Where the Cons' priorities lie

Cabinet ministers often meet with various interest groups. Nothing wrong with that; it's part of their job. One would think, though, that if you're environment minister, meeting with, well, environmental organizations would be important. However, if you're a Conservative environment minister, the rules are rather different:

Canada's leading environmentalists say they're losing interest in lobbying federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice because the government has locked itself into an environmental policy "bunker" and is not giving their ideas serious consideration.

Meanwhile, according to the Registry of Lobbyists, representatives for big oil companies frequently lobby the minister, and appear to be a major source of policy advice on energy and climate issues.

Following a decade of consultations that have resulted in virtually no action on climate change, environmentalists are now questioning whether it is even worth their time to lobby the minister.

From the Hill Times (my bold in the quote above).