Shopify’s new head of government relations in Canada has embarked on a lobbying blitz, with the firm taking more meetings on the Hill in his first three months on the job than it did in all of 2025.  

Michel Liboiron joined Shopify as its Canadian head of public policy and government relations in January, leaving a 12-year career at CIBC during which he cracked The Hill Times’s list of top 100 lobbyists. 

Since then, Shopify has taken a dozen meetings—mostly focusing on economic development; industry, science and technology; small business and taxation and finance, according to the registry of lobbyists.

Shopify declined to answer The Logic’s questions, but communications director Ben McConaghy sent a statement saying, in part: “As Canada’s largest tech company, founded here and deeply invested in the country’s economic future, we naturally have views on the policies that shape entrepreneurship.”

Spokespeople from two ministers’ offices said the purpose of the meetings were mainly about making initial contact. “It was introductory in nature,” said Gabriel Brunet, press secretary for Dominic LeBlanc, minister for Canada-U.S. and internal trade and president of the Privy Council. 

All of Shopify’s recent lobbying activity is registered under CEO Tobias Lütke, but government departments confirmed that Liboiron has met with senior officials in the industry minister’s and Canada-U.S. trade minister’s offices, as well as with Ottawa MP Mona Fortier.

“He’s a longtime resident and we discussed different issues, including his new role at Shopify,” Fortier said of the meeting with Liboiron, which took place in February.

Lütke himself held a meeting in January with Prime Minister Mark Carney, Michael Sabia, clerk of the Privy Council, and several senior government advisors. “They discussed measures for innovation, tax and making government more efficient,” the prime minister’s press secretary, Audrey Champoux, said in a statement. 

On March 5, Liboiron participated in a roundtable with the Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu and EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič on the EU-Canada Digital Trade Agreement, according to the minister’s office. The agreement is currently being negotiated by the two parties.

Shopify representatives also met with officials in the Immigration, Finance and Justice Departments, as well as with Conservative international trade critic Adam Chambers.

Liboiron joins the company as Carney makes major changes in Ottawa to reorient the government toward his economic priorities. Before he was a lobbyist, Liboiron served as former Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff’s press secretary. He worked in the Opposition leader’s office at the same time as Alexandra Clark, Shopify’s VP of communications and public affairs, who served as executive assistant to Ignatieff’s chief of staff. Shopify’s McConaghy said Liboiron’s new role reports directly to Clark.

In a LinkedIn post announcing his move to Shopify, Liboiron said he would be “helping advance policies that support entrepreneurs, strengthen innovation and advance Canada’s competitive future.”

Shopify’s global government affairs team—whose task is to “prevent, manage and mitigate political, legislative and regulatory threats to Shopify”—has been outspoken on the potential trade agreement. That’s not surprising considering Shopify has been growing considerably in Europe, where it is both acquiring more clients and those clients are making more money.

Kostas Rossoglou, Shopify’s director of international public policy and government affairs for EMEA and APAC, said on X that the negotiations presented a “chance to set a new global standard for entrepreneur-friendly digital trade,” by simplifying customs and making duty-free commitments. Liboiron echoed that sentiment in his own X post, saying Canada’s entrepreneurs need fewer barriers.

In a piece for The Parliament Magazine, Clark claimed the EU’s regulatory environment “isn’t working for anyone.” As a starting point, Shopify supports streamlining rules between EU members, she wrote.

Shopify was late to the lobbying game. It hired Clark as its first lobbyist about a decade ago and has steadily grown its voice in influencing public policy in Canada and abroad ever since. 

Shopify really flexed its lobbying muscles during the COVID-19 pandemic, when its core customers—small- and medium-sized businesses—had their survival threatened. It positioned itself as an advocate for their interests, with Shopify’s then Canadian head of public affairs Clark Rabbior urging policymakers to remember the contribution smaller firms make to Canada’s economy.

In 2022, the e-commerce firm further beefed up its lobbying presence in the U.S. and Europe, just as lawmakers pushed for more regulation of major technology firms.

Shopify’s leaders have also become more outspoken about and involved with government affairs. Lütke hasn’t been shy to share his thoughts on X about government policy. He recently called Ottawa’s financial support of a new Nokia campus in Canada “toxic” and a “bribe.” He backed Shopify’s calls to end a 2024 Canada Post strike, saying he’s “anti-unions” that threatened his customers’ revenue. Lütke has also weighed in on Canada’s response to U.S.

President Donald Trump’s trade war and Canada’s tech regulation. Shopify president Harley Finkelstein has also taken to X to criticize Canadian taxation policy.

Lütke was also part of a group that helped launch Build Canada, a platform looking to influence government policy on a wide range of issues. Late last year, Carney touted Shopify’s help with simplifying a tax credit process—one that Build Canada had been pressing for.