Lobbying activity surged after the election of the new Trudeau government, according to an iPolitics analysis of data available on the website of the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying (OCL).

The number of new registrations filed with that office more than doubled from 2015 to 2016 — soaring from 939 to 2,270. That works out to an increase of 142 per cent in just one year.

And the number of monthly communication reports — used by the OCL to track lobbyists’ interactions with public officials — spiked as well. According to the data, 9,573 monthly communication reports were filed in 2015. In 2016, that number jumped to a whopping 21,946 — just shy of a 130 per cent increase.

These figures for 2016 represent the highest numbers recorded in a given calendar year since July 2, 2008, when Stephen Harper’s Lobbying Act came into force. Prior to that, the lobbying commissioner’s office did not collect posted dates for new registrations and lobbyists were not required to submit monthly communication reports.

In an email, Commissioner of Lobbying Karen Shepherd linked the increase to the change in government.

“The 2015 election and subsequent change in government appears to have influenced registrations and monthly communication reports,” the statement reads.

Lobbyists and government relations experts agree.

“I think the only conclusion that we can safely draw is that people wanted to engage with the new government,” said Scott Thurlow, an Ottawa-based lawyer and consultant lobbyist with Temple Scott Associates.

While his initial reaction to the high number of monthly communication reports was, “Wow, that’s a lot of meetings,” Thurlow said the 2016 figures are in line with what he’d expect.

“You have (a) full government year, there’s no 100-day election in the middle of it,” he said. “I would supplement that by saying that the new government has launched, I can’t even (say) how many consultations, and I imagine that gives rise to the need for that direct engagement.”

Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, echoed Thurlow’s reaction, adding that the large number of fresh faces and new MPs in the Liberal cabinet would have played a part as well.

“I would’ve expected certainly that there would be a spike in contacts when you get a change in government for the first time in a decade,” Beatty said. “The first thing you want to do is have a chance to meet and get to know one another.”

2015 was a slightly exceptional year in that government activity slowed once the unusually long election campaign kicked off. Compared to previous years, the numbers of new registrations and monthly communication reports filed in 2015 are relatively low. However, when compared to numbers from 2014, the 2016 figures are still significantly higher.

In 2014, 1,214 new registrations were submitted to the OCL — compared to 2,270 in 2016 — and 12,907 monthly communication reports were posted. More than double that number of reports were filed in 2016.

Thurlow said that the spike in registrations and reports is “proof” that the lobby registry system is working.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” he said. “People have registration obligations. They are registering. It’s working. I think the registry job does a fantastic job at offering Canadians … the transparency that it was designed to do.”

The Federal Accountability Act — a statute passed in 2006 by the former Harper government that sought to reduce opportunities for public office holders to be financially influenced — instituted changes across several government branches, including the Registrar of Lobbyists. That registrar was dismantled and replaced with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying, who is an independent agent of Parliament.

Under the new changes, lobbyists were required to disclose details about their communications with public office holders and “payments or other benefits that are contingent on the outcome of any consultant lobbyist’s activity” were banned. The accountability act also introduced protection for government whistle-blowers, implemented a “five-year lobbying ban on former ministers, their aides, and senior public servants,” and increased penalties for those found guilty of violating the Lobbying Act.

A closer look at monthly communication reports and subject matters:

Every lobbyist is required to submit a monthly communication report “for each oral and arranged communication with a designated public officer holder,” according to the OCL’s website. These reports are due on the 15th day of each month for any communications that occurred the month prior.

iPolitics also searched the number of monthly communication reports for each month in 2016. March saw the highest number of reports filed — 2,828. The lobbying commissioner’s office confirmed in its statement that the “previous high was 1,929 in December 2014.”

The number of monthly communication reports increased sharply beginning in February 2016 — with 1,567 reports, up from 600 in January — and peaked in March 2016. The Liberal government released its first budget on Mar. 22, 2016.

The numbers declined over the summer months but activity spiked again in September 2016, with 1,200 reports submitted. That increased to 2,687 in December 2016.

The top five subject matters “discussed in oral and arranged communications with designated public office holders” recorded in monthly communication reports since November 2015 were:

1. Health

2. International Trade

3. Industry

4. Environment

5. Transportation

Thurlow said the fact these files made the top five doesn’t surprise him, given the government’s campaign promises and its agenda last year.

“(Those) five files … have very serious economic impacts on a variety of sectors,” he said.

Shepherd said that her office “does not perform research on specific increases or decreases in registrations or analysis of subject matters reported in communications reports.”

“Instead, the Commissioner’s analysis of registrations and monthly communication reports focuses on compliance activities,” the statement reads. “For example, the Commissioner conducts monthly verifications to confirm the accuracy of a five percent sample of communication reports submitted during the previous month by lobbyists by contacting the designated public office holders identified in those reports, compliance analysis of lobbyists’ information in the Registry, and compliance audits to ensure the information filed by lobbyists in the Registry is complete, accurate and up to date.”

There also was a noticeable increase in the number of consultants hired to lobby the government in 2016, according to more data extracted from the OCL’s website. As of Dec. 31, 2016, there were 889 consultant lobbyists registered with the OCL — up from 708 at the beginning of the year.

In comparison, there were 1,696 registered in-house corporation lobbyists and 2922 registered in-house organization lobbyists on Dec. 31, 2016. The number of those lobbyists increased by 4.8 and 12.3 per cent, respectively, in 2016.

Looking to 2017

When asked whether they predict new registrations and lobbying activities will continue at the same levels throughout 2017, experts’ responses were mixed.

“I expect that this year, we’ll see just as many as we saw in 2016,” Thurlow said. “We may see a few more as the government consults on additional new items that they haven’t gotten to yet after the first year of their mandate.”

Patrick Kennedy, the president of the Government Relations Institute of Canada and a principal at Earnscliffe Strategy Group, was a bit more cautious looking towards the future.

“It’s difficult to speculate on that,” he said. “We’re only just over a quarter of the government’s mandate … so it’s entirely possible that this level of consultation will continue into the next year.

“I think it’s been agreed (upon) by a lot of people that this seems to be a very activist government.”

The Liberal government was under fire over the last three months of 2016 after media reports revealed the party was organizing cash-for-access fundraisers at which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his ministers were the main attraction.

After months of repeatedly denying allegations of unethical behaviour and deflecting questions about whether government business is discussed at these Liberal party fundraisers, Trudeau admitted at his year-end press conference that he is lobbied — but not influenced — at the events.