At least 895 law-breaking lobbyists have been let off in secret rulings without being identified publicly, and without any penalty
Commissioner also gutted key rules in the lobbying code in ways that allow for unethical lobbying
House Ethics Committee must recommend many key changes to close loopholes in the law and code, and to require effective enforcement
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Wednesday, May 20, 2026
OTTAWA – Today, Democracy Watch released its report on Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger’s negligently weak enforcement record of the federal Lobbying Act and Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct since she started in the position in January 2018 through to October 2025. Given her incredibly bad record, Bélanger should not have been re-appointed to a second term as Commissioner in November 2024, and the House Ethics Committee clearly needs to push the government to strengthen the Act and require effective enforcement.
Commissioner Bélanger, in testimony on October 6, 2025 before the House of Commons Ethics Committee, admitted that she allows up to 10 violations of the Lobbying Act every week by lobbyists who fail to disclose their lobbying activities by the required deadlines (See p. 17 of testimony just above the 1245 mark, and p. 19 at the top of the second column).
Democracy Watch’s 17-page report details that:
1. Commissioner Bélanger has let off 98% (895 out of 912) of the lobbyists she has caught violating the Act or Code with a secret ruling that hid the identity of the violating lobbyist and did not penalize the violator in any way, according to her annual reports (and she has likely issued even more secret rulings letting off lobbyists that she has not disclosed).
2. For all 895 violations, Commissioner Bélanger could have issued a public ruling identifying and finding the lobbyist guilty of violating the Lobbyists’ Code as a former Commissioner did in a past case.
3. In addition, Commissioner Bélanger and the RCMP are both currently violating the Access to Information Act (ATIA) by hiding their investigation records in 13 key cases of violations of the Lobbying Act that they both let go without any charges or penalties, including violations by lobbyists for SNC-Lavalin, and likely also including violations by lobbyists for Facebook, WE Charity and others that would have embarrassed the Trudeau Liberal Cabinet. Click here to see details.
4. As well, Commissioner Bélanger let off two lobbyists who clearly violated the Code by helping Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland win an election, and serving on her riding association executive, and then lobbying her office and department soon afterwards. Click here to see details.
5. Also, Commissioner Bélanger conducted annual audits of a sample of lobbyists’ monthly disclosures of their communications with public office holders from 2018 to 2023, but then stopped doing the audits without giving any reason, even though the audits were catching violations.
6. Commissioner Bélanger also gutted key rules in the Code in 2023 in ways that allow for rampant unethical lobbying, ignoring the opposition to the changes from a coalition of 26 citizen groups with 1.5 million total supporters, and 41 lawyers and professors from across Canada, and 20,000+ voters. Click here for details.
7. Commissioner Bélanger has also used her power to grant 31 exemptions to the (loophole-filled) 5-year prohibition on lobbying after leaving public office.
The House Ethics Committee is currently conducting an illegally long-overdue review of the Lobbying Act for the first time since 2012 (the Act is required to be reviewed by a committee every five years). Commissioner Bélanger’s horrible enforcement record makes it clear that many changes are needed to the Act to require the Commissioner to enforce the Act and Lobbyists’ Code strictly, strongly, effectively and transparently (in addition to closing a “dirty dozen” secret lobbying loopholes in the Act, and closing unethical lobbying loopholes in the Code).
“Commissioner of Lobbying Nancy Bélanger has a negligently weak enforcement record and has let hundreds of lobbyists violate the federal lobbying law and code without identified the lobbyists publicly or penalizing them in any way, and she also gutted the code in ways that allow for unethical lobbying,” said Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch. “To stop rampant secret, unethical lobbying, the House Ethics Committee’s current review of the law must result in recommendations that call for closing all the loopholes, and requiring the Commissioner to enforce the law and code strictly, strongly, effectively and transparently, and to impose a penalty for all violations.”
The 13 violations Commissioner Bélanger and the RCMP are currently hiding include, in at least one of the 13 cases, lobbying by SNC-Lavalin lobbyists during the Trudeau Liberal Cabinet/SNC-Lavalin scandal, likely by former PCO Clerk Kevin Lynch for SNC-Lavalin that was not registered by CEO Neil Bruce (click here to see DWatch’s March 2019 complaint), and by SNC-Lavalin lawyer Robert Pritchard and others. The violations also likely include the following situations that have never been ruled on publicly by the Commissioner:
1. The unregistered lobbying and favours for Trudeau Liberal Cabinet ministers that Kevin Chan and others at Facebook did (click here to see DWatch’s April 2018 complaint to the Commissioner);
2. The unregistered lobbying that WE Charity lobbyists did of Trudeau Liberal Cabinet ministers from January 2019 to August 2020, and the trip gifts they gave to former Liberal Finance Minister Bill Morneau and his family;
3. The lobbying by Imperial Oil of then-Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer, and by CPA Canada of Minister Karina Gould, at a May 2019 event they sponsored, and/or;
4. The lobbying done by associates of Jenni Byrne, then at top adviser to Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre.
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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Duff Conacher, Co-founder of Democracy Watch
Tel: (613) 241-5179
Cell: 416-546-3443
Email: [email protected]
Democracy Watch’s Stop Secret, Unethical Lobbying Campaign and Stop Bad Government Appointments Campaign