One of prime minister Stephen Harper’s signature, but unsung, achievements was the Federal Accountability Act.
Among other things, it aimed to make government more transparent and to toughen the rules around lobbying by barring former public office holders from lobbying for a period of five years after leaving office and prohibiting payments contingent on the outcome of a lobbyist’s activity.
While leading at the time, some shortcomings have surfaced in the nearly 20 years since then.
First, currently, only those spending 20% or more of their time communicating with public office holders are required to report lobbying activity. In fact, not many full-time, in-house, corporate government relations professionals would spend 20% or more of their time on lobbying activities.
Second, volunteers and private individuals do not need to register. That opens the door to situations like a firm’s former chief executive officer advancing their company’s interests in stealth mode.
Third, the Lobbyist Registration Regulations refer to communications “made orally and arranged in advance of the communication.” This presents a very large loophole when lobbyists and designated public office holders run into each other — something that happens frequently in and around Ottawa.
Fourth, most staff working for individual members of the House of Commons and Senators are not considered designated public office holders, nor are most public servants below the rank of associate or assistant deputy minister. Yet, these individuals are key players in the public policy process.
Canada could take the following steps to tighten and better enforce the rules.
First, the obligation to report the activity should be placed on the designated public office holder who is being lobbied, rather than the person who is doing the lobbying. That takes the interpretation out of the hands of the proponent.
Second, all lobbying should be reported, regardless of how much time the individual spends lobbying; if they are paid or volunteer; whether the communication was pre-arranged or happenstance; or the rank of the person who is being lobbied.
Third, corporations in Canada are not currently required to disclose how much money they spend on lobbying activity. California, on the other hand, requires corporations to disclose payments to their in-house lobbyists, payments to lobbying firms, activity expenses, campaign contributions, and other payments to influence legislative or administrative action — which includes payments to industry associations, public policy think-tanks, and other lobby groups.
Canada is light years behind the U.S. in this regard. For example, Americans know that foreign interests have spent more than $5.5 billion lobbying U.S. policy-makers since 2016, while Canadians are in the dark about which foreign corporations try to influence Canadian public policy through which public office holders, how much they spend, and how they spend it.
Fourth, a review of the Lobbyist Registry reveals that too many of our large public policy think-tanks in Canada are not registered, yet they often communicate with government about developing policies, programs, legislative proposals and regulations. Moreover, some receive corporate funding, which could relate to the think-tank’s position on a particular public policy issue affecting the corporation’s interests.
Fifth, where university faculty members communicate an independent opinion on a matter of public policy, but are not specifically paid by their employer or a third party to express that opinion, registration is not required. The principle is right, but the words “specifically paid” are too loosey-goosey.
If the academic isn’t “specifically paid,” but receives a non-cash benefit like research funding, speaking fees, travel expenses, scholarships for their department or any other funds from a corporation or third party representing the corporation, is their opinion truly independent? And should that communication be considered lobbying activity?
It is in the public interest for all political parties to work together to build on former prime minister Harper’s vision of making Ottawa more transparent and accountable to Canadians by strengthening our lobbying regime and giving Canadians more access to information.
Paul Deegan is president and chief executive officer of News Media Canada, which represents more than 500 news publishing titles across Canada.