Oil and gas companies in Canada are subject to a variety of regulations designed to ensure they operate safely and limit their harm to the environment — rules that sometimes affect their bottom lines.
This means oil and gas companies have a vested interest in shaping policy. Their efforts to do so include marketing campaigns, public relations strategies and lobbying efforts at all levels of government. At the same time, fossil fuel companies collectively receive millions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks from Canadian governments every year.
It all adds up to a significant effort to elicit more favourable laws and regulations from civil servants and elected officials — and to sway public opinion.
What is lobbying?
Lobbying is a regulated activity in Canada where people are paid by industries and organizations to communicate with public officials, including cabinet ministers, members of Parliament, senior public servants and political staff of opposition leaders.
In theory, it’s a useful way for governments to hear concerns from business, labour organizations and non-profits. In practice, the ability of well-funded corporations to hire lobbyists means they can use the process to crowd out other perspectives.
Federal lobbying disclosure records are public, but limited. While they identify the company or organization doing the lobbying and some names and dates, they are missing other key details on the specific subject matter and the lobbyists who participated.
Oil and gas lobbyists have successfully requested that the Canadian government sign non-disclosure agreements to keep meeting details confidential. And critics of Canada’s lobbying regulations say there are several loopholes that allow some lobbying activities to fly under the radar.
How do oil and gas companies influence Canadian governments?
Canadian oil and gas companies frequently engage in regulated lobbying activities; they were among the almost two-dozen natural resource companies that secured meetings with Prime Minister Mark Carney in the first hundred days after he won the 2025 election. Among the topics of discussion at those meetings was Canada’s Trudeau-era climate plan.
At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a fossil fuel lobby group was able to meet dozens of times with officials in the Alberta and federal governments.
As governments develop new policy, they often bring in private sector representatives to provide feedback. Canada’s oil and gas industry has used these opportunities to lobby to delay climate policies or help write their early drafts. Canadian oil and gas companies have also tried to convince public servants to weaken climate rules, such as emissions caps.
Beyond official acts of lobbying, oil and gas company executives have been known to write letters outlining objections to environmental policy. Fossil fuel companies may also try to deliver a pro-oil-and-gas message to Canadian diplomats.
Sometimes, oil and gas companies maintain their close relationships with governments by hiring former politicians, creating what some critics call a “revolving door” between government and industry.
In 2024, The Narwhal reported on leaked recordings of a meeting at Calgary-based TC Energy. In it, an executive claimed to have successfully ghostwritten briefing notes or policy for federal and provincial public servants. Both the federal Department of Natural Resources and the B.C. government denied those claims.
How do oil and gas companies try to influence the public?
The oil and gas sector doesn’t focus exclusively on influencing governments. Just like in other industries, oil and gas companies spend considerable time and money trying to make the public familiar with their brands and to view them favourably.
This includes arts and culture sponsorships that neglect to mention their contribution to climate change. They also run advertising in traditional and social media.
For many decades, the oil and gas industry in Canada and beyond used its considerable influence to deny scientific evidence about climate change, despite having access to that evidence as early as the 1960s.
More recently, Canada’s oil and gas industry has come under fire from the federal Competition Bureau for attempts to “greenwash,” or overstate its environmental commitments, in advertisements and other public messaging found everywhere from the Super Bowl broadcast to public transit to cell phone screens and people’s mailboxes. Some environmental advocacy organizations have also argued fossil fuels are so harmful to human health that the government should institute marketing bans similar to those it has on tobacco.
The Narwhal’s reporting on the influence of Canada’s oil and gas industry is supported in part by the Trottier Family Foundation. As per The Narwhal’s editorial independence policy, the foundation has no editorial input.
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