council passed a proposal to explore the consideration of a lobbyist registry. The council’s Executive Committee’s “notice of motion” application made to the city council requested the council to direct the chief administrative officer and the council’s ethics advisor to conduct a jurisdictional review and report back its results to the Executive Committee by the end of 2026. The report must explore several options for city council’s consideration, including best practices from comparable Canadian municipalities; possible public disclosures requirements, and any accessibility requirements. The council also passed an amendment requiring any proposed registry  also apply to lobbying the council’s senior administrative staff.

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The public has until August 17 to submit comments regarding the province’s lobbying laws. The Lobbyists Act, which is required to be evaluated by the Legislative Assembly of Alberta every five years, is undergoing a comprehensive review by the Standing Committee on Alberta’s Economic Future. The committee has invited written submissions from identified stakeholders, and the public, relating specifically to the Lobbyists Act. Submissions may be emailed to AEFCommittee.Admin@assembly.ab.ca or through the committee’s webform available at https://www.assembly.ab.ca/assembly-business/committees/EF. Written submissions, along with the names of those who submit them, may be made public as part of the review process. While the Lobbyist Act is mandated to be reviewed, the government is under no obligation to amend or change the Act.

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On July 14, the city of Calgary’s Executive Committee unanimously passed a proposal for the consideration of a lobbyist registry. The committee’s  “notice of motion” request to the city council, if accepted, would direct the chief administrative officer and the council’s ethics advisor to conduct a jurisdictional review and report back its results to the Executive Committee by the end of 2026. The report must explore several options for city council’s consideration, including best practices from comparable Canadian municipalities; public disclosure and accessibility requirements; and whether the registry should apply to the city’s senior administration. The notice is scheduled to be submitted on July 28 at a regular meeting of the council.

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Sometime in 2027, New Brunswick, Canada’s new lobbying law amendments will be brought into force. Bill No. 44, An Act to Amend the Lobbyists’ Registration Act, which was introduced and passed in May and received royal assent in June, mandates monthly reporting and additional disclosures not currently required, including with whom a lobbyist met, when they met, and where they met. The new law gives the Office of the Integrity Commissioner the authority to investigate violations and to impose financial penalties. The commissioner will also create a code of conduct for lobbyists. The code, with which lobbyists must comply, will detail the expected ethical standards, behaviors and responsibilities of lobbyists.

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On July 7, the gift limit for lobbyists imposed by Canada’s federal Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct increased from $40 for gifts and hospitality for an official they lobby or expect to lobby to $43. The new gift limit has an annual maximum amount of $215, per calendar year, from one lobbying source. The previous aggregate limit was $200. The intention of the limits is to avoid the creation of a sense of obligation on the part of the official. Both increases were announced by the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying of Canada, which considers Statistics Canada’s consumer price index. The commissioner, on an annual basis, has the option to take inflation into account in adjusting the individual and annual gift limit amounts.

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In the upcoming months, Ontario’s Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing a code of conduct for members of city councils and of local boards, including Toronto. On June 2, Bill 9, a bill to change the ethics framework of the province’s city councils, received royal assent and became law. The law now provides the Lieutenant Governor in Council with the authority to make regulations setting a code of conduct for members of the province’s municipal councils and boards. The Act also requires the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario to perform certain functions with respect to a city’s Integrity Commissioner, including providing education and training to the local Commissioner. Additionally, Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner may conduct inquiries, refer matters back to the local commissioner, and recommend that a member’s seat be declared vacant and require a city council to vote on such recommendation.

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As of June 16, the website and public registry of the Office of the Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner are currently offline because of a “potential security vulnerability.” The Ethics Commissioner’s office did not disclose how the problem was identified or any risks for users of the office’s website. The Office, which oversees compliance with the Conflict of Interest Code for Members of the House of Commons and the federal Conflict of Interest Act, is not commenting on “specific cybersecurity measures or ongoing assessments” for both security and confidentiality reasons,” according to The Globe and Mail.

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On June 11, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas disclosed he is working with the city council to establish a registry of lobbyists for the city. The registry would be separate from a proposed provincial code of conduct applicable to local municipal councils announced earlier this year by Alberta’s Municipal Affairs Minister Dan Williams. The ministry issued a statement to Globalnews.ca that Calgary “is free to advance its own lobbying registry” independent of the province.

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The Canadian federal Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger has submitted her annual report to the Parliament of Canada for 2025-26. The report, which covers registrations, lobbyist activity reports, compliance, and other issues concerning the commissioner’s office, also highlights the implementation of a new registration threshold and the start of the statutory review of the Lobbying Act. A new interpretation bulletin was issued in July of 2025, lowering the registration threshold for organizations and corporations. That threshold became effective on January 19, 2026. The report details the October 10, 2025, briefing session about the current lobbying law, which Commissioner Bélanger had with the Parliament through its Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI). It also details the statutory review of the Lobbying Act begun on March 9, 2026, by the ETHI with Commissioner Bélanger as the first witness. Belanger discussed her 21 recommendations for modernizing and improving the federal lobbying law. This annual report is required to be filed within three months after the end of each fiscal year by the commissioner about the administration of the Lobbying Act during that fiscal year. 

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On June 5, Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer Greg Essensa received an official warrant from the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly confirming the seat for the York—Simcoe  electoral district was vacant. Caroline Anne Mulroney Lapham, who has held the seat since 2018, resigned on June 5, citing her intention to focus on her personal life. As required by law, a by-election for the seat must be called by December 2, 2026, which is within six months of the Chief Electoral Officer’s notice. The earliest possible date for the election is July 9, and the latest possible date would be December 31, 2026.

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On June 4, members of the Lobbyists Registrars and Commissioners Network announced support of lobbying reforms called for by the Commissioner of Lobbying of Quebec. The reforms, prepared by Commissioner of Lobbying of Quebec, Jean-François Routhier in a 99-page report,  proposes what Routhier calls the five main pillars for reform. These pillars emphasize refocusing the scope of the law towards the citizens’ right of transparency;  making information available to the public more rapidly; holding accountable organizations that initiate and benefit from lobbying efforts; engaging public institutions in transparency through prevention, training, reporting, and post-mandate rules; and better equipping the commissioner with administrative sanctions, education, and continuous development of the regime. Signatory members to the supporting announcement include officials overseeing lobbying regiments in Canada, the provinces in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, and the cities of Ottawa and Toronto.

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A bill to change the ethics framework of the province’s city councils advanced through the legislature. On May 26, Bill 9, the Municipal Accountability Act, 2025, was carried on a vote for its third reading. The law would provide  that the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations prescribing a code of conduct for members of city councils and of local boards, including Toronto, which is currently controlled by the City of Toronto Act, 2006. The Act requires the Integrity Commissioner of Ontario to perform certain functions with respect to a city’s Integrity Commissioner, including providing education and training to the local Commissioner. Additionally, Ontario’s Integrity Commissioner may conduct inquiries, refer matters back to the local commissioner, and recommend that a member’s seat be declared vacant and require a city council to vote on such recommendation.

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New Brunswick, Canada may soon be overhauling its provincial lobbying law. On May 12, legislation was introduced into parliament to amend the current Lobbyists’ Registration Act. Bill No. 44 would mandate monthly reporting and additional disclosures not currently required, including with whom a lobbyist met, when they met, and where they met. The Office of the Integrity Commissioner would have the authority to investigate violations and to impose financial penalties. The commissioner would also create a code of conduct for lobbyists. The code, with which lobbyists must comply, will detail the expected ethical standards, behaviors, and responsibilities of lobbyists.

Want to keep up with lobbying, procurement, and corporate contribution compliance internationally? We have you covered. Learn more here.

Beginning on April 1 and lasting until September 30, 2026, unregistered lobbyists will not face fines for certain violations of British Columbia’s Lobbyists Transparency Act. One of the main goals of the  “temporary fine freeze” is to encourage currently unregistered lobbyists and organizations to register with the province’s Office of the Registrar of Lobbyists. In order to avail oneself of this freeze, a person or organization must not have previously received a fine from the registrar’s office, not have been registered since May 4, 2020, and must be forthcoming with the registrar’s staff about all required information to be submitted into the registry. This freeze does not apply to violations related to the prohibition on lobbying by former public office holders or for previous lobbying performed in connection with a contract for providing paid advice to the government of British Columbia or another provincial entity. The fine freeze is not available to registered lobbyists, to unregistered lobbyists that the registrar believes may have committed flagrant violations of the law, or to unregistered lobbyists attempting to use the temporary fine freeze to delay or obscure transparency.