For every business day in 2025, an average of 11 lobbyist registrations were filed in Alberta.
Health remained the top subject matter for lobbyists, as it has been every year since 2020.
Energy and environment were the second- and third-most common subjects appearing in active lobbyist registrations, according to provincial data.
While more than 500 organizations and consultant lobbyist firms appeared in the provincial registry in 2025, three well-connected firms accounted for about 25 per cent of all lobbying efforts.
The public relations outfit Alberta Counsel filed 435 lobbying registrations last year, making it the most active lobbying group in the province.
Dominance of health lobbying
Similar to Alberta’s lobbying trend in 2025, the most frequent subject matter in Alberta Counsel’s lobbying was health, which is referenced in 115 registration documents.
Alberta Counsel’s team of consultant lobbyists is stacked with former Alberta politicians and political staffers. Richard Godfried, former United Conservative Party MLA and the party’s first official opposition house leader, is a senior advisor for the firm, as is Michaela Frey, a former UCP MLA and advisor to Premier Danielle Smith.
Shannon Gill, also a senior advisor for Alberta Counsel, served as the chief of staff to the ministers of health and education, among others.
The IJF reported earlier this year that Alberta Counsel’s associate lobbyist, Travis Olson, is the chief financial officer for a political third-party advertiser run by the chief of staff to Alberta’s minister of energy and minerals.
With 138 lobbyist registrations, Canadian Strategy Group (CSG) was the second-most active lobbying firm in 2025.
CSG’s roster also boasts several former political staffers, though most made the jump from government to public relations during the era of Progressive Conservative Party rule in Alberta.
Vice president Brent Kossey previously held several government positions, including chief of staff to the transportation minister.
Between 2012 and 2015, lobbyist Brian Senio was a special advisor to Alberta’s health minister and a special advisor to the finance minister.
Coming in just behind CSG is Global Public Affairs (GPA), which filed 130 lobbyist registrations last year.
Nearly half of GPA’s registrations related to health in 2025, including clients like pharmaceutical research and development company AbbVie and Canadian digital health company My Viva Inc.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 8, 2025.