It has been said that there are no true friends in politics ... but there are plenty of them.

Few issues have made politicians so popular as the oil and gas potential in Western Canada and the big plans for its future, including the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline through Alberta and British Columbia.

A search of the federal registry of lobbyists shows company officials and consultants for Calgary-based Enbridge have had dozens of meetings with ministers, deputy ministers, policy directors and MPs as plans for the Northern Gateway pipeline moved from the proposal stage to public hearings.

They've had communication with the chiefs of staff for the prime minister and the Opposition NDP and met with the clerk of the Privy Council on the day the Conservative government tabled the omnibus legislation that changed the environmental laws and review process that govern the project.

"Enbridge is the perfect example of a success story from lobbying," said Roger Harris, a former Liberal member of the B.C. legislature and former vice-president of aboriginal and community partnerships for Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines.

The federal registry shows 12 different lobbyists at work for the pipeline proponent in 2011 and 2012. A search of the five years prior to that, from the beginning of 2006 to the end of 2010, produces a list of 27 different lobbyists and 10 different consultant companies, including one representing the Clean Air Renewable Energy Coalition, comprised of Enbridge, Shell, ConocoPhillips Canada and a dozen other energy companies.

Enbridge's proposal for a 1,700-kilometre pipeline that would deliver bitumen from the Alberta oil sands to a tanker port on the B.C. coast is incredibly complex, involving three government jurisdictions, 50 First Nations, an oft-maligned industry and a vocal public campaign against tanker traffic off the West Coast.

"I can't imagine a project that's more complex, yet it (Enbridge) was able to convince the federal government, the Conservatives, of its value to the point that the federal government, who puts in place the regulatory process by which projects are independently evaluated ... (Enbridge) had them shamelessly out there supporting the project before their own process was even completed," Harris said.

The Conservatives even changed the environmental regulations that affect the project, he said.

"If they don't like the outcome of that science, they can change it themselves, anyway," he said of the Conservative government.

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Enbridge lobbying of Harper government a 'success story'