As Mr. Nelson was saying, there are three types of lobbyists. There is a very legitimate reason for that: the legislator, in its wisdom, decided that it would be easier to describe the activities lobbyists are involved in by putting these lobbyists into three categories.
The most common, the one we think about the most often, is the consultant-lobbyist. These are consultants in government and public relations who work within an office and whose services are retained by several clients at the same time.
The consultant-lobbyist may have several mandates from several clients. Each mandate has a different objective and targets very specific lobbying activities. For example, a consultant-lobbyist's clients may include a mining company, a pharmaceutical company, an environmental group, etc. Consultant-lobbyists are paid by each of their clients.
The act requires consultant-lobbyists to register for each mandate they receive, so for each of their clients. If I were a consultant-lobbyist in demand, I might have 10, 15, or 20 registrations in my name, depending on the number of clients and mandates I have accumulated. If I am a little less successful in my business, I may not have as many.
That was the first category of lobbyists.
The two other categories are essentially what we call in-house lobbyists. They are not consultants. In the first case, they are hired by a corporation, such as Alcan, Nortel, or any other one; in the other case, they are hired by a non-profit organization. An example of that is the Red Cross, or another organization of that type, but it goes farther than that. It may be a sector or an industry association, such as a mining association or a forestry products association. They are essentially non-profit entities involved in lobbying activities.
As I was saying earlier, consultant-lobbyists, which is the first category, must register for each of their mandates, each of their clients. In the case of in-house lobbyists, the legislator decided that the registrations should be done by the chief executive officer of the organization. In the case of a corporation, the chief executive officer, the chief operating officer, must register the corporation and include in the declaration the names of all of the people who are involved in lobbying activities. In the case of a non-profit organization, the chief executive officer is also responsible for the registrations. That is why there are three types of lobbyists, to recognize the different realities lobbyists face.
On page 12, we have attempted to give you an idea of the kind of information that must be included in the lobbyist declaration. Generally speaking, regardless of the category, the information must include the identity, in other words the name of the lobbyist, the lobbyist's business address — if the lobbyist has another address, it must be indicated — the purpose of the activities, in other words the field, as well as the government organizations that will be targeted by the lobbying activities.
In the case of consultant-lobbyists, a little bit more information about the client may be requested. For each registration that consultant-lobbyists must complete, for each of their mandates, they must indicate who the client is, the purpose of the lobbying activities, and if there are subsidiaries and parent companies that will also benefit from the activities.
In the case of in-house lobbyists, whether they work for a corporation or for a non-profit organization, a description of the activities in which the organization is involved is requested.
Generally speaking, this is to give the public as much information as possible, not only about the activities, but also so that the public can know who is benefiting from these lobbying activities.
Are there any questions?