Wednesday, May 7, 2003

OTTAWA - Today, at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Rules, Procedures and the Rights of Parliament (at 12 noon, Room 356S Centre Block), the Government Ethics Coalition presented its proposals for strengthening Bill C-15 which amends the federal Lobbyists Registration Act.

"The federal Liberals proposed lobbying law changes are not enough to end secret lobbying or  unethical ties between lobbyists and politicians," said Duff Conacher, Coordinator of Democracy Watch and Chairperson of the Government Ethics Coalition.

 The key loopholes still remaining in Bill C-15 need to be closed through the following measures:

• Ministers and other senior public officials should be required to disclose on an searchable Internet site who is lobbying them to ensure all lobbying is exposed (or, at least, unpaid lobbyists should be required to register based on time spent);
• hired-gun lobbyists should also be required to disclose past offices they held if they were a public servant or politician or held another public office (as corporate and organization lobbyists will be required to do);
• the exemption in s.3(2) of Bill C-15 that amends s.4(2)(c) of the LRA should be removed from the bill because it will allow lobbyists who are only requesting information to avoid registration, opening the door to abuses;
• lobbyists should be required by law to disclose how much they spend on a lobbying campaign;
• lobbyists should be prohibited by law from working in senior campaign positions for any politician or candidate for public office, and from working for the government or having business ties to anyone who works for the government;
• the prohibition on lobbying the government for ex-Ministers and ex-senior public officials should be increased to 5 years; and
• the proposed new Ethics Commissioner to be created under Bill C-34 should also enforce the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct (instead of the Registrar of Lobbyists, as proposed in Bill C-34) to prevent conflicting rulings.

 Democracy Watch will also be withdrawing from the lobbying registry because, given the gaps in Bill C-15 and the LRA, it has determined it is not required (as many others are not) to register as a lobbyist.situations.

Bill C-15 does propose to close some loopholes in the lobbyist regulatory system under the federal Lobbyists Registration Act (LRA), specifically: 1. lobbyists who are invited to lobby government will now be required to register; 2. the registration requirements for in-house corporate lobbyists will require more detailed listings of employees who are lobbying, and; 3. because of an amendment made by the House of Commons, lobbyists for a corporation or organization who been a public servant, politician or other public office holder will now have to disclose the past offices they held.

However, key loopholes still remain in Bill C-15 that allow many lobbyists to escape registration, hide key details about the extent and nature of lobbying activities, allow lobbyists to have inside access and undue influence, and weaken enforcement of the LRA and the Lobbyists' Code of Conduct.  These loopholes must be closed through the following measures:

• Ministers and other senior public officials should be required to disclose on a searchable Internet site who is lobbying them (both paid and unpaid lobbyists) to ensure all lobbying is exposed (if this is not done, then a threshhold should be set for unpaid lobbying (based on time spent lobbying) and unpaid lobbyists should be required to register);
• the exemption in s.3(2) of Bill C-15 that amends s.4(2)(c) of the LRA should be removed from the bill because it will allow lobbyists who are only requesting information to avoid registration, opening the door to abuses;
• consultant lobbyists should also be required to disclose past offices they held if they were a public servant or politician or held another public office;
• lobbyists should be required by law to disclose how much they spend on a lobbying campaign (as in 33 U.S. states);
• lobbyists should be prohibited by law from working in senior campaign positions for any politician or candidate (as they are from working with Cabinet ministers (under ethics rules) and as in Maryland and New Mexico);
• lobbyists should be prohibited by law from working for the government or having business ties to anyone who works for the government;
• the prohibition on lobbying the government for ex-Ministers and ex-senior public officials should be increased to 5 years;
• the proposed new Ethics Commissioner to be created under Bill C-34 should also enforce the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct (instead of the Registrar of Lobbyists, as proposed in Bill C-34) to prevent conflicting rulings; and
• the public should have the right to file complaints, the Ethics Commissioner should have the power to protect "whistleblowers", all Commissioner rulings should be made public, and complainants must have the right to appeal to court to review Commissioner decisions.