INST Committee Report

LIST OF RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendation 1:

The Committee recommends that the Government undertake a study to determine rates of compliance under the Act and the reasons for non-compliance where it exists.

Recommendation 2:

The Committee recommends that the Act be amended to create a new office, which shall have the exclusive responsibility of investigating and reporting to Parliament on alleged violations of the Lobbyists Code of Conduct.

Recommendation 3:

The Committee recommends that the Registrar of Lobbyists, the Office of the Ethics Counsellor and the Department of Justice undertake further consultations with a view to determining the most appropriate legislative response to the enforcement issues arising from the use of the phrase "in an attempt to influence" in the Act.

Recommendation 4:

The Committee is of the view that the current two-year limitation period for the commencement of summary conviction proceedings under the Act is adequate and therefore does not recommend any change to the Act in this regard.

Recommendation 5:

Owing to the lack of support for the proposition among witnesses appearing before it, the Committee does not recommend that the Act be amended to apply an In-House (Organization) registration approach to In-House (Corporate) lobbyists.

Recommendation 6:

Owing to the considerable conceptual difficulties presented by the proposal, the Committee does not recommend that the Act be amended to create a so-called "qualitative" approach to registering lobbying activities.

Recommendation 7:

The Committee recommends that section 4(2)(c) of the Act be deleted in order to require lobbyists to register even when the lobbying contact was initiated by the public office holder.

Recommendation 8:

The Committee is of the view that the Lobbyists Registration Act is an act of great public importance, and, as such, it demands of registrants the utmost good faith in complying with the spirit of the law, even where doing so may require more than mere compliance with the letter of the law. The Committee recommends that this fundamental principle be emphasized by the inclusion in the Act of a general anti-avoidance provision.

Recommendation 9:

For the purposes of simplifying the current deregistration requirements and promoting greater consistency of application of the Act, the Committee recommends that the same deregistration requirements should apply to all lobbyists.

Recommendation 10:

The Committee recommends that, in order to ensure that registrants update their filings in a timely fashion, the Registrar of Lobbyists provide an E-mail "update reminder" to all registrants at least 30 days in advance of the date upon which their registrations must be updated.

Recommendation 11:

In order to ensure that information in the lobbyists registry is kept up to date, the Committee recommends that all lobbyists should be required to update their filings semi-annually; however, the 30-day deregistration requirement currently set out in section 5(4) of the Act should be removed from the Act to the Lobbyists Code in order to remove it from the sanctions prescribed by the Act for failing to deregister within the 30-day time frame currently prescribed.

Recommendation 12:

The Committee also recommends that the Registrar draft a notice, to be displayed clearly on the lobbyists registry Web site, to the effect that because lobbyists are required to update their filings semi-annually, certain client relationships may no longer be active; and accordingly, persons are encouraged to verify with the lobbyist which of the lobbyists’ current client listings remain active.

Recommendation 13:

For greater certainty, the Committee recommends that the 30-day period should be removed from the Act only insofar as it applies to the obligation to deregister. Because timely updating of client information is important, the Committee recommends that provisions that require the lobbyist to provide notification within 30 days of any changes to existing filings should remain in the Act.

Recommendation 14:

The Committee is satisfied that the current penalty regime prescribed by the Act is appropriate and does not recommend any changes in this regard.

Recommendation 15:

The Committee is of the view that the creation of a dual-disclosure i.e. a system that would require public office holders to report having been contacted by a lobbyist, would result in significantly increased compliance cost with little, if any, improvement in transparency; for that reason, the Committee does not recommend that the Act be amended to create a dual-disclosure system.

Recommendation 16:

The Committee does not recommend that the Act be amended in order to create a requirement that the names of individuals who have been lobbied be disclosed in the lobbyists registry.

Recommendation 17:

The Committee is satisfied that the current disclosure requirements for In-House (Organization) lobbyists is sufficient and, for that reason, does not recommend any changes to the current disclosure requirements in this respect.

Recommendation 18:

Although the evidence presented to the Committee was mixed, it is possible that requiring lobbyists to disclose the amounts that they spend on lobbying campaigns could lead to greater transparency. For that reason, the Committee recommends that the proposal be made the subject of further study by the Department in consultation with stakeholders.

Recommendation 19:

The Committee is satisfied that the current disclosure requirements are satisfactory and, for that reason, does not recommend that the Act be amended in order to require that lobbyists disclose their fees.

Recommendation 20:

The Committee is of the view that the current disclosure requirements are appropriate and adequate and, for that reason, does not recommend that the Act be amended with respect to contingency fees.

Recommendation 21:

The Committee does not view the issue of the tax deductibility of lobbying expenses to be within its current mandate and, for that reason, makes no recommendation on the issue.

Recommendation 22:

The Committee is of the view that, while the requirement to disclose a client’s identity could, in rare, cause can see some hardship to a litigant in a court proceeding, maintaining the integrity of the lobbyists registry is a more pressing policy objective and, on that basis, the Committee does not propose to amend the Act to create an exception based on solicitor-client privilege to the general registration requirements.

Recommendation 23:

The Committee recommends that the role of private sector consultants in developing government policy is a subject that Parliament should study further, with a view to promoting transparency and ensuring that conflicts of interest do not arise.

Recommendation 24:

The Committee recommends that the Department of Industry, in consultation with other departments of government, devote the necessary resources and proceed with all deliberateness to design and implement an Internet architecture, to be incorporated into the Government of Canada website (http://www.canada.gc.ca), and to include the following features:

• An easy-to-find "Consultations" portal to take visitors to a central registry containing information about all consultations currently going on in the government, with links to the departments undertaking the consultations;

• Additional links to background information prepared or received by government in relation to a consultation;

• Links to persons or departments to contact and where to send submissions;

• Information about which consultations are open and which have just closed; and, for those that have closed and for which the government has rendered a decision, a summary of who appeared, what was said, what the government's decision was and the reasons for it;

• An E-mail notice subscription list to permit Canadians to be informed of upcoming consultations on subjects of concern to them;

• A "contact your MP" button to permit Canadians to copy their MPs with their submissions to government.

Recommendation 25:

As well, once the consultations portal is available, the Committee recommends that the government undertake to advertise and publicize the site in order to make Canadians aware of its existence and of the opportunity to become involved in the public policy-making process.