On July 25, 2012, the Ontario government announced its proposal
to amend and update the Lobbyists Registration Act, 1998
(Ontario) (the Act),which governs the lobbying of provincial
public office holders in Ontario.
The existing Act has undergone few
amendments since it first came into force in 1998. It outlines
certain requirements for both in-house and consultant lobbyists who
communicate with public office holders in the provincial
government. Lobbyists are required to register with the Integrity
Commissioner's lobbyist registry and disclose their lobbying
activities. In particular, the Act requires lobbyists to disclose
any communications with public office holders and the subject
matter of their communications. In addition, lobbyists are required
to disclose the organizations for which they are working and
whether or not those organizations receive public funding.
The exact details of the proposal will not be available until the changes are introduced in the Legislature. For now, the government has simply announced its intention to introduce such changes. The proposals are intended to increase transparency and accountability surrounding lobbyists' activities, prevent potential conflicts of interest, and increase disclosure with respect to government spending. If passed into law, it is expected that the following amendments will be made to the Act:
- The Integrity Commissioner (who is responsible for the
administration of the Act and serves concurrently as the Lobbyist
Registrar of Ontario) will be given greater enforcement and
investigative powers to prohibit certain individuals from lobbying,
compel individuals to testify and obtain key documents from
lobbyists;
- The Integrity Commissioner will be given the power to establish
a Code of Conduct for lobbyists;
- Lobbyists will be prevented from accepting additional
contingency fees for preferred outcomes;
- Lobbyists will be forced to identify the specific Member of
Provincial Parliament and Ministers' offices they lobby;
- A "contracting prohibition" will be put in place,
that is, lobbyists will be restricted from lobbying on a subject
matter if they have a contract to give paid advice to a public
office holder on the same subject matter;
- For-profit and not-for-profit organizations will be combined
under the same category of "in-house lobbyists";
and
- The maximum fine for non-compliance with the rules will be increased from C$25,000 to C$100,000. In addition, lobbyists who do not adhere to the rules may be banned from working in their capacity as lobbyists for up to two years.
Many of these proposed amendments mirror recommendations that
the Integrity Commissioner made in her May 2012 review of the
existing legislation. The Integrity Commissioner's
recommendations are also consistent with federal recommendations
released earlier in May 2012 by the House of Commons Standing
Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in a report
entitled Statutory
Review of the Lobbying Act: Its First Five
Years. (No federal legislation has yet been
announced to introduce these recommendations).
The changes represent an effort to modernize Ontario's
lobbying legislation by introducing measures and practices that are
already in effect in other Canadian jurisdictions. Quebec, and
Newfoundland and Labrador commissioners presently all have the
power to ban individuals from lobbying if they do not adhere to the
respective lobbying rules. In British Columbia and Alberta,
lobbyists are already subject to a contracting prohibition that
restricts them from providing paid advice to a ministry and
lobbying on the same subject matter.
The proposed change that will likely have the greatest effect on
day-to-day lobbying activity is the requirement for lobbyists
(including in-house lobbyists) to identify the specific Member of
Provincial Parliament and Ministers' offices they lobby. It is
unclear whether this requirement will follow the federal
"designated public office holder" requirement, which
provides that all meetings must be documented and disclosed to the
Registrar in a communications report filed by the 15th day of the
following month.
The proposal for a "code of conduct" for lobbyists
could also have far-reaching implications, particularly if the Code
of Conduct is drafted and interpreted as broadly as the federal
Code of Conduct has been with respect to conflicts of
interest.
Together with the new rules, the Ontario government will also
propose changes to the Cabinet
Ministers' and Opposition Leaders' Expenses Review and
Accountability Act, 2002 (Ontario) to
require opposition leaders and their staff to make public their
expenses. This reporting obligation is only currently required for
cabinet ministers, parliamentary assistants and their staff, and
may affect the palatability of these proposals in a minority
Legislature.
The proposed amendments will be tabled this fall by the Ministry
of Government Services, when the Ontario Legislature resumes its
regular fall schedule. Following second reading of the legislation,
the proposed changes will be sent to a Standing Committee of the
Legislature for legislative review and stakeholder input. Because
of the minority Legislature, support from opposition parties could
affect timing and the likelihood of these changes passing into
law.
In addition to changes at the provincial level, there are recent
developments in lobbying laws at the municipal level. As of
September 1, 2012, the City of Ottawa's new Lobbyist Registry
By-Law came into effect. Under the city's new regime, where
lobbying has taken place, individuals are required to register
their lobbying activity within 15 days. This must include where and
when lobbying took place, the client, the subject matter, the
person(s) lobbied, and the method of communication used. There is
no minimum hour threshold for the lobbying requirement to be
triggered. The by-law is only applicable to individuals
representing businesses or financial interests.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
