The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) is Canada’s largest and most powerful oil and gas industry association. Its members produce 80 per cent of Canada’s natural gas and crude oil.¹ CAPP consolidates industry expertise and defines and advances the interests of the oil and gas sector in Canada.

The Business Council of Canada (BCC) is one of Canada’s most powerful corporate advocacy organizations. Its members are CEOs representing over 150 major corporations. The BCC promotes neoliberal policies (including free trade agreements, corporate tax cuts, deregulation and austerity) and has played an influential role in public policy going back to the 1970s. It was formerly known as the Canadian Council of Chief Executives and the Business Council on National Issues.

The Energy Council of Canada (ECC) convenes energy interests throughout the country, providing a networking platform of executives in corporate and government spheres intent on influencing policy decisions. The ECC acts as the Canadian arm of the World Energy Council (WEC)—one of the world’s largest and longest running energy organizations.

The Canadian Gas Association (CGA) is an industry association representing and advancing the interests of Canada’s natural gas distribution sector. Its members consist of natural gas distribution and transmission companies, equipment manufacturers and other service providers.

The C.D. Howe Institute is a free-market-oriented think tank based in Toronto, and one of Canada’s oldest research institutes. Its predecessor, the Private Planning Association of Canada, was established in 1958 to study public economic policy, a mission that C.D. Howe has continued from its formal inception in 1973. The institute’s policy agenda now covers an array of topics, including tax policy, international economics, health care and energy.²

C3 Alliance Corp. is a private consulting firm that specializes in Indigenous engagement and negotiation in the context of resource extraction. It leverages the experience of its staff—many of them former government and industry executives from mining, oil and forestry sectors—to lobby government in the interests of resource extraction, and to advise industry on how to avoid conflict when working with Indigenous communities whose territories are implicated in their operations. While C3 Alliance also contracts its consulting services to Indigenous communities looking to increase benefits to them from resource development, the largest share of C3 Alliance’s client base is industry—primarily mining, forestry, fracking and pipeline companies.³

Since its founding in 2005, the Manning Centre (also known as the Manning Centre for Building Democracy) has provided research, advocacy and training for those committed to advancing conservatism in Canada. Based in Calgary, the Centre’s leadership has included key proponents of the fossil fuel sector.